This project is incredibly special to me.

It was the first project I ever created with Ammiel Fazzari, a friend I've had since 2006, despite the fact that we had never made anything together before.

It was also the project that gave birth to our artistic collective, Shift Shift. ( https://shiftshift.net/ )

For me, it marked a turning point.

It was my first project where I worked simultaneously as a creative director, AI director, and producer. It was the moment I realized I could finally create and produce my own ideas from beginning to end.

The funny part is that, when we started, I had barely made anything with AI.

We learned by making.

Together, we created the concept, wrote the script, designed the products, developed the visual language, and built the entire world from scratch.

More than anything, this project gave me confidence.

It made me realize that I no longer needed to choose between being a creative and being a director.

I could be both.

It's still one of the things I'm most proud of.

Hallucination Products ( https://hallucinationproducts.com/) is the first cultural experiment by Shift Shift, the artistic collective founded by Thiago Espeche and Ammiel Fazzari. The film was produced entirely using artificial intelligence.

At a time when AI is learning at an extraordinary pace—and its mistakes disappear almost as quickly—the project moves in the opposite direction. It transforms AI hallucinations into physical objects: impossible artifacts that preserve the childhood of machines.

While the industry works relentlessly to erase these failures, Hallucination Products archives them. Each object becomes a fossil from a technology still learning how to understand the world—a record of mistakes that may soon cease to exist.

Like every Shift Shift project, the work does not aim to predict the future. It brings the future into the present so it can be observed, questioned, and put to the test.

Shift Shift was founded by Thiago Espeche and Ammiel Fazzari, who jointly write, direct, produce, and develop every project. At a moment when the creative industry increasingly fragments authorship across countless specialists, the collective moves in the opposite direction. Rather than one role shared by many creators, Shift Shift embraces a single creative vision carried through every stage of the work—from concept to execution.

This is Shift Shift's second project.

The idea is disarmingly simple.

And that's exactly what I like about it.

The real challenge wasn't the concept—it was finding a visual language that could make such a serious subject feel compelling, contemporary, and unexpectedly beautiful.

I'm really happy with where we landed.

Sometimes the simplest ideas demand the most care.

If Shift Shift is about changing change, then what happens when one of its founders decides to make something on his own?

You change the change of the change.

That's Shift Shift Shift.

Like my work with Shift Shift, this project became an exercise in complete authorship. I developed the idea, wrote the script, generated the AI imagery, edited the film, worked on the color, shaped the soundtrack, and carried the project all the way through.

I even read the damn book.

There was something strangely satisfying about doing every part of it myself.

Not because I wanted to prove I could.

But because, for the first time, there was nothing standing between an idea and its execution.

I produced, directed, and wrote this film through my own production company, where I’m the sole partner: Chucky Jason. 

That sentence probably doesn't convey the scale of the madness behind it.

Beyond the creative work and the directing—which I'm sure you already understand, there was an enormous operation behind the scenes. I signed contracts that ran for dozens of pages, secured a bank loan of more than US$400,000, booked every room in every hotel in the town of Paranapiacaba, assembled a crew of more than 200 people, and even buried part of the wardrobe with fungi so they would naturally consume the fabric and create the aged texture the story required.

Somewhere along the way, I also got robbed.

It was one of those projects where producing was every bit as challenging as directing. Every creative decision demanded an equally difficult business, financial, and logistical decision.

In the end, though, the film turned out beautifully. It went on to win multiple international awards and ranked me as the fourth most awarded commercial director in Brazil in 2023.

And I paid back the loan.

This is a small film I directed for my own production company.

I'm incredibly proud of it.

When I made it, I was building that company from scratch in the spare room of my house. As unbelievable as it may sound, that crazy little film, and you probably don't speak Portuguese, so you have no idea how much profanity is in it, managed to convince people to trust me.

The very first commercial I directed after this was for Absolut LatAm.

You'll find it here in a moment.

Here, I was the creative behind the idea. I didn't direct it or produce it. I just sat in front of my computer for a few days and let the idea happen.

Even so, this film was a crazy one.

At the time, building an entire commercial around a single metaphor wasn't nearly as common as it is today. When the film won a Bronze at the Clube de Criação de São Paulo and was shortlisted at Cannes, one of the creatives I admired most at F/Nazca, Rodrigo Castelari, gave me a hug and said:

"Relax, Espeche. Think about it this way: they didn't really understand it, and it still won. Your film is going to age well."

I've never forgotten that.

Awards

Good morning Good afternoon Good night. Sesc_Videobrasil
- Fiap / GRAND PRIX 
- London Festival / Bronze
- London Festival /Finalist Editing
- Cannes Lions / Shortlist
- OneShow / Merit
- OneShow Design / Merit
- Fiap / Gold Cinematografy
- Fiap / Gold Art Direction
- Fiap / Silver
- Ojo de Iberoamerica / Gold
- Ojo de Iberoamerica / Silver
- Ojo de Iberoamerica / Bronze
- Wave Festival / Bronze 
- São Paulo Creative Club / Silver 
-IDN Magazine and DVD

Diretores Executivos de Criação: Eduardo Lima
Diretores de Criação: Theo Rocha
Head of Art: João Linneu
Redator: Thiago Espeche
Diretor de Arte: Fabiano de Queiroz - Tatu

Diretor: Pedro Becker

The 17th Festival of Contemporary Art had sensorial installations as its mood, and its main attraction was the Danish artist Olafur Eliasson. Considering this particularity, we invited people to come out of their sensorial routines.

Because of a lack of interest in our fellow men, our tendency for procrastination, the inconvenience of haste, fear and shame, for thinking only about reaching goals, and not the journey there, for wanting to just press a button and immediately demanding that everything happens, for all of this and a little more, we believe that the elevator is a good metaphor to demonstrate the feelings of our poor current society.

Another important decision was to cut some objects from the scene in order to enhance the sensation that the elevator is just in the surroundings of the character, and not necessarily in life in its entirety.

This is the film I told you about.

At the time, I was just starting my production company, Chucky Jason, when a friend sent this project my way. I entered the pitch as the underdog, but I did something that would define my career for years: I rewrote the script.

I’ve always believed that my most powerful tool isn't just the camera; it’s a sheet of paper, a pen, and a calculator.

The original script featured a generic video game character. I reimagined it as this giant, surreal figure, and Absolut loved the idea so much that they ended up casting Bruna Marquezine to bring the character to life.

The whole production was insane. The wardrobe budget alone was around US$80,000.

The craziest part was that I had never directed a commercial entirely on my own. I had never run a production company. One minute I was directing Bruna, the next I was signing contracts and managing the business side of the production.

The film became a huge success. It was named Pernod Ricard's Commercial of the Year.

Even better, the project's marketing director became a close friend. We still talk almost every week to this day.

Awards

The best Pernod Ricard worldwide project of 2022.

I produced, directed, and developed the script for this commercial, working alongside the fantastic creative team.

This was my first film as a commercial director.

The brief was simple: create and direct a story inspired by this tweet:

"The glass half full and half empty is just a matter of perspective."

From that single sentence, I imagined the story of a female mob boss who realizes that her death will drag her entire family into hell. Yet, in the final seconds of her life, a song on the radio changes everything. For one brief moment, she chooses to see the glass as half full.

I co-directed this film with Lucas Fazzio. At the time, we worked as a directing duo.

It was one of those projects that taught me a great deal, and it marked the beginning of my journey as a film director.

DIREÇÃO DE CENA: Espeche +Fazzio

DIREÇÃO GERAL DE CRIAÇÃO: Fabio Fernandes
DIREÇÃO DE CRIAÇÃO: Pedro Prado | Rodrigo Castellari
CRIAÇÃO: Murilo Melo | Rafael Freire

ROTEIRO FILME HALF / HALF: Espeche

This project marked a turning point for me.

Until then, I had built a reputation for creating beautiful, highly aesthetic work. I've always cared deeply about visuals. But thinking has always been the place where I feel most comfortable, so I decided to lean more into writing. The truth is, I'm both.

For the first time, I wrote something completely different from anything I had done before. It felt like an experiment. Less stylized, more documentary. The idea, however, was incredibly strong and deeply emotional.

My creative director at the time, Rui Branquinho, found the final piece the idea needed. Once it clicked, we went out and made the film.

It went on to win the Grand Effie Latam and became the most awarded and successful case in the history of both Y&R and BIC.

I still love this idea.

It's one I'll carry with me for the rest of my life.

Awards

Grand Effie Brasil 2017

Diretores Executivos de Criação: Rui Branquinho
Redator: Thiago Espeche
Diretor de Arte: Thiago Marcondes e Ronaldo Fonseca

Diretor: Pascoal Samora

This was my first commercial as a copywriter.

For many years, it lived in my portfolio alongside print campaigns and a few poems. It was always placed near the end. Looking at it today, though, I realized that what this artist could do with his hands was so extraordinary that it deserved a much better place.

I first met him at an art exhibition in Buenos Aires. I was presenting a play I had written in one room of a large house. Next door, he was telling stories using nothing but his fingers.

I was fascinated immediately.

The man is unbelievably talented.

Agency- El Cielo Agulla & Baccetti Buenos Aires

Diretores Executivos de Criação: Walter Arreger
Redator: Thiago Espeche
Diretor de Arte: Diego Beyro

And this was my second commercial.

I love this idea.

Think about it: there have been hundreds of American high school movies built around teenagers doing stupid things, yet somehow no one had ever imagined a scene like this.

What I admire just as much as the idea itself is the brand's courage. They not only approved it, they aired it on national television right after the country's biggest primetime soap opera.

Argentina has a way of making things like that happen.

DON Buenos Aires

Diretor Executivo de Criação: Papon
Redator: Thiago Espeche
Diretor de Arte: Ale Dieguez

This idea was important for another reason.

It was the project that taught me what Cannes really rewards.

That realization changed the way I thought about creativity, and it became one of the most valuable lessons of my career.

AWARDS

The Felling Tree.
-Cannes Lions/ Bronze 2014
-London Awards/ Bronze Weird Wonderful Work 2014
-OneShow / Merit 2014
-Best ads - Ambient of the Week.

VP de Criação: Rui Branquinho
Redator: Thiago Espeche
Diretor de Arte: Thiago Marcondes

March 16th, National Climate Change Awareness Day. A great opportunity to draw the attention of the population to the air we breathe. We transformed the trees into pollution meters. We developed a system that: Collected the official information on air quality. Translated this data into reactions. Projected those reactions on the trees.

AWARDS

The Felling Tree.
-Cannes Lions/ Bronze 2014
-London Awards/ Bronze Weird Wonderful Work 2014
-OneShow / Merit 2014
-Best ads - Ambient of the Week.

I love this idea.

I still love this project.

The object is beautiful, but what really makes it work is the insight.

People spend the entire year drinking beer. Then, on New Year's Eve, the most symbolic toast of the year, they suddenly abandon it for champagne.

Traitors.

That tiny act of betrayal felt so true to me that I couldn't resist turning it into an idea.

Almost every week I catch myself thinking that, if I had been a little more experienced, I should have patented it instead of presenting it.

The idea was approved. Skol even turned it into a social media post. But it was never made.

"It's too complicated," they said.

Fair enough. I still think it deserves to exist.

I think this idea is completely insane.

Apparently, Cannes agreed.

It won.

For the project, we built 500 functioning fingers in every imaginable skin tone.

I still have a box full of them at home. It sits on a shelf above my desk.

And yes... they all still work.

Every now and then I open the box, press one of them, and remember that sometimes the craziest ideas are the ones that actually happen.

AWARDSRadio Finger
-Cannes Lions/ Bronze 2015

VP de Criação: Rui Branquinho
Redator: Thiago Espeche
Diretor de Arte: Thiago Marcondes

The idea is simple.

I know.

But I think the film turned out beautifully.

That theatrical, deadpan tone is incredibly difficult to pull off, and the credit for that belongs to Landia director Lucas Shannon.

Watching this film made me realize something about myself. I became fascinated by the challenge of inventing tone—finding the precise emotional register that makes an idea feel unlike anything else.

After this project, I decided to become a film director.

I wanted to chase that feeling myself.

VP de Criação: Rui Branquinho
Redator: Thiago Espeche
Diretor de Arte: Thiago Marcondes

Diretor: Lucas Shannon

I directed, and developed the script for this commercial, working alongside the fantastic creative team.

I love this campaign.

It was one of my first commercials as a film director.

At the time, I loved directing comedy, but there was something about the look of comedy commercials that always bothered me. They often felt a little too artificial. Still, that exaggerated style had a personality of its own.

The campaign originally consisted of two films. The third one—the arrows film—came from an idea I developed together with the creative team.

It ended up making quite a bit of noise in Brazil.

Looking back, I see it as one of the projects that helped me understand how much I enjoyed shaping tone just as much as telling the story itself.

Diretor: Espeche + Fazzio

Diretores Executivos de Criação: Renato Simões, Eduardo Lima

Diretores de Criação: Rodrigo Mendes, Caio Mattoso

Head of Art Bruno Oppido

Redator: Ricardo Scarpa

Diretor de Arte: Leone Damiao

This film was a turning point for me.

I directed it with Lucas Fazzio, and we were in a very special moment as a directing duo. Everything seemed to click.

We wanted to move the camera in unexpected ways, mix visual languages, break a few rules, and make some noise.

We did.

Looking back, I can still feel the energy we had back then. We were less interested in making polished commercials than in making films that people would actually remember.

This one did.

Cliente: Toddy - PepsiCo
Diretor: Espeche + Fazzio
Direção criativa: Carlos Fonseca, Adriano Abdalla, James Scavone
Criação: Felipe Revite, Kiko Borger, Vinícius Sakamoto, Marcos Semensato.

I keep this terrible, deeply misogynistic film in my portfolio for one reason:

To remind myself that I was right.

I believed then—and I still believe now—that it would age badly.

We had far better ideas. More useful. More surprising. More disruptive. But, in the end, the final decision was taken out of our hands. Someone higher up picked up the pen and decided to write the campaign himself.

For me, that decision destroyed what had originally been a product designed to make people's lives easier.

I keep this film here not because I'm proud of it, but because it reminds me that protecting an idea is sometimes just as important as having one.

Diretores Executivos de Criação: Eduardo Lima
Diretores de Criação: Theo Rocha
Head of Art: João Linneu
Redator: Thiago Espeche
Diretor de Arte: Fabiano de Queiroz / Pinhal

Diretor: 2

AWARDS

Skooler Product
- CCSP- Anuário Trabalhos Experimentais.

Film:
V.O.: - In the beginning the relationship is beautiful.
She – A Skol for my love.
He – Thank you baby girl. 
V.O.: But after some time the relationship cools off.
He – Honey, bring another round of Skol for the guys. 
She – I’m busy, you come get it. 
V.O.: One day, inexplicably, they rebel. 
He – Hey, bring a Skol for your honey. 
V.O.:In order to bring back that peace and passion to the couple like on the first day of their relationship, Skol presents the remote-controlled Skooler. Those who love will take part.

If you're not Brazilian, you'll probably understand only ten percent of how powerful this project really was.

It's the craziest thing I've ever made.

It also came from a very specific moment in internet culture—a time when almost anything felt possible. While everyone else was still obsessing over TV commercials, the internet was operating under a completely different set of rules. It was messy, fearless, and unbelievably free.

Writing this project was pure joy.

I don't think I've ever laughed so much while working on an idea.

Diretores Executivos de Criação: Eduardo Lima
Diretores de Criação: Theo Rocha
Head of Art: João Linneu
Redator: Thiago Espeche
Diretor de Arte: Fabiano de Queiroz / Pinhal

Produtora: Piloto

AWARDS

Lost Skooler
- São Paulo Creative Club / Silver Website
- São Paulo Creative Club / Silver Art Direction
- São Paulo Creative Club / Merit Online Brand Content
- Fiap / Bronze FILM
- Wave Festival / Bronze FILM
- Wave Festival / Bronze FILM

This film was an obsession of mine.

I desperately wanted to make it in live action, but it was simply impossible at the time. Even so, I think the illustrated version turned out beautifully.

The campaign was enormous, and unfortunately many of its pieces have been lost over the years.

One memory, though, has stayed with me.

As part of the creative process, we attended a guided meditation class. Everyone closed their eyes while the instructor gently said things like, "You're standing beneath a waterfall..." and "Listen to the birds..."

Then our soundtrack took over.

Gunshots.

Explosions.

Animals screaming.

The entire forest catching fire.

When the meditation ended, several people were in tears. Others were furious with us.

Honestly... they had every right to be.

We were a bunch of creative delinquents.

Diretor Executivo de Criação: Eduardo Lima
Diretores de Criação: Theo Rocha
Head of Art: João Linneu
Redator: Thiago Espeche
Diretor de Arte: Fabiano de Queiroz - Tatu

Diretor: Javier Lourenço

Awards

War Veterans - SOS Mata Atlântica
- Bronze - El Diente (Circulo de Creativos Argentinos) 
- SHOOT Magazine 5ª position
- CCSP- Anuário Outdoor

This was my first commercial in Brazil.

I had just arrived from Buenos Aires. I was a junior copywriter, and after I was hired, they pretty much left me in a corner of the agency.

A week later, the Executive Creative Director called me into his office.

The agency had a problem. Everyone was working on Chevrolet, and nothing was getting approved.

He looked at me and said, "You've got until tomorrow morning."

So I went home and spent the entire night thinking.

The idea I came back with got approved.

It also turned me into the most hated junior copywriter at WMcCann.

Not because the idea was better.

Just because it came from the new kid.

W/Mccann

Diretor Executivo de Criação: Tales Bahu
Redator: Thiago Espeche
Diretor de Arte: Otiai

What would you take to a desert island? With Chevrolet Montana you can take everything.

This project was a difficult one.

The creative team called me and said, "Espeche, here's the script: a woman walks into an elevator, opens the product, the elevator walls slide away... and then amazing things happen."

That was the entire brief.

So I started inventing.

I explored countless possibilities, built visual references, costed every direction, and imagined all kinds of worlds waiting behind those elevator doors.

Almap loved the treatment.

We won the pitch.

Then came the PPM.

And the client hated it.

The film eventually became much simpler than what we had originally envisioned.

Even so, I remember it as one of the biggest creative challenges of my career. Sometimes directing isn't about executing your favorite idea. It's about adapting without losing the spirit of the project.

Diretor Geral de Criação: Luiz Sanches
Diretor Executivo de Criação: Bruno Prosperi
Diretores de Criação: Marcelo Nogueira e Keka
Criação: Fábio Tedeschi, Andre Leotta

Direção: Espeche + Fazzio

Some projects carry their own weight.

This wasn't one of them.

Everything just worked.

The ideas came easily, the conversations were effortless, the production flowed, and somehow every decision made the film better instead of more complicated.

Those projects are rare.

When they happen, you simply try not to get in their way.

Diretor: Espeche + Fazzio
Diretor Nacional de Criação: Carlos André Eyer
Diretor de Criação: Marcello Noronha
Criação: Marcello Noronha, Bernardo Cople, Henrique Martins.

I've always loved this kind of storytelling.

A voice-over that exists outside of time feels incredibly elegant to me.

Especially because, when I wrote it, I knew exactly what I was talking about.

I had been in a long-distance relationship for more than three years. We lived ten hours apart, and I understood what it meant to love someone who was always somewhere else.

Some scripts come from imagination.

This one came from memory.

VP de Criação: Rui Branquinho
Redator: Thiago Espeche
Diretor de Arte: Thiago Marcondes

Diretor: Felipe Mansur

Diretores Executivos de Criação: Eduardo Lima
Diretores de Criação: Theo Rocha
Head of Art: João Linneu
Redator: Thiago Espeche
Diretor de Arte: Fabiano de Queiroz

This film received a lot of criticism.

People kept saying, "So you're telling everyone to stay inside on the internet instead of enjoying the summer?"

My answer was always the same.

"No."

"Just at noon, when the sun is at its strongest."

I must have had that conversation a hundred times.

It's funny how often a very specific idea gets mistaken for a much broader one.

DON Buenos Aires

Diretor Executivo de Criação: Papon
Redator: Thiago Espeche
Diretor de Arte: Ale Dieguez

I still think this is one of the strongest ideas I've ever had.

The project invited around fifty of my favorite artists to answer an unexpectedly simple question:

Which websites do you visit when you're just killing time online?

Not their influences.

Not their process.

Not the books they recommend.

Just the corners of the internet they genuinely enjoy when no one is watching.

Olafur Eliasson was probably the best-known name involved, but he was only one of nearly fifty artists who took part.

The project went on to win Cannes Lions and several other international awards.

I'm proud of the recognition, but what I still love most is the simplicity of the idea.

Sometimes the shortest question opens the biggest window into someone's mind.

Diretores Executivos de Criação: Eduardo Lima
Diretores de Criação: Theo Rocha
Head of Art: João Linneu
Redator: Thiago Espeche
Diretor de Arte: Fabiano de Queiroz

Awards

Escape Button. Sesc_Videobrasil
- OneShow Interactive / Merit
- Fiap / Bronze
- Wave Festival / Bronze

I'll say just one thing.

Imagine this idea with a bigger budget.

Imagine hundreds of gas stations across the country giving away free water.

It could have become something much bigger than a campaign.

Even so, I still think it's beautiful.

Some ideas don't need to become enormous to feel complete. They just need to prove that brands can genuinely make people's lives a little better.

Diretores Executivos de Criação: Eduardo Lima
Diretores de Criação: Theo Rocha
Head of Art: João Linneu
Redator: Thiago Espeche - Juliana Uchoa
Diretor de Arte: Fabiano de Queiroz