HOLIDAY SPIRIT

Caviar director Amir Farhang skewers holidays for Solitaire Clash

By Reel 360
December 26, 2025

Just in time for the holiday season’s inevitable overindulgence and family tension, Solitaire Clash is offering a comically relatable escape route in a series of three spots written and directed by Caviar’s Amir Farhang.

Between the forced small talk, the resurfaced grudges, the uncle who “just asks questions,” and the annual realization that some traditions should really be retired, the holidays have a way of reminding us exactly why escapism exists.

That tension is the comic fuel behind “Holiday History.” Set around a painfully familiar family dinner table, the film captures a gathering where everyone is quietly unraveling under the weight of unresolved baggage, awkward silences, and years of emotional carry-on. TikTok comedy standout Leo Gonzales narrates the chaos with deadpan precision, cataloging the dysfunction as it unfolds.

As the misery peaks, one guest finds the perfect escape route: tuning out the table entirely and diving into Solitaire Clash, where competition with real players proves far more soothing than another passive-aggressive toast. The :30 spot is part of a broader comedic campaign that leans into an honest holiday truth: sometimes the best way to survive the season is to mentally leave it.

Produced by Oscar-winning production company Caviar, the campaign gave Farhang an unusually hands-on creative role. In addition to directing, he also served as writer and creative director across the work. Watch below:

Farhang says, “It’s rare that a project comes along where you serve as creative across all disciplines. I’ve spent my entire career wearing many different hats and it was especially rewarding to be afforded the opportunity to don all of them at the appropriate parts of the journey.” The spots take a hilarious approach to achieve a very tangible goal – to encourage holiday viewers to indulge their love for solitaire by downloading Solitaire Clash and enjoy “clashing with others,” the director adds.

Farhang chose to forgo shooting in real locations for the entire campaign, as he felt that the “made-up history” delivered by the narrator indicated a theater of the mind. “Creating an abstract cinematic stage articulation felt more interesting, and the client was very keen on the campaign not feeling like a typical ad,” he adds.

The result is a holiday spot that doesn’t pretend family gatherings are perfect, but instead finds humor in the chaos and offers a tongue-in-cheek solution. When the table gets tense, the cards are calling.

CREDITS:

BRAND: Solitaire Clash, Avia Games