Responsibility
Jared’s New Film Brings an Oscar-Winning Team to Discover Botswana’s Diamonds
By Sam Broekema, Published: September 23, 2025
Claudia Cividino, President of Jared, speaks with Only Natural Diamonds about the brand’s new film, A Diamond is Born, and the vital role of provenance in the story of natural diamonds.
Mpho Tadubana holds a rough diamond in Botswana from the 2025 Jared film by director Luc Jacquet, A Diamond is Born. (Courtesy of Jared)
There are several notable films that center on a piece of jewelry to tell us about the relationship between humans and jewels. However, films that focus on the natural diamond itself—its origins, meaning, and impact—are few and far between. That’s what makes Jared’s new film A Diamond is Born, shot on location in Botswana, so compelling. Only Natural Diamonds sat down with Jared President Claudia Cividino to discuss the project, directed by Oscar-winning filmmaker Luc Jacquet of March of the Penguins.
The brand celebrated the film with a cocktail party and screening hosted by newly-named ambassador Antonia Gentry, who wore pieces from Jared’s Storied collection. Cividino reveals how the film came to be and what she sees as the responsibility of the jewelry industry in connecting with the consumer.
Meet the Expert
- Claudia Cividino has been the President of Jared Jewelers since January 2023.
- With over 20 years of experience in luxury retail, Cividino has worked with some of the world’s most recognizable brands like Loro Piana, Bally, Prada Group, Coach, Saint Laurent, and more.
Jared on the Importance of Creative Freedom in Natural Diamond Storytelling
Only Natural Diamonds: How did you land on the direction for the film? It is so powerful in the way that it tells the diamond’s story differently from how it is commonly told.
Claudia Cividino: That’s very interesting to hear you say that. I think you’re right. I was very purposeful in giving Luc Jacquet total creative freedom. I wanted to be very careful so as not to influence any of his decisions with an agenda.
OND: What a gift for an artist to have that.
Cividino: I think he felt that way. But he has been a past collaborator of mine, so we have this inherent trust in our relationship. I knew the quality of what I would receive from him. When you have that level of trust with someone, then you really can give them creative license. Ultimately, he’s creating something that is also a brand expression. So, it’s not so straightforward. He did a beautiful job, and I am so happy.
The one thing that I did ask was that it be an art film, but that it should convey the true facts of a natural diamond. That was also very easy for him because Luc is a trained scientist before he’s a trained filmmaker. He spent four years in Antarctica capturing the emperor penguins as a scientist, not as a filmmaker.
He captured so much footage of them, their mating habits and their family habits and that’s what culminated in a film that won an Academy Award, that touched people’s hearts. But that wasn’t his origin point. His origin point as a filmmaker was as a scientist. And I simply asked him to bring both of these parts of his vision or his view with my vision to life, and I think he totally delivered an amazing piece of art.
OND: As a scientist, he focuses on a different set of values from the 4Cs which we are very well known. I was wondering if you could talk about that strategy. Did it come from Luc?
Cividino: It was less a strategy than an intention. I mean, I had a very specific intention in wanting the film to be made, and the intention was that diamonds are so much more than their 4Cs. At the heart of natural diamonds is a purpose. This is so much more valuable than these 4Cs, even though those components are what make a diamond valuable and rare. Those million permutations are what make them special, but that’s not what gives them meaning.
From Botswana to Jared: The Powerful Journey of a Natural Diamond
OND: Why do you think it’s important to outline the natural diamond’s journey?
Cividino: I think that diamonds are at great risk of being commoditized. Because lab grown diamonds are a commodity, they are commoditizing the entire category. As an industry, as people who care about this industry, and as consumers who care, and for whom natural diamonds have been the perfect symbol of love for centuries. I think we all care, we just don’t know we do. I wanted to create something that would inspire and maybe inspire action.
OND: Do you often have consumers or clients coming in and asking about sustainability and conservation as it pertains to diamonds, natural or not?
Cividino: Yes, and it’s interesting because we actually conducted a study at Jared a few years ago to understand the Jared consumer, writ large. What we learned is that the Jared consumer is 60 percent more likely than a consumer of the other brands within Signet to care about sustainability and 60 percent more likely to therefore take responsible actions.
Now that data point was not the inspiration for creating the collection and doing the work of building our own bespoke blockchain. But it was a data point that spoke to me when we uncovered it in the research, because we do get questions across the counter. This really happens on an engagement journey; it doesn’t really happen in fashion jewelry. But in an engagement, we’ll get questions about the nature of lab grown diamonds, and we get questions from both sides of the fence.
Jared Meets an Authentic New Ambassador
OND: I was wondering about the subject of the film, Mpho Tadubana. Who found her?
Cividino: Such a great story. Luc found her. He went to the factory that we partnered with for the diamonds, which is called KGK. This was a factory that is a pristine example of sustainable production; it is 100 percent solar powered. Luc was literally in the factory on the floor and looking for someone, as he wanted to capture this process. He spotted her and then used her as the protagonist.
Luc made two trips to Botswana, and on the first trip, he captured a certain amount of footage, where she was present in a certain way. Then Luc went back and captured more footage of her. We loved her natural essence, I mean, the sweetest, sweetest young woman. We realized we needed to have her in person to celebrate the film. So, we flew her in. She came to meet me the day before at our offices. She had never been to New York City, she certainly had never starred in a movie, and then she saw herself for the first time up on that big screen Wednesday night. It was wild.
OND: Do you know her origin story? Is she originally from Botswana?
Cividino: Oh yes, she is. She has been a diamond planner for sixteen years, all with KGK.
OND: I feel like the more you learn about Botswana, you discover that it is such a model for what you can do when you harness the power of a natural diamond: the growing economy, but also the educational system, the healthcare, the roads, all built from natural diamonds. Was it Luc’s idea to focus on one person and one part of it, or were there other parts of the diamond’s journey that he had looked at? Will there be a part two?
Cividino: Well, there may be a part two! We are actually doing more work at Jared on the nature of natural diamonds.
OND: Excited to hear more to be revealed!
