Home Centre, a furniture and furnishings retail brand in the Middle East, has taken on the taboo around adoption and foster care in the region with an initiative called “The Homecoming.”
A prime component of the initiative is this moving film, Falling in love, launched this month on the brand’s social media platforms and in-store.
The film is an emotional visual journey that captures a couple’s apprehension, their joys, their anxieties, their collective perseverance as they overcome familial, societal as well as interpersonal odds to get to the goal of adopting a child. It’s written based on in-depth interviews with couples who have wanted to adopt or have adopted, and their journey over the 6 to 9 months it takes to adopt.
In the Middle East, adoption and fostering meet strong resistance, are actively denounced and are made legally challenging. The stigma attached runs through society, even often among family relatives.
But there is a pressing need for adoption and fostering given children orphaned by war and the refugee crisis—as well as abandoned children across the region.
This film pushes back against the taboos and misconceptions to help those parents who cannot have children as well as those parents who have children but want to add to their families through adoption and foster care.
Directed by Tahaab Rais who wrote the screenplay, the film out of Publicis Groupe MENAT–Leo Burnett Middle East features a licensed adaptation of Elvis Presley’s “Can’t Help Falling In Love.” As the film’s soundtrack, the song takes on an entirely new and profound meaning. (Director Rais serves as chief strategy officer for Publicis Groupe MENAT; this is the English version of the piece which has launched online.)
CreditsClient Home Centre Agency Publicis Groupe MENAT--Leo Burnett Middle East Bassel Kakish, CEO, Publicis Groupe; Kalpesh Patankar, chief creative officer, Leo Burnett; Tahaab Rais, chief strategy officer, Publicis Groupe; Shereen Mostafa, head of production, Leo Burnett; Kapil Bhimekar, creative director, Leo Burnett; Farhan Siddiqui, associate creative director, Leo Burnett; Judy Lamaa, sr. producer, Leo Burnett. Production Company Publicis Groupe MENAT--Prodigious ME Tahaab Rais, director, story & screenplay; Aeyaz Hasn, DP; Sami Saleh, CEO; Myriam Abi Wardeh, production operation lead; Naji Bechara, exec producer; Marie Noel Bou Haila, producer; Remy Haddad, assistant director; Rita Gergess, casting director; Charbel Zgheib, art director; Michella Beteiche, wardrobe. Actors Basmaa Baydoun, Elias Zayek. Postproduction Publicis Groupe MENAT--Optix ME Nayla Chacra, postproduction operation lead; Megan Markel, post producer. Editorial Cold Cutz Neda Zag, editor. Color LZRD Karim Mira, colorist; Eddy Farah, online. Music Seppl Kretz, Gyo Kretz and Michael Bertoldini, Magma Music Agency Music, Sound and SFX Chris Atkins and Joe Dickinson, With Feeling; Alyssa Baker, singer.
The Best Work You May Never See: C3P, No Fixed Address Show Us There Are No “Safe Spaces” In Canada When Kids Are Online
Creative agency No Fixed Address has partnered with the Canadian Centre for Child Protection (C3P) to raise awareness about the alarming increase in online child sexual exploitation in Canada. The “Safe Spaces” campaign alerts parents to the fact that nowhere is currently safe for a Canadian child--not their school, not their playground, not even their own bedroom--as soon as they’re online.
This “Safe Spaces” public service film--directed by Amélie Hardy via production company Carton Rouge--features the mothers of six victims of online sexual exploitation, telling their kid’s stories from the same places they assumed their child would be safe. These courageous moms have not only suffered the nightmare of what happened to their children, they’ve suffered under the assumption by many Canadians that it is somehow their fault for not keeping their children safe. This is the preconception the “Safe Spaces” campaign seeks to change. This can happen to anyone. Predators are everywhere online. And they’re targeting everyone. The campaign is urging Canadians to support the federal government’s Online Harms Bill, which would require social media companies to provide meaningful protection to children online.
“These courageous moms chose to share their heartbreaking stories to help Canadians understand why we desperately need legislation to protect our children from dangerous spaces online, just like we do offline,” said Lianna McDonald, executive director of C3P. “This is why we need safety regulations for the platforms kids use every day, as proposed in the Online Harms Bill.”
Alexis Bronstorph, chief creative officer at No Fixed Address, said, “We were blown away by the courage of these moms for sharing their stories.... Read More