Titled Hey Charlie, this heart-wrenching video from the Christopher D. Smithers Foundation follows a lad named Charlie as he grows up. We see a healthy, normal, promising life turned upside down by opioid addiction.
Robert Smyth of Heavy Pictures and Brinkley Smithers directed this docu-style piece.
The Smithers Foundation, Inc. was founded in 1952 by R. Brinkley Smithers in memory of his late father. Originally, the purpose of the Foundation was to carry on the charitable activities pursued by Mr. Christopher D. Smithers during his lifetime. However, after attending the Yale School of Alcohol Studies in 1956, R. Brinkley Smithers decided that the family charitable foundation should concentrate on alcohol use disorder and addiction, and on educating the public that addiction is a medical illness.
Credits
Client The Christopher D. Smithers Foundation and LICADD Agency/Production Company Heavy Pictures Robert Smyth, Brinkley Smithers, directors; Robert Smyth, creative director/writer, producer; Brinkley Smithers, writer; Steven Chassman, executive producer (LICADD); Robert Smyth, executive producer (Heavy); Christopher B. Smithers, Nikkii Smithers, exec producers (LICADD); Cheyenne Cage, producer; Andy Catarisano, DP; Joseph Polacik, production designer; Brooke Bennett, wardrobe; Charles Zambrano, hair/makeup. Editorial Nathan Caswell, editor. Music Ryan Taubert, Sonja El Demerdash, Fabio Capelli, coposers. Sound Design Source Sound Charles Deenen, sound designer.
Tom Tagholm of Various Films directed this moving piece for the U.K.โs Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) out of creative agency MullenLowe UK.
Focused on adult social care, the public service film delves into the world of care providers and how they connect with those they help. We feel how gratifying it is to assist people in daily tasks, the value it brings to their lives--and to the lives of those who provide this special care.
Itโs a special career for people who might not have previously considered the role. Itโs about a fulfilling job that fulfills lives. Thereโs a shared, reciprocal energy that emerges from working together in this way.
Capturing this dynamic and doing justice to this human story grew out of the creatives and filmmaker spending an extended amount of time in this world--long before any scheduled lensing. At this juncture, there were no cameras, just getting to know those involved--sharing tea and chatting, driven by a curiosity about life.
And this facilitated down the line the capturing of real human stories--trying not to get in the way of the natural rhythms of these special relationships as they unfolded. The mission was to recognize and capture all this--and in some cases uncover the significant moments and feelings inside of an apparently normal day. At the same time, the role of adult special care providers isnโt sugarcoated. There are challenges on both sides of the relationship. Yet there is a magic to the seemingly mundane, practical beats in a life--getting from point A to point B, answering emails, shopping, the daily tasks where the connection felt the most vivid and inspiring. One such task was seeing a man in a kitchen, cutting an onion for the first time, experiencing the joy of cooking.
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