Family Action: Monsters

London-based And Rising has announced its partnership with national charity Family Action with the release of a new short film and campaign entitled Family Monsters Project. The campaign marks the 150^th anniversary of the charity’s foundation and is dedicated to helping people face their family ‘monsters’, including troubles with mental health and wellbeing, money pressures and parenting challenges.

In the thought-provoking film, directed by Great Guns' Duncan Christie, the pressures - or ‘monsters’ - faced by many families include money worries, feeling overwhelmed by responsibilities and work stresses. These worries are represented by animated characters that loom around the families, as a striking visual for the sometimes overbearing nature of these unresolved pressures in family life. The film will be shown in Picturehouse Cinemas across the UK.

As part of the campaign launch Family Action has published new research carried out by ICM Unlimited that reveals an estimated 38 million people in Britain face pressures on their close family. Furthermore, 61% of this group say barriers are making tackling these pressures more difficult, such as thinking other people need more support than them or not being sure who could help.

“Whenever anyone gets asked ‘how's the family?’ the answer is normally ‘fine’," says And Rising’s ECD, Will Thacker. "In reality, every family is under pressure. It’s time we put some focus on the family, re-evaluating what it actual means to us all and being open about the problems faced by all families today. Family Action is an amazing charity and the incredible, diverse work it does needs some light shining on it. We hope that the Family Monsters Project can help do this.”