Nexus Studios’ Smith & Foulkes direct ‘Memory Loss’ for Imaginary Friend Society
Skwigly
Following their recent 2018 Winter Olympics launch, Nexus Studios’ Smith & Foulkes have joined the Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation’s Imaginary Friend Society with their film Memory Loss.
Working with the Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation (PBTF), ad agency RPA launched the Imaginary Friend Society in September 2017 to help teach children about their cancer treatment in a way that’s easy to understand.
The global film project sees a host of creative partners taking a different cancer related subject with a script written by RPA and advised by PBTF, to produce their own imaginary friends who bring the topic to life for children. After seeing huge su ccess, the campaign expands this week with the launch of new assets including animated film Memory Loss from Nexus Studios’ directors Smith and Foulkes.
Memory Loss takes the form of the classic ‘Pairs/Concentration’ card game and teaches children about what they might experience in terms of their memory (during their illness and treatment) via the imaginary friends’ characters featured on each of the playing cards.
It was great to be involved with this cause and amazing body of work. We don’t get to do much work for kids and nice to think that although the priority is obviously to help them understand the issues, they might be half playing the card game whilst watching.
-Smith and Foulkes
It’s one thing to have this idea, it’s another thing to rally so many award – winning animation companies around it, and have them contribute something that used so many of their resources and talent. As several animation companies told me, ‘it’s wonderful to be working on such a good cause with all the companies that we usually pitch against’.
We want to help as much as we can. The videos were just the first step. Now we’re leveraging the characters in a way that is even more vital to kids, at a time when they need them most. This truly makes the Imaginary Friend Society an ally in the fight against cancer.
-Jason Sperling, RPA’s SVP and Chief Creative Development
Last September, the PBTF and RPA unveiled 20 animated short films that explain every facet of cancer these kids face, such as What is an MRI?, Feeling Sad, Finding Out You Have Cancer, Blood Transfusions and Returning to School. Along with Nexus’s Memory Loss, Staying Friends with Your Friends (Wolf & Crow, directed by Matt Berenty) has also just been added to the collection.
We started having the Imaginary Friend Society on the GetWellNetwork at the hospital, so every kid has a little touch-screen TV over their bed that can pull up different types of content. We’ve been amazed at seeing how the kids really gravitate towards this.
-Dr. Mark Krieger, chief of neurosurgery at the Children’s Hospital in Los Angeles
The Imaginary Friend Society is now a permanent fixture in select hospitals around the country, has been translated into multiple languages and is available in several countries.
This pro-bono, global film project came to life thanks to many talented animation, music and sound-design partners from around the world. Each partner took on a different cancer-related topic with a script written by RPA and advised by the PBTF and produced their own unique imaginary friends to bring the topic magically to life, resulting in this inspired collection of work.
Learn more about the initiative at imaginaryfriendsociety.com