October 25, 2022
The “Famiglie per Mano” / “Families holding Hands” project is an initiative launched by the municipal Social Services of Brescia, Italy, in collaboration with the association Coordinamento Famiglie Affidatarie – CFA. The project consists of finding individuals or families able and willing to support and walk alongside households facing temporary difficulties, offering practical, everyday help. The objective is to allow affected children to remain with their parents rather than go into foster care.
When working out the structure of the video, I thought it would be paramount to begin by showing the extent of the problem. Thankfully, the people of the Municipal Social Services had all the data that we could ever need. After taking a look at their tables and crunching the numbers, we realized that one out of fifteen families are currently under their observation and care. Frankly, it was a number that surprised us all.
After the opening, the interviewees Matteo Faini from CFA, and Arianna Ferrari and Costanza Fiorilla from the Municipal Social Services of Brescia explain how it all started and how the project actually works, through a few examples of situations that occur to many families on a day to day basis.
Every good PSA ends with a call to action. And I thought that it would be most impactful if it came directly by the three interviewees. So I asked them to actually turn their heads towards the camera and talk directly to the viewer. This isn’t something that comes naturally to anyone, but all three did amazingly well.
The shots and lights were setup by the amazing Director of Photography Chiara Cadeddu. I took care of the editing and motion graphics.
I also composed an ad hoc music piece that could convey the enthusiasm behind the project. My objective was to make a piece that started somber during the description of the problem at hand and then picked up the pace enthusiastically while the interviewees explained how the project came to be and how it could help families in need.
For more information about the project, visit its page on the CFA website.
