David Edwards and Red Brick Road launch Asylum Aid’s new fundraising campaign.

To mark Asylum Aid’s new fundraising campaign, ‘The Interview’ directed by David Edwards, is being shown in DCM cinemas around the country from 9th March, highlighting the vital role Asylum Aid plays in ensuring the most vulnerable and excluded refugees are treated fairly and protected from harm.

The film, produced by Rattling Stick, dramatically exposes what happens when people seeking asylum experience the application process. The interview seen in the film, which is based on real transcripts from vulnerable refugees which Asylum Aid has supported, shows questions asked to an unrepresented female refugee, Nina.

The idea is to provoke the feeling of what it’s like to be put through the application process, while showing the need for Asylum Aid to continue their crucial work.

Having legal representation, often funded by legal aid, means refugees do not have to go through their asylum interview alone, facing potentially unfair and intrusive questions.

The advert will run throughout March in DCM cinemas, and will be supported by a high profile PR campaign and social media outreach.

David Edwards comments:

“As soon as I read the scripts from the agency I wanted to be involved in the project. At the time there was so much controversy in the press surrounding asylum seekers and it felt like this film could play a small part in balancing people’s misconceptions of their plight. These are vulnerable people that need help. There will always be those that abuse the system, but the majority are honest people that have suffered unimaginable hardship and injustice that need to be given a chance for a better life.

What gives this film its power is an amazing performance by Diany Samba-Bandza. From the moment I first met her in castings she delivered a raw and emotional performance that felt utterly genuine and honest. More amazing was that each time she repeated her performance it never lost it’s impact - she nailed it every time.

It was a project that was a privilege to be involved with and my sincere hope is that it stops and makes people think about the real hardships that asylum seekers face and that in many case it really is a life and death situation.”

Credits:
Advertising Agency: Red Brick Road
Creative Directors: Matt Davis, Richard Megson
Art Director: David Fitzsimons
Copywriter: Peter Crothers
Agency Producer: Charles Crisp
Senior Account Manager: Louis Collin
Film Production: Rattling Stick
Director: David Edwards
Producer: Polly du Plessis
DoP: Jaime Feliu-Torres
Editor: Sam Sneade @ Speade
Sound Designer: Aaron Reynolds @ Wave

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About Rattling Stick:
Rattling Stick was founded in 2006 by Daniel Kleinman, Ringan Ledwidge and Johnnie Frankel. A small production company with an unmitigated belief in quality creative output, we are no longer home to solely commercial production. We generate and produce high quality creative work in many forms, be that branded content, music videos, documentaries, title sequences, feature films or television.
At the heart of Rattling Stick is the conviction that all great communication starts with great story, irrespective of what it’s called, how long it is, how much it costs or where it lives. What excites us is brave, high quality, captivating content that makes its audience feel something. Our scope of work has ranged from the miniscule to the magnificent. We’ve chased a sunrise with 88 cameras, taken the blitz to Liverpool, raced cheetahs, dropped polar bears from planes, mastered evolution, created a serenading dog, got undressed and retold the story of the three little pigs.
Rattling Stick’s small but highly creative team ethic has been consistently recognised and awarded within the advertising industry. We have picked up lots of shiny accolades, including Cannes Grand Prix, Golds at the British Arrows, Creative Circle, Clios and several D&AD Pencils and features. The British Arrows Production Company of the Year has also been awarded to us four times and we’ve topped the Televisual Peer Poll for the last six years.
Now home to eighteen directors and with an office in the US, Rattling Stick remains a small, spirited production company, whose directors challenge, complement and encourage each other with the work they produce. www.rattlingstick.com

About Asylum Aid:
Asylum Aid is an independent, national charity working to secure protection for people seeking refuge in the UK from persecution and human rights abuses abroad. For over thirty years we have provided free legal advice and representation to the most vulnerable and excluded asylum seekers, and lobbied and campaigned for an asylum system based on inviolable human rights principles. We have helped tens of thousands of vulnerable refugees secure protection from persecution in the UK and, as part of Migrants Resource Centre, have helped migrants and refugees integrate and participate fully in society.
For more information contact media@migrants.org.uk - @asylumaid