Brown Bag Films
Challenge
Brown Bag Films were approached by Irish NGO ‘To Russia With Love’ for help in highlighting their work with abandoned and orphaned children in Russia. It was clear that a short advert would not suffice so Brown Bag developed the concept of ‘visual busking’. The idea was simple: to make a short film and put it online for free. If people are entertained or moved by it, they either text a donation to the charity directly or they share the film with friends and family to gain exposure for the charity.
Impact
The film is currently heading towards a million views online significantly raising the profile of ‘To Russia With Love’ and increasing donations for the charity. It has featured on numerous high exposure websites and screened at over 60 festivals worldwide. High profile celebrities have endorsed the project. The film has also had a direct personal impact on the featured children – in the words of one of the orphanage workers “the children used to hide in the shadows, now they act like movie stars”.
Brown Bag Films was founded in Dublin in 1994 and is now one of Europe’s most exciting, original and successful creative-led animation studios. Their cutting-edge animation has achieved international recognition including Oscar® nominations for Give Up Yer Aul Sins (2002), Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty (2010); six Emmy® awards for Peter Rabbit (2014); and a host of BAFTA, Emmy® and Annie nominations for much-loved childrens’ TV shows Octonauts, Doc McStuffins, Bing and Henry Hugglemonster.