Tell My Daughter

For the past two years I have been writing, producing and directing a series of 23 short films, directed by 21 women in the UK and US, to support survivors of assault and abuse. The films have been edited into one feature film, Everything I Ever Wanted To Tell My Daughter About Men. I am looking for financial support to release and market the film, worldwide, as a non-profit release, in conjunction with UK [The Circle] and US [Rise] survivor support charities. 

Alongside the film we been launching a series of international fundraising readings, [of the play the film is adapted from]. These readings create safe spaces and raise awareness and funds for survivors. Thus far we have had the event at The Wallis Annenberg in LA and at Shakespeare's Globe in London. We would love to be able to afford to do more of these. 

Lastly, we shot a photographic mural campaign during lockdown to draw awareness to the steep rise in domestic violence during the pandemic. We are looking for visible city spaces to be able to put this campaign into public consciousness. All information about the projects can be found at www.tellmydaughter.com 

In 2015 I wrote a film directed by Amy Berg, An Open Secret, which investigated child abuse within Hollywood. It fell on deaf ears. It was before #metoo and I was gutted that the survivors who came forward, were under-served and under-supported.

It motivated me to write a play about abuse and this became an account of my own experience of child abuse between the ages of 6 and 8; I realised it had informed all my subsequent relationship choices. I felt if I could share this experience - these realisations - it might help someone else.

When we did the first reading, five women came forward and asked if they could direct scenes from it as short films; they had identified with the material. That's when the idea struck. I would found the company, find female directors, make the short films, build a survivors story. This snowballed into hundreds of people, hundreds of survivors, volunteering to help make this happen.

I want to be able to get the work out there. To continue using film and theatre to tell survivors stories and to serve the people who have given their energy to the project and the community.

At present for every 3 months of lockdown, 15 Million more women and children are being exposed to domestic violence.

At present calls to child abuse helplines are fast disappearing because children are trapped at home with their abusers.

I am working with Rise, [Amanda Nguyen, US], Women's Refuge [Chloe Edwards, UK] and The Circle [ Raakshi Saha, Global] to try to find a platform for our film that is willing to donate all profits to support women, men and children trapped in domestic violence and abuse situations.

Any large platform – Amazon – Netflix – iTunes – could host the film and use it to do good - at this time. 

They can agree to release sales to combined charities eg: – The Circle, Women’s Refuge, Save The Children, RAINN and Domestic Abuse helplines.

And we would appeal – simultaneously – to Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Google – to get their global support and have abuse and domestic violence helplines more readily available to come up on international algorithms. 

We can use the film to draw attention to the shadow pandemic. And set a precedent that films can be released to be of service, rather than profit. 

The film industry does not tend to release feature films in a non-profit capacity. I believe documentaries and features about the environment, about animal poaching, about wartime atrocity, about asylum seekers, should be able to raise money to support their subjects. I want to explore where we can help set this precedent.

The Everything film is also unique in that it is a patchwork of 23 films shot by 21 first time female directors. I wanted to support women into the industry. To help women who had always wanted to make that step. We sought gender parity on every set and achieved it. We found hundreds of crew members willing to give their time for nothing because they cared about the issue. And we shot a PSA featuring cast and crew, many of whom stepped forward and volunteered -  'I'm A Survivor.'

https://vimeo.com/343189589

I want to help set a precedent for working and storytelling in this way. The film, combined with the fundraising performances of the play, use art, fiction as a springboard to discussion. This can be an easier route in for survivors  -and the events, with speakers like Amanda Nguyen, saw many people come forward to seek support. 

Our objective was to provide a safe space to discuss abuse and domestic violence in order to support people in coming forward to get help. I honestly didn't know whether this would actually work.

We had 23 separate shoots and on each shoot I was privately approached by at least one crew member who told me their story. A story they had never - in some cases - been told before. They said it was the material and the group coming together in support of it, that gave them to courage to speak.

At each shoot we shot the PSA, the crew given the option to read a statement to camera - I BELIEVE YOU, I HEAR YOU, ME TOO, I'M A SURVIVOR - everyone chose to do it; men and women stepping forward to volunteer their truth. It was incredibly moving.

At the events, the same thing happened. The speakers who introduced the play, the musicians - everyone said openly why they were there; that they had experienced abuse. And afterwards, the amount of people who came forward to talk, to say thank you - there is a vital need to utilise art to provide a forum for sharing.