Hornet and Uri Lotan were tapped by RPA to participate in their film series for the Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation. Cancer is scary and overwhelming in itself, but to be diagnosed as a child can be even more terrifying, as well as incredibly confusing. By creating a group of characters called the Imaginary Friend Society, RPA embraced the task and conceived these films to help teach kids about the process of cancer treatment in a compassionate and yet realistic manner.
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There is an emotional clarity to Uri’s work and a true intentional craft to his characters’ actions. The piece chosen for Uri was Feeling Sad. And what is sadness? It is such a broad topic, yet RPA and Uri did a fantastic job writing the script and developing the direction. We were drawn to this film as it had a depth and an intelligence to its approach to sadness. These are kids that we are speaking to, and yet we do not want to speak down to them, thus the tone of the film had to feel real and honest.
For Hornet, this work was deeply personal. As with most people nowadays, many of our team have been touched by cancer, so there was not a hesitation to dive right in and be a part of it. And being a pro bono film, it was a true investment of our time, Uri’s time and the entire studio’s time. It was an honorable task to create a film that can help these children navigate the immensity of emotions, and still present it in a tone that is approachable and graspable.
