How do you make an awareness film about a condition that never looks the same twice?

That was the poser handed to DUDE Milan by FightTheStroke, an Italian foundation that supports young stroke survivors, children with cerebral palsy and their families. Instead of answering it, the agency made the struggle the crux of the story.

Cerebral palsy is one umbrella condition, but it can impact movement, posture, communication, coordination and independence in profoundly different ways from one person to the next. That’s what makes it so hard to explain, let alone represent on screen.

Last year, DUDE and FightTheStroke launched their partnership with a manifesto film introducing the condition. This year’s brief was to go deeper and make cerebral palsy recognisable by showing its many different manifestations.

This year’s campaign, A Truly Cerebral Campaign, leads with a self-aware, gently comic short film about a creative team trying, and failing, to find the one “right” way to portray a complex disability as cerebral palsy. It follows a creative team handed an impossible brief – to explain cerebral palsy clearly and definitively, in 30 seconds, within a week. Their neat one-line definition doesn’t survive the casting studio, as every person they meet adds something new. With each rewrite the script grows longer and less certain, until the whiteboard is crammed with caveats and the team concludes, deadpan, “We might need a smaller font”.

By mixed workplace comedy with casting scenes featuring real people with cerebral palsy, the film lets the audience learn alongside the creatives and reach the same realisation that cerebral palsy isn’t one thing, and it can’t be told as a single story. It closes with a call to action – there are countless ways to represent the condition, because there are countless ways to live with it, so it’s time to show the world your talents.

The second phase of the campaign invites people with cerebral palsy around the world to send in a simple self-tape, introducing themselves, talking about their condition and, above all, showing what they can do. That could be dancing, sport, singing, playing an instrument, speaking languages, their job, a hobby or simply an everyday task done their own way. Entries are shared using #TrulyCerebral and tagging @FightTheStroke. They will become part of the Truly Cerebral Casting Archive, an evolving digital collection designed to help agencies, production companies, filmmakers and brands discover new faces and make inclusive casting a more natural part of how stories get told.

Francesca Fedeli, president of FightTheStroke Foundation, stated, “”For years, we have tried to explain cerebral palsy through what it can limit. But no definition could capture the whole experience, because cerebral palsy never looks the same from one person to another. If even a creative team cannot identify the ‘right’ person with cerebral palsy, how can we expect the world to recognise the condition through a single face or a single story? That is why we are not looking for one person to represent everyone. We are opening the casting to everyone.”

Livio Basoli, CCO & Partner at DUDE Milano, said, “Last year taught us how difficult it is to define and represent cerebral palsy without simplifying it. 

Lorenzo Picchiotti, CCO & Partner at DUDE Milano, added, “So, this year, we decided to turn that experience into the campaign itself. There is no single way cerebral palsy looks or feels. And there shouldn’t be a single way to represent it.”

A Truly Cerebral Campaign launched on October 2 across FightTheStroke’s website, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and LinkedIn with media by Kotton.

Credits
Client: FightTheStroke
Agency: DUDE Milano
Chief Creative Officers & Partners: Livio Basoli, Lorenzo Picchiotti
Creative Directors: Ilaria Biani, Cecilia Rocchetta
Chief Strategy & Innovation Officer: Lorenzo Foffani
Senior Strategic Planner: Grazia Zucchiatti
Head of Content: Ludovica D’Aquino
Business Director: Elena Panza
Account Director: Ilario Ruffini
Senior Account Manager: Antonia Martone
Head of Physical Production: Simone Raddi
Senior Producers: Maria Chiara Muglia, Irene Taverna
Junior Producer: Gabriele Lippi
Production Coordinator: Francesca Di Donna
Post Production Director: Seba Morando
Post Producer: Silvia Brigoli
Junior Post Producer: Greta Verderio
Editor & Motion Designer: Alessandro Menotti

Director: Tommaso Pitta
DOP: Luca Esposito
1AD: Isabella Corsini
2AD: Violetta Sbaragli Production Manager: Matteo Selvatico
Production Assistant: Vittoria Vitina Di Legami
Photographer: Isabella Sanfilippo
Assistant Photographer: Elisa Turri
Casting Director: Alessia Tonellotto @ StiCasting

Colour Grading: Anna Visigalli
Sound Design & Mix: Operà Music
Soundtrack: Tommaso Porro

Media Partner: Kotton