Hornet’s Uri Lotan helps children with cancer find the positive emotions they need

A film for the Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation. “That’s going to be miserable,” you think.

But it’s not.

The short film by RPA, Hornet and director, Uri Lotan, was made to help children in the process of cancer treatment understand and deal with the frightening and overwhelming feelings that are probably accompanying their diagnoses. The film introduces the Foundation’s Imaginary Friend Society created by RPA to help children work through their fears.

It’s a film about a young boy who is sad, until he is taught that sad is part of life and there are people around him who can help him work his way through to feeling positive.

It’s a beautifully scripted, uplifting film.

Uri Lotan is one of Hornet’s newer signings and developing directors, who made himself known with his music video, Ma’agalim, which earned him a place in Saatchi&Saatchi’s New Director showcase at Cannes last year.

Uri wrote the script and developed the direction for the topic he was given, Feeling Sad.

“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,” Hornet commented.

“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 honourable 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.”

Jason Sperling, senior vice president & chief creative development at RPA, stated, “I’m so thrilled we could get so many real friends together to bring the Imaginary Friend Society to life. This colossal project was an absolute labour of love, worth the enormous effort it took to make it happen. To make these terrifying experiences a little easier for kids dealing with cancer, and to bring smiles to their faces during a truly difficult time, makes it all worth it.”