KeepingItReal Campaign Films

 

Some of our most creative and thought provoking contributions are produced when a marketer supports a cause where they have personal experiences of the issues at stake. And in the case of Laura Belinky Gaiarsa and the #KeepingItReal Campaign this has led to the creation of two new films.

One in every ten teenagers in the UK will develop an eating disorder before they reach the age of twenty five. Laura, a passionate filmmaker, was one of them. Her own experience has driven her to want to highlight the issues of our increasingly body conscious society and the important work being done by Full Circle’s #KeepingItReal Campaign.
 
Short intro trailer for Laura’s documentary film 'Where I Want to Go'.

The film Where I Want to Go follows former model (and recovered bulimic) Natasha Devon who has been delivering body confidence classes since 2008. Since then over twenty thousand teenagers across the country have participated in her workshops, which aim to equip young people to think about beauty in their own terms.

Laura found the #KeepingItReal Campaign through Pimp My Cause while searching for ideas for a documentary. Laura was intrigued by the #KeepingItReal message and wanted to support their work.

The purpose of the #KeepingItReal Campaign is to engage with young people in conversations about being real and authentic, in all facets, including within relationships, bullying, weight and image, identity, careers, sport and gender equality. The campaign is run by Full Circle Education Solutions, a social enterprise promoting the potential of children and young people.

Laura explained, “from 13 to 16 years of age the dominant issue of my life was the development and managing of my Anorexia Nervosa. Curiously, before coming to London I had never talked about this period of my life or about eating disorders publicly. I felt that I owed to the new generation of women my most sincere attempt to understanding what led me to waste those years. I needed to do my part to build a debate to prevent this from happening to someone else.”

Clips from Full Circle’s #KeepingItReal Conference in Cardiff, filmed by Laura.

“This need is what took me all the way to Wales to the #KeepingItReal Conference and Campaign. In the process of filming the conference I saw Natasha Devon’s self-esteem class. I loved it; it was what I wanted to say already packaged for teenagers.” Once Laura met Natasha she knew she had the subject for her documentary. Natasha agreed to be filmed and Where I Want to Go was created. The film will be submitted to film festivals later this year and will be available to the public after submission.

Nikki Giant, Managing Director of Full Circle, says “Laura has kindly allowed us to distribute Where I Want to Go to the schools who attended our conference last year and I think it will be a great resource for them. I am planning to put some lesson plans together to go with the film for use in the classroom.”

“We are still focusing on the #KeepingItReal Campaign and will use the campaign themes this year for National Anti-Bullying Week. We are also planning to do a spin-off campaign around the idea of ‘Keeping It Respectful’."