THE CLIMB WE MAKE TOGETHER

Opportunity

Every two years, the Phelan-McDermid Syndrome (PMS) Foundation gathers the largest group of families, clinicians, and researchers that exists anywhere. The theme of the Family Conference was the climb. They needed two minutes to open it with a keynote short film.

I wanted one idea to carry the whole thing: Hope is not a feeling. It's a choice. Most days, hope is the hardest choice you could ever make, and you have to fight to keep it every single day.

My role: Concept // Creative Direction // Writing // Direction // VFX // Editorial // Audio

Challenge

Everyone walked in for a different reason. Research. A cure. Someone who understands your struggle. While some came deeply saddened with no intention of feeling anything that day. Each feeling, totally justified.

So, I had two minutes with the goal to turn all of that into one, unified “WE.”

Hope is also the easiest thing to get wrong. Push it, and it's a greeting card this audience stopped believing a long time ago. Lead with medicine and you've reduced everyone's kid to a diagnosis.

Solution

Storytelling through split-screens and cross-cutting. On one side a climber wakes before sunrise. On the other, a mother is woken by a monitor at 4:24am.

He secures a rope. She ties back her hair. He reads a challenging trail map. She reads a calendar her daughter’s OT, IEP, and PT schedule. A tired climber cuts to an epilepsy helmet. The peaks on a heart rate monitor cut to a ridgeline, because that type of readout is the mountain for any caregiver.

Mountaineering gets called adventurous and heroic. Caregiving gets called Tuesday. However, side by side, nobody has to argue they're the same thing.

Impact

The film asks nothing of the room except a decision.

It doesn't promise the climb gets easier. It doesn't pretend anyone walked in strong. It says the choice is there today, it will be there again tomorrow, and that every person in that room has already been making it for years.