Many people’s lives have changed since the WHO declared the COVID-19 pandemic. The world had to adapt to lockdown restrictions, working from home, social distancing, school closure, and financial insecurity. However, for some family members, these conditions meant living in captivity along with their aggressors. According to ANAIS Association — which fights for those who cannot defend themselves — domestic violence increased during the pandemic, with the restrictions associated with the world health crisis keeping women together with their attackers.
Getting out of a toxic relationship is difficult for the victims, as abusers are often someone they trust and with whom they shared history. But these offenders know how to build their way back to their partners’ hearts, manipulating them with gifts and falsely promising a better life, eventually keeping them in a vicious circle.
Hoping to raise awareness in women and make them ask for help, the humanitarian association teamed up with the agency Cheil | Centrade and launched the “Guilt Gifts Puppetry” campaign. The initiative takes shape as a series of experimental plays to tackle domestic violence, using toys belonging to real victims to narrate stories of women affected by abusive relationships.
During this week’s #ThrowBrandThursday, we remind our readers of ANAIS’ puppet theater show, which includes eight plays showcasing true cases of women being aggressed by their partners. Narrated by the toys, the stories reveal the harmful consequences of “guilt gifting” and how through this seemingly harmless and well-intentioned act, the abusers perpetuate the traumatic experiences of the victims.
The campaign’s first episode launched on International Women’s Day: “The month of March is all about gifts, and we would like for these gifts to have the same positive meaning for all women. We would like women coming to us for help to understand that they deserve only gifts given out of love and respect. To know that they are not alone, that they are offered protection, and that in fact, the most precious gift is to free themselves from a destructive relationship. Violence can never be justified, and their silence should not be bought with a gift,” Carmen Nemeș, ANAIS President, said.
Stuffed toys were transformed into professional theater puppets. Choreographers, dancers, and projection mapping artists volunteered to help bring the campaign to life, while famous Romanian actors lent their voices to the toys. Also, Artmark — the country’s leading auction house — joined the initiative, offering to help the association auction the toys and raise more funds. But most importantly, the pro-bono campaign sparked a national discussion about domestic abuse.
“Cheil | Centrade strongly believes in the principle of Doing Good with Data. That is why we work pro bono with ambitious and thoughtful organizations such as ANAIS, always on the lookout for innovative storytelling solutions to help them. The ‘Guilt Gifts Puppetry’ is the first experimental theater project aimed at fighting domestic violence, in the current restrictive circumstances where theater itself is a victim of the pandemic. We are confident that our team and partners’ combined efforts will not go unnoticed and that we will inspire as many people as possible to contribute by donating in exchange for watching this touching series,” Mihai Gongu, Executive Creative Director Cheil | Centrade, added.
“This project was a get-together of extraordinary partners, screenwriters, directors, puppeteers, famous actors, choreographers, dancers, scenographers who put their heart and soul into it, which is why I take this opportunity to thank them yet again for their involvement. The times are such that those working in theaters have been seriously affected and so has been the theater-loving public deprived of the art they adore; therefore, we hope that this experimental content project will be a breath of fresh air, especially since everything is for a cause ever so noble — helping the silent victims of violence,” Roxana Niță, Group Creative Director Cheil | Centrade, explained.
Check out the case study video of the campaign below. An online portal the association created for the campaign hosts all the episodes, which are waiting to be discovered by the audience. Also, the public is kindly asked to financially contribute with a donation to watch them, with proceeds used to finance ANAIS projects supporting victims.
Credits:
Client: ANAIS Association
President: Carmen Nemeș
Executive Director: Mihaela Mangu
Psychotherapist: Adela Szenteș
Agency: Cheil | Centrade
Executive Creative Director: Mihai Gongu
Group Creative Director: Roxana Niță
Copywriter: Alexandru Iliescu, Ionuț Iordache
Art Director: Ana-Ramona Tanasă
Client Service Director: Carmen Miruță
Account Director: Maria Trepcea
Senior Account Manager: Ana Maria Rădulescu
AV Director: Monica Garbur
Social Media Manager: Veronica Bratu
PR Specialists: Melania Răduțoiu, Ana Maria Gavrilă
Digital Project Manager: Cosmin Slăbescu, Mihai Tatu
Developers: Alexandru Cancel, Francisc Lorinczi
Lightwave Theatre Company
Petru Stratulat: Actor puppeteer & audio editing
Cristina-Andreea Ion: Puppeteer Coordinator
Oana Mihaela Cercel: Actor puppeteer
Les Ateliers Nomad (screenwriting, animation, post-production, co-artistic directing)
Alex Petroșanu: Creative Director
Cezar Șomîtcă: 3d Animator / Compositing
Horia Teodor: 2d Animator/ Editor / Compositing
Radu Nechit: Editor: Shooting Coordinator
Ana Cohut: 2d Animator / Illustrator
Robert Erdös: 2d Animator
Matei Derșidan: Team Coordinator
DOP & photography
Adi Bulboacă
Mike’s School of Dance
Dancers: Răzvan Rotaru, Corina Platon
Actors
Victor Rebengiuc: Teddy Bear voice
Mihai Gruia Sandu: Elephant voice
Dana Tapalaga: Giraffe voice
Medeea Marinescu: Octopus voice
Gabriela Bobeș: Bee voice
Isabela Neamțu: Cat voice
Radu Bânzaru: Monkey voice
Marius Săvescu: Zebra voice
Chainsaw Europe
Hasan Nasser / Andrei Vasilache: Master and sound editing
Mircea Lacatus / Smaranda Dacian: Video editing
Oana Manea / Raluca Iutes: Post-production coordinators
Music: Sonic Arts Music