New Crisis Film Imagines Waking in a World Without Homelessness

In their 50th year, Crisis, the national charity for homeless people, are taking action to make sure they are not still needed 50 years from now. Working with others, their intention is to produce a plan to show how together we can end homelessness once and for all.

London-based production company 3angrymen were commissioned to produce a film that would mark Crisis' anniversary and galvanise support for their ambition to end homelessness.

“We’d wanted to make a film for Crisis for a few years now,” said Thom Wood, founder and producer at 3angrymen. "The work they do is vital, it affects people we see every day and it’s more relevant than ever. Plus, with them originating in East London, they’re pretty much neighbours for us.”

3angrymen have previously created films with several other charities including NSPCC/Childline, Mencap, Plan International, Build Africa and the Scouts.

“We liked the brief a lot, it was a client essentially setting out to make itself obsolete, which is an interesting position. The challenge was finding a way to tackle the subject without showing it. Crisis were clear from the outset, they didn’t want to show homelessness in the same, tired, conventional ways.” 

“Our answer was to look to the future, to imagine waking in a world the day that homelessness was no more. What happens when something in your peripheral vision changes?”

The film, set in the early hours of the day, visits several spots that you might expect to see a homeless person living in, now vacated, only a few belongings alluding to who’d been there before. The visuals are accompanied by poetry, written by spoken-word poet Francesca Beard and read by a Crisis member, Lewis Ford, himself an aspiring actor.

Guy Saville, founder and director at 3angrymen commented, “Having Lewis perform the poem and feature on camera was the icing on the cake for us. We listened to a couple of tests he’d recorded and his vocal talent was apparent, it instantly felt like a perfect match for Francesca’s writing. With a subject like this you crave authenticity, so it meant a lot to have someone who’d had their own experiences of homelessness be the cornerstone of the film.”

The film was shot over two days at locations around London, with Director of Photography Adrian Peckitt (Undercranked). The film was used at the announcement of Crisis’ 50th Anniversary, alongside the launch of the charity’s new brand and #EverybodyIn campaign. It will continue to be used throughout the year for various purposes.

“The finished project surpassed all expectations,” said Kate Nightingale, Head of Marketing & Communication at Crisis. “A beautiful, inspiring and bold expression of Crisis’ aspiration to end homelessness. We are just thrilled with the result.”