Christmas Is Coming
Inspired by the true struggle of ARFID victims in the holiday season
📸: Cameron Summers (@satsoomers)
📸: Cameron Summers (@satsoomers)
Giving voices to an underrepresented group
I discovered ARFID (Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder) when this idea was presented to me. A somewhat unheard of eating disorder, it is characterised by limiting the volume or variety of food consumed, often due to sensory sensitivity, and can lead to a lack of interest in eating as a whole. Upon hearing this, making this film became a priority for me.
Filmmaking for me has always been about telling stories, and when the opportunity comes around to use my voice to call attention to a marginalised group or something important that’s not being covered by the mainstream, I take action. “Christmas Is Coming” was a fantastic opportunity to raise awareness for the ARFID community.
📸: Cameron Summers (@satsoomers)
Putting the audience in someone else’s shoes
ARFID is particularly unique as it typically stems from an aversion to certain textures. Director Finlay Cronshaw-Hardy, a struggler of ARFID himself, conceptualised of a way to make the viewer experience his struggles: we were to make a film with the most disgusting sound design possible, so that every texture of food could be audibly felt.
It was intended to be absolutely repulsing, and I truly believe we got the effect we wanted. Watching the film is a struggle in the best possible way. What was especially rewarding was hearing from members of our course and lecturers how hard the film had hit them, and how it had made them check out the original poem that the film had been based on. For me, encouraging the conversation around ARFID was the most important thing when producing this film.