Unauthorised Absence

Unauthorised Absence is a 15 minute narrative short film born from lived experience and shaped by the testimonies of hundreds of families who are being harmed by the very institutions intended to support them.

At its centre is a mother placed under intolerable pressure by an education system that repeatedly mistakes her daughter’s distress for defiance. Our aim is to spotlight the real, human experiences that live behind headlines and statistics about attendance or education reform: the sensory distress of a child, the exhaustion of a parent, and the gradual erosion of a family under constant scrutiny.

At a time when media attention and public discourse is focused on data, statistics and labels, our film is designed to evoke empathy and understanding for the real families, and the real stories, behind the headlines.

We have collaborated with some of the UK’s most brilliant filmmakers, many of whom are parents themselves, to bring this story to life in a way that is authentic, meaningful, and beautiful. We also are working with parents, educators, academics, campaigners and organisations to promote better education and wellbeing for all children, regardless of their unique barriers to learning.

For us, this starts by offering policymakers the chance to see and experience these issues through the eyes of a family living them. That really is the power of Film.

This project has been community crowdfunded so every contribution, no matter the size, helps us to finish the film and bring it to the audiences who need to see it most.