Raising Films was ‘birthed’ in Cannes back in 2015 and the five founders - Nicky Bentham, Hope Dickson Leach, Line Langebek, Jessica Levick and So Mayer - created Raising Films as a campaign aiming to bring diversity and sustainability into the film industry by organising a community of parents and carers and starting a conversation about the industry’s caring commitments. 

Over the past five years, we've collaborated with individuals and organisations across the film and TV industries to campaign for – and to make – change for parents and carers with a number of significant achievements that we are especially proud of:

• Partnering with the Film & TV Charity to set up The Family Support Fund to cover a range of needs, including emergency childcare.
• Through our intervention and support the mobile crèche WonderWorks is in situ at Warner Brothers Studio Leavesden.
• Based on the findings published in our Raising Our Game report into bullying and exclusion in the industry, we launched the Raising Films Ribbon to acknowledge best practice (to date the ribbon has been awarded to BIFA, BECTU Vision, film and TV productions and a University).
• We've championed and supported the work of Parents in Film Festivals who set up the first crèche at the Cannes Film Festival in 2019.
• Parents and carers are now considered within the BFI’s Diversity Standards.
• We helped to set-up two international chapters; Raising Films Australia and the soon-to-launch Raising Films Ireland.

In the spirit of Raising Films and to mark our half decade a number of provocations have been commissioned for the film and TV industries to consider while the sector as a whole reconfigures itself. We believe that now is the time to think organically with equality, diversity and inclusion informing every decision, in every working environment and practice. We cannot go back to ‘situation normal’, so why not change for the better?

Raising Films is working towards becoming a registered charity and our ambitions will remain; continuing to work towards building a future of fair pay, fair hours and fair practices for parents and carers working or who want to work in film and TV.

The whole Raising Films team extend huge and heartfelt thanks for all the support received since 2015 from across the film and TV industries and to you, our wonderful community; those who have shared their stories and those who champion and support the work of Raising Films in a multitude of ways – we are so grateful.

Here’s to the next five years!