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6 December 2019

Racing Welfare Mental Health Film Nominated for International Award

Racing Welfare’s flagship film to mark this year’s Mental Health Awareness Week 2019 has been accepted into the Equus Film and Art Festival, which starts in Lexington KY from today, 5th December, until Sunday 8th December.  The film was originally released on 13th May, marking the start of the charity’s response to the Mental Health Foundation’s national initiative to de-stigmatise mental health issues and normalise conversations on the subject.  Each year, Racing Welfare leads the racing industry’s support for the campaign, with the film forming a huge part of the success of the week.

Produced by the charity’s media partner, Equine Productions, Racing Welfare’s entry aims to highlight that, as is the case in wider society, on any normal raceday any number of people may be struggling with challenges to their mental wellbeing.  As part of its acceptance into the festival, the film has been short-listed for a WINNIE award at the culmination of the festival on Sunday 8th December in the Best International Short category.  Watch the film here.

The film will be aired alongside other accepted pieces across a multitude of genres from all over the world, profiling the charity’s mission and services to Equus’ international audience.  Full details of the festival can be found at www.equusfilmfestival.net.

Felicity Marshall, Communications Manager at Racing Welfare, expressed the charity’s delight at the success of the film, saying,

 

We are thrilled that the film we created with Equine Productions to mark Mental Health Awareness Week has been accepted for this year’s Equus.

She continued “The piece was watched by over sixty thousand people on social media alone during our campaign back in May and we are honoured that it has been nominated for an award at the festival.  We hope that the film will continue to reduce the stigma around mental health issues and make it easier for people to talk about how they are feeling through the fantastic international platform that Equus offers.”

Racing Welfare’s entry will be shown on Friday 6th December, with the festival awards taking place on the evening of Sunday 8th December.