Released for International Nurses Day 2022 and made in association with The Empathy Museum, To the Man in Soiled Linen is a short film based on a poem by nurse Miriam Barber.
I worked very closely with Miriam to develop the concept for the film and write the screenplay: it was an immensely rewarding process. Ultimately we settled on the idea of shooting the whole film in first person, from the perspective of the patient the poem is addressed to. By quite literally putting our audience, “in his shoes” we hoped to prompt them to consider the reality of his situation, uncomfortable as it may be, in an immediate and unsentimental way.
It was a privilege to be entrusted with a poem so personal and powerful, and truly humbling to work with all the amazing NHS staff that volunteered their time to make this thing happen.
James Soldan 