‘The Heist No One Is Talking About’ starts out like a film trailer from a Hollywood heist movie but we soon realise that the robbers aren’t after money. The spot shows masked robbers wreaking havoc on a hospital, to illustrate the fact that companies are dodging approximately £78bn in tax in poor countries annually. These actions strip them of the necessary funds they need for vital services. Just a third of this is enough to cover the bill for essential healthcare that could prevent the needless deaths of mothers, babies and children.

The lack of transparency in taxation allows large multinationals to avoid paying their fair share. This hits the world’s poorest hardest as developing countries lose out on vital tax revenue that could be spent on essential services like health, education and sanitation. This film dramatises the human cost of tax avoidance on the world’s poorest. Like a trailer to a blockbuster movie, it aims to get people talking about the issue and put pressure on governments to urgently tackle tax secrecy, helping put an end to tax dodging. The film was launched in the lead up to the UK Chancellor’s Autumn Budget and subsequently pushed on the release of the Paradise Papers. Opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn shared the film on social and the topic was debated in Parliament.

The film set out to highlight the direct link between tax - inequality - poverty and show the human impact of these issues, particularly on the world’s poorest. The film needed to make the conversation human and raise awareness of how immense this connection and issue is between these factors. Encouraging and motivating audiences to engage in the conversation and sign a petition.