When multinationals avoid paying tax, they rob people of the money used to fund vital public services. The film begins like a film trailer from a Hollywood heist movie, but we soon realize the robbers aren’t after money. The expressionless masked characters, representing corporations who don’t pay their fair share of tax, rush through the doors, past reception and into what we discover is not a bank, but a hospital. In a meticulously coordinated and choreographed operation, the robbers begin to remove vital, life saving equipment from the hospital. Each scene is a moment of choreographed ruthlessness. They steal pills, oxygen masks, and intravenous drips. The final remover stops in his tracks as he hears a crying baby. He hovers over the incubator and unplugs the life supporting machine, as the babies mother watches on, and we see the real human impact of these callous actions.

Oxfam’s inequality campaign, "Even it Up", includes a focus on corporate tax. 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 needed to create a clear link between tax - inequality - poverty to show the human impact of these issues, particularly on the world’s poorest. The film should raise awareness of how immense this connection and issue is and encourage/motivate audiences to engage in conversations online about this issue. The film furthermore presents Oxfam as compassionate and passionate about the issue and drive public concern through a petition and broaden the conversation over tax and its impact outside of the film.

The main challenge in editing this piece was to get the tone right. We wanted to find a balance where initially the masked guys appeared cool, in a heist movie sort of way, before the viewer realizes that they are the bad guys. We tried out lots of different music, as some initial tracks made it feel like we were celebrating them, obviously not what we wanted to convey. We also played a lot with the rhythm and pacing, as we wanted to find the right level of intrigue, tension, suspense and ultimately horror, all while trying to keep the cut to a specific length. We found that letting shots play out longer was just as effective as quick cutting to build the tension.