Bringing stories imagined by GOSH School pupils to screen

Fantasy stories written by patients at Great Ormond Street Hospital have been brought to life in a series of animations by a team of professional animators, composers, song writers and celebrities.

Working closely with The Children’s Hospital School at GOSH, former volunteer Alexander Bodin Saphir worked with patients aged 5 and 12 as part of a programme of weekly story-telling workshops to provide children who have spent a lot of time in hospital with a creative outlet. In his role, Alexander also visited some of the hospital wards to provide one-to-one sessions with patients who are taught by the bedside.

A film maker and playwright by trade, over the course of a year Alexander drafted in a team of animators, composers and songwriters to turn four of the stories imagined by the children into film. Actors Sir Ian McKellen and Dame Julie Walters also gave their time to the project by lending their iconic voices to the narration!

“Many of the patients that walk through the doors of GOSH have some of the most complex or rare conditions. Life can feel very serious so to be able to allow them a sense of fun, magic and escapism is really important. Being in-and-out of hospital can really affect a child’s confidence, so we really wanted to build that back through storytelling. Hopefully seeing their stories brought to life through animation and narrated by such iconic voices that we all know from the big screen, will do just that,” says Alexander.

Take a look at the charming animation shorts based on the stories of four GOSH pupils. Watch the video playlist above or follow these links:

The Meteor and the Moon

The King and the Master Builder

A Picnic in the Park

Skinny and Fluffy

Sharing what he learned from creating his story, patient Habiballah, author of ‘A Picnic in the Park’, says: “I learned that it’s hard to make a story, but when I was on the bus to school I would dream about the story and dreaming made it easier to tell it.

“I loved making this film and one day I want to give back and work at GOSH’s Radio Lollipop and visit all the children on the wards.”

Patient Ismaeel, author of 'The King and the Master builder', also shared: “I've been told by my teachers that I'm very imaginative, but I have had trouble communicating my ideas on paper. That's why this animation project is so important to me and why my parents are so very proud.

“The characters came from football. And then my imagination just ran wild from there and we ended up with this story. I'm really chuffed that it's become an animation.”

See the playlist of animation films