parents

A boy was bullied. So his Aussie dad made a film with Kate Winslet.

 

Galvin Scott Davis arrived home from work one night to the sight no parent likes to see – an upset child.

His nine-year-old son had been bullied that day.

So Mr Davis, a writer-director, made up a bedtime story about a boy called Benjamin Brewster and some magical dandelions with a strong anti-bullying message.

Galvin Scott Davis was inspired by his son. Image via Twitter.

“I could see his confidence wane and I wanted to get it back for him. I knew it was early stages so I wanted to act straight away and get him to act straight away,” Mr Davis told Daily Mail Australia.

The story ended with the words: “Because bullying is for people with no imagination.”

His son used the story to come up with his own solution by asking his bully to help him make a comic book – something he knew they both enjoyed.

The father of three said the duo became firm friends.

A scene from Daisy Chain.

Inspired by the incident, Mr Davis created the story-app Dandelion with the same anti-bullying message in 2012.

“I could not find one children’s book on the shelf that gave me a way to open up the discussion, so I decided to write one,” he said.

The app went off – becoming an iTunes top-seller and taking out a swag of awards.

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Next, Mr Davis created a five-minute video called Daisy Chain about a girl called Buttercup Bree who wins over her bullies with kindness.

Kate Winslet in Hamlet, where she and Mr Davis first met.

And then he managed to convince actress Kate Winslet – whom he’d met briefly 20 years earlier on the set of Hamlet – to narrate the animation.

“I called her agent and begged for them to show her the story,” he told the Daily Mail.

“To their credit, they did and she jumped on board. I honestly can’t describe how amazing it was to record the voice over with her and she was the true professional you would imagine.”

You can watch the animation here:

And the feedback has been overwhelmingly positive, the Aussie dad said.

“The stories of Dandelion and Daisy Chain are just that… stories. They are fantastical worlds, written and designed to create a universe that transports the audience. They are not meant to be a solution, they are stories to be read, watched, interacted with, if they speak to you,” he said.

“And if they ignite conversation and discussion as a product of that integration, then hopefully those conversations will create something positive. Because that would be cool.”