No Strings 

No Strings is a unique collaboration of leading artists from the original Muppet Show and a highly  experienced humanitarian aid team, and is based on a simple idea - how to get through to people with crucial information in a way they will enjoy, engage with, and remember. 

For children, puppet films are instantly appealing. Children form instinctive relationships with puppet characters, they empathise with them, and they willingly enter their imaginary world. In doing so, they are more open to thinking about issues, which, in the real world, may have negative or distressing associations that they may understandably shy away from.  

Puppet films can act as a powerful educational medium for children anywhere in the world, and with good scripting and an experienced cast and crew, they can tackle even complex issues. 

Along with films that challenge behaviours linked to peace building and HIV/AIDS, No Strings has made films which bring alive safety messages from critical do’s and don’ts lists. 

In Afghanistan, like anywhere, it can be difficult to get children to think hard about all the places they shouldn’t play, and remember those things when it matters. 

To make these lessons more vivid and memorable, No Strings created an adventure film, loosely based on Pinocchio, in which puppet character ChucheQhalin has to learn the hard way that certain places are no-go areas, no matter how much he may be tempted to explore them. Because he’s a puppet, he can be repaired, but it’s not until he takes his lessons seriously that he’s magically turned into a real boy. 

No Strings has recently completed the fifth in a series of disaster preparedness films for South East Asia, so that the Tales of Disasters library now includes Earthquake, Tsunami, Flood/Landslide, Volcano as well as the new Cyclone/Typhoon, the former of which are currently being disseminated through local partners in Indonesia, East Timor and the Philippines. 

While our main character, Badu, teaches through negative example, always a bit too laid back, lazy or downright greedy to take disaster preparedness seriously, we have the Little Girl character, who gets it right. 

She knows how to prepare, she knows about warning signs, what to do in an emergency, and how to react afterwards. The Squirrel character is her friend, and a useful comic distraction. 

As we've mentioned, No Strings films also tackle more complex subject matter, like the conflict resolution and peace building film Two Gardens, an addition to the Tales of Disasters series and being shown throughout regions like Aceh in Indonesia, and Mindanao, Philippines, as well as HIV/AIDS related issues like stigma, gender equality, and prevention.

As with the landmine and natural disaster films, all the key messages come from experts in the field after an intense consultation period. Making these messages come alive may involve several concept ideas until all advisers in the field and on the creative side are confident that the storyline will be effective as well as enjoyable.

Because our creative team is based in New York, it’s more efficient to film there. After post production, the edited films are taken to studios in the country of launch to be dubbed into the advised number of local languages.

No Strings films are culturally sensitive, with all characters, props and sets fully approved before shoots take place, so that the final version of the films have the look and feel of an indigenous product. 

Our patrons include the actors Neil Morrissey and Hugo Speer, and X-Factor / American Idol executive producer, Georgie Hurford-Jones.