The latest iteration of The Hallway’s “Go Beyond Banter” platform for The Men’s Table hits the big screen this week at The Sydney Film Festival.
The spot, created by The Hallway and directed by Paul Middleditch with Plaza Films is mostly written and performed in “Aussie Male Gibberish”, to dramatise the frustration of being stuck listening to your mates’ blokey banter when you’re really needing to have a more meaningful conversation.
Ben Hughes, co-founder of The Men’s Table said: “When you’ve got something going on for you that you really need to get out in the open and talk about, the standard bantery conversation just doesn’t cut it – it really is no better than what I like to call Amgibb – Australian male gibberish. This is why The Men’s Table exists – to provide trusted, confidential spaces for men to have the real, meaningful conversations that we all need to have from time to time. This spot sets up the problem and solution in a brilliantly entertaining way. We love it and I’m sure our audience will too.”
Simon Lee, CCO & Partner of The Hallway added: “A lot of work in the mental health space – our own included – is often necessarily quite emotionally weighty. With a film festival audience in mind though, we wanted to approach the subject with a measure of levity. In Aussie Male Gibberish we found a playful way in, and Paul balanced comic sensibility and emotional poignancy beautifully in his direction.”
Paul Middleditch said: “Mental health is a subject that’s close to my own heart, and I’m a big fan of the work that The Men’s Table do, so it’s great to have an opportunity to help them encourage more men to have more real conversations. Making this was a very enjoyable experience – there’s nothing I love more than a bunch of talented people coming together to make something good for a good cause.”
With social isolation, mental health problems and suicide being closely related issues that are affecting a rapidly increasing number of Australian men, The Men’s Table provides a trusted peer support group environment for men to connect and engage in help-seeking and help-giving, for mental, emotional, and social wellbeing and community belonging. With The Hallway’s help, the brand has already grown its national footprint by 39% in 2023 and has its sights set on having 1,000 “Tables” established Australia-wide by 2030.
