Sonder Films will soon show how much they 'Care'.

2 February 2026

The lovely people at Sonder have announced the cast for a short film called 'Care' that's currently in production. Writer / director Joel Barney has revealed that the film explores the UK’s unpaid carers allowance crisis.

Sonder's short film 'Care', which is currently in production, centres on Simon and Freya who, meet in a tribunal centre, and shines a light on the scandalous neglect of unpaid carers in the UK. The film's protagonists have both been summoned by the Department for Work & Pensions for different reasons, but both are dealing dealing with issues relating to their carers allowance.

According to writer / director Joel Barney, "The story is loosely based on real stories we read about during the writing and research process. There are hundreds of documented cases where carers have had their allowance abruptly cut off, or have been asked to repay thousands of pounds after unknowingly earning as little as £1 over the eligibility threshold."

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There’s no shortage of unfinished scripts sitting on my desktop, and this project felt like the right one to finally bring that ambition to life.

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Joel Barney            

Barney is extremely pleased to be able to reveal that actors Frankie Box, who starred in 'Bird' and Sagar Radia from 'Industry' have agreed to take part. The director says: "I’m a big admirer of both of their work - I loved Sagar’s portrayal of Rishi in Industry and have enjoyed watching the character evolve in the third series, and I was a huge fan of Frankie’s performance in Bird last year."

Barney describes 'Care' as Sonder's first 'proper' short film, "Sonder began with the three of us making short films in the basement of Oscar’s parents’ house, which gradually grew into music videos and, eventually, commercial work.

"For the past couple of years, we’ve been keen to return to narrative filmmaking. There’s no shortage of unfinished scripts sitting on my desktop, and this project felt like the right one to finally bring that ambition to life. 'Care' is a self-funded project by Sonder, with the intention of taking it through the festival circuit, but more importantly, of raising awareness around an urgent and underrepresented issue."

Sonder will soon move into their new office near Exmouth Market, and when they do, they say we're all welcome to pop by for a brew. Shall we all go at once?