A RARE FIND
Awareness film - 2023

Status: Released
Produced by Apprentice Films

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LOGLINE

A comedy short with a difference, raising awareness of newborn screening and the UK heel prick test.

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SYNOPSIS

A Rare Find is a comedy short film with a difference, as it hopes to raise awareness and start conversation surrounding newborn screening, the blood spot/heel prick test, and the desperate need for positive progress within the current UK newborn screening programme (which at present screens for only 9 conditions - for context, the USA screen for up to 59).

Life with a newborn is hard enough, as our struggling young parents (Jack Robertson & Chantelle Taggart) find, but the challenges of a long "diagnostic odyssey" can make this even harder. Early screening can be a huge positive step to find out if a rare condition is present, as early intervention and therapy is absolutely key.

The blood spot/heel prick test currently checks for 9 rare conditions in the UK and is ordinarily taken in the first five days of a newborn's life, although as in the film babies can be screened up to the age of 12 months should parents reconsider (in this case the blood spot will test for all conditions except cystic fibrosis, which can only be screened for up to 8 weeks of age).

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AWARDS & SELECTIONS

  Won - Gold, Smiley Charity Film Awards, 2024
  Won - Distinction Award, Three Acts of Goodness Micro Film Festival, 2024
  Finalist, World Health Organization Health for All Film Festival, 2024
  Official selection, Manchester Health Film Festival, 2024

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CREDITS

WRITING
  Writer: John Lee Taggart

DIRECTION
  Director: John Lee Taggart

CAST
  Narrator: Robert Webb
  Jack Robertson
  Chantelle Taggart
  Cora Lily Taggart
  Chris Houghton-Coldwell
  Featuring: Oliver Cape
  Featuring: Chloe Taggart
  Featuring: John Lee Taggart

PRODUCTION
  Producer (Media Borne): Chris Thompson
  Production Coordinator: Rebecca Gallagher
  Production Assistant: Johno Ramsay

CAMERA & LIGHTING
  Director of Photography: Dan Gregson
  Cinematography: Daniel Patrick Vaughan

ART, ANIMATION & COSTUME
  Poster Artwork: Lingxi Zhang

POST-PRODUCTION
  Editor: Jack McBride

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MADE WITH

  The Newborn Screening Collaborative
  UK LSD Collaborative
  Media Borne
  AGSD-UK
  ArchAngel MLD Trust
  Batten Disease Family Association
  CATS Foundation
  Children's Heart Federation
  Fragile X Society
  The Gauchers Association
  Max Appeal
  MLD Support UK
  MPS Society UK
  Muscular Dystrophy UK
  Niemann-Pick UK
  Pompe Support Network
  Spinal Muscular Atrophy UK

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Assembled 2026-08-18 from apprenticefilms.com.
If anything here is wrong, tell us and it is corrected everywhere at once.