feature's & Shorts by motion focus media

At Motion Focus Media, we don’t want to make films that simply entertain for a few minutes and disappear. We want to make work that has a purpose, films that start conversations people avoid, and stories that leave an audience thinking long after the screen goes dark. That’s exactly why we created The Last Letter and it’s also why the bigger end goal has always been our next project, Crack On.

The Last Letter, written and directed by Richy Thrower, is a short film built around the emotional weight of what’s left unsaid. It’s a story about silence and the damage it can do when someone is carrying more than the world realises. The film explores the kind of internal pressure that doesn’t always show on the outside, where memory, regret, and isolation can combine into something overwhelming. We wanted the story to feel personal and grounded, because the reality it reflects is personal and grounded too. It isn’t a film designed to shock for the sake of it. It’s designed to make people feel the truth in the quiet moments, and to walk away asking how many people are struggling quietly while the support that should be there simply isn’t.

This project exists to highlight a reality that too many veterans and ex-forces personnel across the UK already know: they are being let down. The public narrative is often full of respect, praise, and “support our troops” messaging, but the lived experience can look very different once service ends. For many, help becomes something you have to fight for, chase, and prove you deserve. People can end up passed between services, stuck in long waiting lists, buried in paperwork, or told they don’t meet the right criteria at the right time. And it isn’t just about government systems moving too slowly or failing to follow through. Even in the charity space, especially the huge, well-known names, support can feel distant, overstretched, or inaccessible when someone needs practical help now. Too often, the gap between promises and reality is where people are left to suffer in silence.

That’s why we chose to tell this story through film. Films can reach people in a different way. A poster, a headline, or a fundraising campaign might be easy to scroll past, but a story that pulls you into someone’s emotional world can stop you in your tracks. It can make you listen. The Last Letter is our way of shining a light on what is being ignored, minimised, or brushed aside, and of saying clearly that we need to do better for the people who have served.

On 8th November, we premiered The Last Letter at the Rex Cinema in Wilmslow, our first ever film premiere and a huge moment for Motion Focus Media. It wasn’t just a proud milestone as filmmakers; it felt like a statement of intent. The night wasn’t about a “nice little screening.” It was about putting this message on a cinema screen where people couldn’t look away, and creating space for conversations that matter. But we also knew the premiere couldn’t be the end of the journey. That’s why we’ve now submitted The Last Letter to 39 film festivals across the world. This isn’t about collecting laurels for the sake of it. It’s about giving the story legs, reaching wider audiences, and keeping the spotlight on the issues at the heart of the film.

As important as The Last Letter is, we also see it as the beginning of something bigger. The end goal is Crack On. This is the project we want to build toward because it takes the same mission—shining a light on the reality veterans face and pushes it further. The phrase “crack on” is often said as encouragement, but for many veterans and ex-forces it can feel like dismissal, a way of telling someone to get on with it, keep quiet, and carry the weight alone. Crack On is about challenging that culture. It’s about exposing the gaps, showing what happens when people are expected to cope without the support system they were promised, and pushing this conversation into the mainstream in a way that can’t be softened or ignored.

This is what Motion Focus Media is building. The Last Letter exists to open the door and make people look. Crack On is where we want to push that door wider and demand attention, accountability, and change, because veterans and ex-forces across the UK deserve more than words. They deserve real support, real action, and a system that doesn’t leave them behind.