Hello Stranger
Synopsis
Joe wants to make this film so people ‘get’ him, know what it means to be neurodivergent, and what he has been able to achieve despite many challenges. Beryl shows the evolution of a family created from scratch that’s had to keep adapting. The challenge and recalibration of being a parent and a lifetime carer.
The core of the story is told through 28 years of home movie footage- sparky, warm and funny as Nathan/Joe develops into the man he is today. Alongside, a growing boy is shown, much misunderstood and almost destroyed by the prejudice and ignorance surrounding neurodivergence. The family therapy received along the way offers some support, but also reveals how the family dynamic was influenced by Beryl’s own experience of childhood neglect.
Beryl first saw 6-month-old Nathan on a VHS tape. She and husband Dave responded with a video welcoming him to their home. For the past 28 years Beryl has recorded “our feelings, our joy and our pain" so that Nathan could better understand his story later in life.
Details
- Year
- 2026
- Type of project
- Features
- Running time
- 87 min
- Format
- Digital
- Director
-
Beryl Richards
- Producer
- John Archer, Alex Usborne
- Executive Producer
- Lisa Marie Russo, Clara Glynn
- Editor
- James Alcock
- Composer
- Stephen Warbeck
Genre
Categories
Production Status
Production Company
Hopscotch Films
John ArcherFilm City Glasgow
401, Govan Road
Glasgow
G51 2QJ
Page updates
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See also
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Perfect World
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Year: 2010
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Snakeboy and the Sandcastle
Director: Beryl Richards
Year: 2004
Two nine-year-olds, one a refugee from China, find friendship on a beach while building sandcastles.
Lady Lifers
Director: Jake J Smith
Year: 2026
For the first time in 30 years, a film crew gains rare access to Pennsylvania’s maximum-security women’s prisons. Inside, The Lady Lifers – a band led by former soul singer Naomi Blount – turn grief into music and defiance. Though Naomi never took a life, she is serving life without parole. To have any hope of freedom, she must express guilt she does not feel – a cruel paradox of the justice system. As her music echoes beyond the prison walls and reaches the public, lawmakers and activists, the question remains: Will her voice be enough to finally set her free - and to free those she left behind? Official Selection Durban International Film Festival 2026