Project Detail

Ill, actually

Synopsis

A real life "superhero", a YouTuber and a camgirl explain why they choose to share -or hide- their chronic illnesses online. When you're too ill for IRL, where do you turn?

Details

Year
2019
Type of project
Shorts
Running time
12 min 05 sec
Director
Zoe Hunter Gordon
Producer
Celestine Fraser, Hannah Tookey
Executive Producer
Gillian Scothern, Lamia Dabboussy, Siobhan Logue
Editor
Hannah Renton
Director of Photography
Jackie Teboul, Alvilde Naterstad
Sound
Declan Chew (Location), Oscar Crawford (Mix), Callum Janes (Location)
Composer
Hollie Buhagiar
Principal cast
Ben Mudge, Esme Lonsdale as "Bella", Jameisha Prescod
Colour
Henry Howard, Saskia Delius

Categories

Production Status

Page updates

This page was last updated on 12th May 2025. Please let us know if we need to make any amendments or request edit access by clicking below.

See also

You may also be interested in other relevant projects in the database.

Better Better

Director: Zoe Hunter Gordon

Year: 2022

When Ruth finds her chronically ill sister Kitty living a new life by the seaside, she realises she doesn't know her sister - or her illness - at all... A short fiction film about sibling relationships and ableism.

An audio cassette tape, with the title 'Childrens Tape for Sue', being repaired. The Solway

Director: Eamon Bourke

Year: 2026

Filmmaker Eamon Bourke lost his mother, Sue, when he was three and has no memory of her. When his father decides to sell the remote Lake District home where she died, Eamon returns with his camera to document the house and its clearing. Among Sue’s belongings - diaries, poems, photographs and tapes - he discovers a box of damaged cassette recordings. After painstakingly repairing them, he uncovers something extraordinary: his mother’s voice. Through these intimate audio diaries, Sue speaks candidly about motherhood, sings to her children, and captures fleeting family moments Eamon never knew. One final tape records her describing the onset of hepatitis, days before she fell into a coma and died in 1983. Another, more haunting still, features three-year-old Eamon calling out to his unconscious mother in hospital, in a desperate attempt to bring her back. As Eamon pieces together this archive, he confronts the enduring impact of early loss, speaking with his father and sisters while retracing the emotional landscape of his childhood. Set against the vast beauty of the Lake District, a deeply personal exploration of grief, memory and love - an attempt to recover what was lost, and to finally say goodbye.

Marc Munden directs the cast of Lord of the Flies Making of Lord of the Flies

Director: Lisa Marie Russo

Year: 2026

A trippy tale capturing the creative vision of writer Jack Thorne and director Marc Munden, as a British crew and young cast film this timely adaptation on the remote islands and interior of Malaysia during monsoon season. The crew battle twisters, torrential rain and scary insects to create this hallucinatory fever dream, featuring behind the scenes interviews, observational footage and mesmerising performances by the newbie cast.