Project Detail

What About Gary?

What About Gary?
What About Gary?

Synopsis

WHAT ABOUT GARY is a raw and emotive documentary that delves into the tragic consequences of misinformation, exploring how conspiracy theories led to the death of Gary Matthews from Covid-19. The film intimately portrays the profound grief of Gary's family and friends as they grapple with this senseless loss.
Director Tristan Copeland, Gary's cousin, questions the purveyors of these falsehoods, driven by a need to understand why they ensnared Gary. Through vérité footage, archival materials, and Gary's own paintings, the film explores Gary’s descent into a distorted reality, seeking the root causes of his susceptibility to misinformation.
Shot during the pandemic in Shrewsbury, England, WHAT ABOUT GARY captures the isolation that made many, including Gary, vulnerable to manipulation. With kinetic editing, evocative camera work, and a poignant score, the film examines how society failed to protect its citizens from misinformation.
A potentially controversial yet vital work that questions how conspiracy theorists wield such influence and whether others can be saved from similar fates. A cautionary tale for a world grappling with truth in the digital age, and a tribute to a life tragically cut short, driven by a need to understand why.

Details

Year
2025
Type of film
Features
Running time
104 min
Format
4K Digital Video
Director
Tristan M Copeland 1st Feature
Producer
Marah Strauch, Tristan M Copeland
Executive Producer
Nick Broomfield, Ben Coulson, Dan Davies
Editor
Dan Jobar BFE, J. Davis
Screenwriter
Tristan M Copeland
Director of Photography
Tristan M Copeland
Composer
Joe Duddell
Principal cast
With contributions from: Gary Matthews, Tristan Copeland, Charlie Parker, Adam Birch, Bill Matthews, Emma Jane Matthews, Janet Kinnersley, Marianna Spring

Categories

Production Status

Production Company

Tea Cup Productions Limited

71-75 Shelton Street
Covent Garden
London
WC2H 9JQ

Page updates

This page was last updated on 13th 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.

Spacewoman Spacewoman

Director: Hannah Berryman

Year: 2024

A landmark feature documentary about astronaut Eileen Collins, the first woman to pilot and command the Space Shuttle. Eileen’s incredible journey starts with her smalltown beginnings, sees her smash through many glass ceilings, and culminates in four dramatic space shuttle missions, the last being possibly the most dangerous and most important of them all. At its heart the film is the moving human drama of one family, where a mother’s extraordinary career takes us straight to the big philosophical question of what is the level of acceptable risk in human endeavour? This film celebrates Commander Collins’ trailblazing NASA career which opened the way for women to become spacecraft pilots and commanders, and proved a perfect riposte to a previous generation of male astronauts who thought there was no place for women to lead the way in space. Official Selection DOC NYC 2024 - World premiere Official Selection CPH:DOX 2025 - European premiere

Someone holding an umbrella in the rain at a gas station Two Days on the Interstate

Director: Tatiana Stark

Year: 2025

As thousands of people travel to see the total solar eclipse in Texas, one woman drives from Dallas to New Mexico, in search of a legal abortion. Concurrently, people in a town off the Interstate she is driving along decide whether to crack down on 'abortion traffickers' like her. Official Selection Odense Film Festival 2025

Betty Cook of National Women Against Pit Closures Iron Ladies

Director: Daniel Draper

Year: 2025

The story of working-class women who, during the 1984–85 Miners' Strike, found themselves at the forefront of a battle against the British state. From Scotland down to Kent, women from the coalfields shed light on their experiences of the year long struggle, and how they became the backbone of the Strike. With many still active today, their actions reshaped the landscape of political activism for working-class women.