Projects matching: Jerry Rothwell

Synopsis

Having participated in competition surfing since he turned 11, a 14-year-old Scottish champion Ben Larg, is not afraid of a challenge, and what bigger challenge for a young surfer than one of the biggest and most dangerous cold water waves in the world at Mullaghmore, Ireland. If he gets it right, he joins an elite group. If he gets it wrong, the consequences are terrifying. Danger, opportunity, and parental dilemma collide propelling Ben and his family towards an unknown destiny.
Official Selection BFI London Film Festival 2021 - Love

Synopsis

Based on the book 'The Reason I Jump' written by Naoki Higashida, a non-verbal autistic Japanese boy. Translated from Japanese in 2013 by acclaimed novelist David Mitchell, the book is now a worldwide bestseller, offering an illuminating and life-enhancing guide to Planet Autism – a planet that has very different laws from the one most inhabit.
The book, written when its author was unknown and only 13, is now a bestseller in 27 languages, and has become one of the world’s most widely-read guides to Autism, offering an extraordinary passport to another world.
The book's question-and-answer format gives a remarkable insight into the thoughts and feelings of an autistic person who cannot talk; a Rosetta stone that allows us to hear what it’s like to be autistic. This feature documentary is a cinematic translation of the experiences revealed in the book, weaving Naoki’s writings around stories of non-verbal autistic people across the globe, immersing us in their unique sensory worlds, full of intensity, richness, and beauty - and sometimes shadows and terror.
Official Selection Sundance Film Festival 2020 - World Cinema Documentary Competition - World premiere
Grierson Awards 2022 - Winner - Best Single Documentary – International

Synopsis

The story of TED Prize-winner Sugata Mitra’s attempt to pioneer a new form of education, seen through the eyes of children in an Indian village and in a northern British town, whose lives are being transformed by his ideas. The film poses the question "What kind of education do children need in the networked world?"
Official Selection CPH:DOX 2018 - World premiere

Synopsis

In 1971, a group of friends sail into a nuclear test zone, and their protest captures the world's imagination. Using never before seen archive that brings their extraordinary world to life, 'How To Change The World' is the story of the pioneers who founded Greenpeace and defined the modern green movement.
Sundance Film Festival 2015 - World premiere

Synopsis

Scottish rappers Billy Boyd and Gavin Bain reinvent themselves as West Coast Homeboys to be signed by Sony.

Synopsis

On The Edge is a witty, surprising and ultimately feel good portrait of an isolated village of 59 people and 100 sledge dogs, surviving against the odds.

Synopsis

Town of Runners is a feature documentary made by award winning director Jerry Rothwell about young people from the Ethiopian rural town of Bekoji, home to the current Olympic and World champions Tirunesh Dibaba and Kenenisa Bekele.
The film follows three children keen to follow in their heroes’ footsteps, as they move from school track to national competition and from childhood to adulthood.
Set against the background of the seasonal rhythms of this farming region, and the impact of increased urbanization, climate change and globalization on agriculture, the film shows rural young Africans striving to make their own future.

Synopsis

Donor Unknown follows the story of Jo Ellen Marsh, 20, as she goes in search of the sperm donor father she only knows as Donor 150.

Jo Ellen has always known her family 'wasn't like other families'. She grew up in Pennsylvania with two mothers, and a burning curiosity to know more about her anonymous donor father. When Jo Ellen discovers a unique online registry that connects donor-conceived children, she manages to track down a half-sister in New York. The New York Times picks up the story, and, over time, 12 more half-siblings emerge across the USA.
 
The New York Times article also falls into the hands of Jeffrey Harrison, living alone with four dogs and a pigeon in a broken-down RV in a Venice Beach car park. In the 1980s, Jeffrey supplemented his meagre income by becoming a sperm donor at California Cryobank. His number was Donor 150.

Donor Unknown follows Jo Ellen from her discovery of her siblings, to the moment Jeffrey steps forward to identify himself as Donor 150, to her decision to travel to California to meet him.

Synopsis

A comedy of conflicting ambitions, the feature documentary Heavy Load captures the excitement, sweat and romance of playing in a band through the eyes of a unique set of characters. Heavy Load is a punk band made up of musicians with and without learning disabilities, doing what they do, not for fame or celebrity, but for the joy of making noise. The band survives through a combination of raucous energy, attitude and sheer volume. 'We like to take a classic song and crucify it!' says guitarist Mick. Inspired by hopes of playing Glastonbury, how far can the band take their dreams into the mainstream?

Synopsis

Set against the backdrop of the turbulent 1960s, Deep Water is the stunning true story of Donald Crowhurst, a free-thinking electronics inventor who enters the most daring nautical race ever, the very first Sunday Times Golden Globe solo, non-stop, round-the-world yacht race.
 
Crowhurst - driven by a desire to prove to the world that with the help of his revolutionary invention, an on-board computer, one could sail the seas effortlessly - readies his trimaran to set sail by the late summer deadline.
 
As the race progresses, Crowhurst's reports of his positions at sea put him as the clear leader on elapsed time. Headline after headline is being printed - not just in Britain but across the world. Crowhurst is fast becoming the darling of the media, hailed as a nautical wonder.
 
But as the world waits on tenterhooks for this extraordinary man to cross the finishing line and sail into port to a hero's welcome,  the jaw-dropping truth is revealed.