May 2008

Award-winning Director Jerry Rothwell’s latest feature documentary Heavy Load will appear in Official Selection and receive its world premiere at the prestigious South By Southwest film and music festival in Austin, Texas.

Heavy Load is a ‘film about happiness’. It tells the real-life tale of unusual punk outfit Heavy Load, a group subject to the combustible flux of ego, ambition, fantasy, expectation and desire that fuels any emerging band, but who’re also, uniquely, made up of musicians with and without learning disabilities. The bands’ survival is a precarious negotiation between two different worlds: on the one hand the institutional timetable of day centres, work placements and social workers; on the other the chaotic slacker life of rehearsal rooms, studios and gigs.

Shot over a number of years, the film sees the band reach the dizzy heights of success playing at Wychwood Music Festival, and plummet to devastating lows after losing key band members. It was while the film was being made too that Heavy Load conceived and launched the now nationally-renowned Stay Up Late campaign – a drive to change the care system to allow people with learning disabilities to stay up late and not be restricted by their carers’ shifts ending at 10pm.

Director Jerry Rothwell comments: “We are thrilled to be screening at South By Southwest. It is such a great festival for independent filmmakers and has screened some incredible films in previous years, so it is really exciting to have the festival’s support and approval for Heavy Load . It’s exactly the right festival to launch this particular film as it supports not just independent film but also independent music.’

Heavy Load, presented by Met Film, APT Films and Hi8us, is an IFC co-production with ITVS International in association with BBC Television.

For more information visit www.metfilmproduction.co.uk

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Gabriel Tupinamba

(One-Year Practical Filmmaking) has seen great success this year with both films he made on his course. And The Colours... appeared at the Cannes Short Film Corner and both shorts have been screened at other festivals including the Digital Festival in Florence, Evil City in New York, and Sapporo Film Market in Tokyo.