Heavy Load wins Audience Award at Britdoc
September director named one of Screen's Stars of Tomorrow
Los Angeles Times gives Heavy Load a great review
Heavy Load Gig in New York
Heavy Load premieres at South by Southwest
Heavy Load Review in the Austin Chronicle
Deep Water wins Best Cinema Documentary at the Griersons
Heavy Load to receive world premiere at South By Southwest
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 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 in this way". Heavy Load, presented by APT Films, Met Film and Hi8us, is an IFC co-production with ITVS International in association with BBC Television.
Screen International
Wondrous Oblivion: "A poignant, warm-spirited coming-of-age drama ... understated but effective in the points it makes, Wondrous Oblivion steers clear of the melodramatic and refuses to indulge in the kind of overt audience manipulation that would have made for a more conventional and less appealing film .... Less is more appears to have been the general guiding principle for a modest, memorable film that effortlessly touches the heart."
