A year in the life of Lewes’s answer to The Ramones – a punk outfit made up of musician with and without learning disabilities.
Heavy Load
Logline
Synopsis
Shot over two years Heavy Load follows the band as they record their first album The Queen Mother’s Dead, the film is a comedy of conflicting ambitions, capturing the sweat and romance of playing in a band as they move out of the ghetto of disability club nights to test whether their dreams can survive in the mainstream.
Trailer
Image gallery
Credits
An APT, Hi8US & MetFilm Production
Directed by: Jerry Rothwell
Producers: Al Morrow, Jonny Persey, Jerry Rothwell
Executive Producers: Christine Lubrano, Andy Porter, Mark Dunford, Luke Montagu
Co-Producer: Stewart Le Marechal
Financier: IFC, ITVS, BBC Storyville
Festivals / Awards
2008 – SXSW World Premiere
2008 – Raindance Film Festival
2008 – Atlantic Film Festival
2008 – St Louis International Film Festival.
2008 – Indie Memphis Film Festival
Reviews
**** – Total Film
A really, really fine music documentary – Mark Kermode
A Delightful Odyssey – Empire
Funny and Touching – The Guardian
‘…a portrait of a nation with social services and a public so compassionate it makes our own look heartless’ – New York Times