Heavy Load
Jerry Rothwell:
Heavy Load (UK 2008)
91 min. – English
Production: APT Films, Met Film, HI8us
"A touching movie for people who canīt stand touching movies and a reminder that punk rock, at its purest and simplest, has always given voice to sensitive souls on societyīs margins." –South Coast Today
Heavy Load are Brighton's answer to The Ramones. A punk outfit subject to the combustible flux of ego, ambition, fantasy, expectation and desire that fuels any emerging band. They're also uniquely, made up of musicians with and without learning disabilities, which makes the bandsī survival a precarious negotiation between two different worlds: on the other 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 two years as the band record their first album The Queen Motherīs 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.
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Jerry Rothwell
Jerry Rothwell started his career in film and television industry over 20 years ago. Last eight years he's focus has been on making documentaries for cinema and television. Rothwell has also studied literature in university. His favourite directors include some interesting names: Lukas Moodysson, Wong Kar Wai, Pier Paolo Pasolini and Jean-Luc Godard. Rothwell made a documentary called Deep Water together with Lousie Osmond and it got the best documentary award at Rome Film Festival. Deep Water has also won British Independent Film Award.
Filmography:
Heavy Load (2008)
Deep Water (2006)
The Late George Shaw (2004)