I Am Breathing

A feature documentary asking “ How can film communicate the experience of a 34 year old man, paralysed with Motor Neuron Disease ? How can fiction and
documentary combine to find a filmic language to communicate this? What are
the ethical implications of filming at this stage of his life ?

"I am Breathing is about the thin space between life and death. 34 year old Neil Platt plans his own funeral, muses about the meaning of life – and the impossibility of terminating a mobile phone contract. With five months left to live, and paralysed from the neck down by Motor Neurone Disease, he ponders how to communicate abou this life in a letter for his baby son. How can he anticipate what he might want to know about his father in a future he can only imagine?

directed by Emma Davie and Morag Mckinnon
produced by Sonja Henrici
in co-production with Danish Documentary Production
Exec Producer: Noemie Mendelle

About SDI Research and Impact Insight (ongoing)
I Am Breathing was pitched in 2009 at Edinburgh Pitch (international forum organised by SDI for broadcasters to listen to projects in development) and taken through Interdoc Plus, in search of international funding in 2010. (total budget raised: £302,000)

The scheme was able to support a lengthy period of development outside the norms of documentary for TV, enhancing the quality and creativity of the film but also engaging and developing cutting edge outreach strategies at early stage in order to develop a relationship with potential audience.

This research has resulted in SDI now employing a team to organise outreach distribution around the film, linked to different audiences (documentary lovers, medical institutions, charitable organisations...)