Commissions

Greenlit: Brett: A Life With No Arms, BBC1

Brett: A Life With No Arms (1 x 60′) –  Brett Nielsen is a man for all seasons: sports car enthusiast, record producer, musician, entrepreneur, a loving single father to two kids, with three ex-wives and in love again. He also has no arms because of Thalidomide, taken by his mother in the early Sixties to counteract the effects of morning sickness.

Filmmaker Roger Graef’s first-ever documentary, One Of Them Is Brett, was made 50 years ago. It was a portrait of Brett as a spirited four-year old – riding a bicycle, feeding himself, fighting his brothers with his feet. His parents, Barbara and Peter Nielsen, moved from Australia to Britain to get him prosthetic arms, which Brett immediately rejected. And it stayed that way.

Fifty years later, Roger has tracked down Brett back home in Australia. This follow-up film is about Brett’s life leading up to their reunion. His optimism and humour has remained undimmed.

Following his mother’s death, Brett plans to move his 84-year-old father, Peter, from Sydney to live with him, in an emotionally charged reversal of roles. Brett is also releasing a new CD of his songs, and making music videos. One is a protest against the makers of Thalidomide, the German firm Grunenthal. After 50 years of avoiding being seen as a victim, Brett has increasingly become politicised and now wants to take them on because he believes what they’ve done is wrong.

This is a story of triumph over adversity. In the words of Brett, “it doesn’t matter what happens to you in your life, it matters how you deal with it.”

Channel: BBC1

Producer: Films of Record

TX: TBC

Source: BBC press release