Cathartic doc breaks silence

摘要

A life-affirming documentary for BBC Four's Storyville strand sees director Xavier Alford become the subject of his own film and, in the process, learn about his illness, multi-focal motor neuropathy. In Locked In: Breaking the Silence, which is made by Bristol indie Marble Films and aired late last month, Alford talks to doctors and fellow sufferers but, crucially, opens up to his family about a progressively worsening condition that causes muscle weakness and atrophy. Following his diagnosis a decade ago, he felt a "responsibility", as a documentary-maker, to make a film, but "felt way, way too raw - I wasn't ready".