BFI Distribution has graced us with the brand-new UK trailer and poster for the award-winning D is for Distance. The film, which documents a life-changing journey by Louis Petit, is made by his parents, the filmmakers Christopher Petit (Radio On) and Emma Matthews (Arena – Night and Day, BBC). It will be released in UK and Irish cinemas on 3 April. A BFI Player release will follow on 11 May.
D is for Distance is deeply personal and highly moving. Using a montage of contemporary family and travel footage, with archival clips from early cinema history, it dramatically yet poetically illustrates what has happened since Louis Petit, at 12 years old, was suddenly struck with a seemingly incurable and life-threatening rare form of epilepsy, which wiped out his memory of childhood. A rumination on memory and a meditation on cinema, the NHS and family relationships, the film also offers a frank and uncompromising insight into medical bureaucracy and the stigma and ignorance still surrounding epilepsy.
Narrated by actor Jodhi May, D is for Distance is also a celebration of film and music, including Holger Czukay, The Everly Brothers, Ennio Morricone, King Krule and more. Archival footage features the work of pioneering filmmakers the Lumière brothers, Georges Méliès, Percy Stow and Cecil Hepworth.
The film had its world premiere at the IFFR (International Film Festival Rotterdam) in 2025, followed by its UK premiere at the BFI London Film Festival.
D is for Distance will be released in cinemas in the UK and Ireland on 3 April. Chris Petit, Emma Matthews and Louis Petit will be taking part in Q&As in cinemas around the release date, including at BFI Southbank.
Nothing says “light cinematic entertainment” quite like a documentary about childhood epilepsy wiping out someone’s memory! Move over Marvel, we’ve got archival footage of pioneering filmmakers and King Krule to make us feel things. Coming soon to a cinema near you: the feel-good hit of the decade, where you can watch a family’s medical trauma unfold while contemplating the fragility of memory. And if that’s not enough to get you buying tickets, maybe the NHS bureaucracy subplot will do the trick! Perfect for date night!
Finn McFrame, celebrated satirical mastermind and self-proclaimed “Emperor of Irony,” started his illustrious career as a cinematographer, where his expertise in capturing every single frame of a squirrel stealing a baguette earned him accolades at obscure film festivals.
Born in the glamorous town of Boring, Oregon, Finn grew up with dreams of being a Hollywood director until he realized that satire, not cinema, was his true calling—or at least the one that let him sleep until noon.
Finn McFrame: changing the world, one satirical lens flare at a time.
