Handsome – Siblings with Down Syndrome
Nick Bourne is an actor and support worker for adults with special needs. He lives with his brother Alex in Farnham. Alex is 23, is a student, and has Down Syndrome.
When Sound Vault heard they were running a crowd-funding campaign to fund a feature film called “Handsome” about siblings living with Down Syndrome, we just had to find out more – and record a podcast with them.
Their teaser campaign on social media was so powerful, showing just how intimate a portrait of the everyday relationship, warts and all is possible to be portrayed of siblings with Down Syndrome.
The money raised by the crowd-funding campaign will pay for production costs – the equipment, transport, and accommodation. It will enable them to ‘kickstart’ the project in the the UK, but if they gain sufficient funds, it will go towards their mission of speaking to siblings in the US, Australia, India, Vietnam, and Russia.
Nick and Alex want to speak to more brothers and sisters just like them – to hear their stories. Nick felt that most of the resources that were out there about living with Down Syndrome were geared towards parents, rather than siblings.
There are approx. 40,000 people with Down Syndrome in the UK. And around 1 in every 1000 babies are born with Down Syndrome. That’s 1000s of stories out there – and Nick and Alex want to give them more of a platform.
When we first saw the documentary teaser, we knew we wanted to do all we could to help promote the crowd-funder for their planned travels and ambitions for the film.
We were humbled when the two of them interrupted the planning for the first leg of their filming, to invite us round to their place, to share a few of the kind of insights they hope to reveal in the film. This is the soundscape created when we visited their home one evening as they prepared their dinner.
We also asked both Alex and Nick to create a Spotify playlist each for the mixtape that will accompany them on their travels.
Please do click on the link to find out more about their plans – and consider donating to the fundraising effort for their plans.
Sound Vault 