New award-winning documentary film D is for Distance will be hitting UK and Ireland cinemas from April this year, with special one-off showings in select cinemas on Purple Day on 26 March 2026. It portrays the story of 23-year-old Louis Petit, then aged 12, who was suddenly struck with a rare and life-threatening form of epilepsy.
Filmmakers Christopher Petit and Emma Matthews, Louis’ parents, have created this “deeply personal” documentary, with Emma saying: “It’s a poetic interpretation of a true story about time and memory and trauma and motherhood, and how a mother will sacrifice everything for her child.”
D is for Distance follows Louis’ story describing relentless seizures, extremely challenging side effects of epilepsy medications, many hospital stays, a lot of confusion from doctors and numerous instances of status epilepticus.
The film describes the family’s journey towards finding a medication that could help Louis, including trying cannabis-based medicine after meeting campaigner and co-founder of Medcan Family Foundation, Hannah Deacon.
How the film came about
The family spent four years in the Netherlands where Louis found a cannabis-based medicine, Bedrolite, that stopped his seizures. But returning to the UK, the NHS could not fund this for Louis. This experience ended up prompting the creation of D is for Distance.
Emma explained: “In 2022, we made a 10-minute film about our son’s epilepsy, called “Louis’ Story” for a crowdfunding site to raise money to fund his private prescription for Bedrolite. That’s where the idea started.
“In the short film, we’d used videos of Louis’ seizures and you can hear my voice asking if he could hear me, if he was there.
“Many mothers who saw this short film told me how moving they found this. I wanted to make a longer film which expressed this ever-present fear so people could understand the constant anxiety and struggles families go through to keep their children alive and well.
“D is for Distance is about Louis’ epilepsy but it’s also about memory and time and trauma and the loss of truth and trust – that fatal combination of hubris and bureaucracy.”
The film uses family and travel footage, as well as early cinema clips to provide a commentary on the NHS, medical bureaucracy and stigma surrounding epilepsy. It also explores family relationships and memory loss resulting from epilepsy.
Artwork from epilepsy
Louis is now an emerging artist in London, and his paintings, drawings and etchings can be seen throughout the film. His artwork has been influenced by his experience with epilepsy.
Emma continued: “Even when Louis was too ill to get out of bed, when the drugs were stopping him from processing new memories, he carried on drawing and painting.
“In the film we were able to use his extraordinary childhood drawings as well as paintings he made inspired by the terrifying hallucinations caused while coming off clobazam.”
For Louis, watching the film initially was really difficult, especially the footage of his seizures. “That was triggering to say the least, but over time, I’ve learned to watch them and the film has pushed me to face certain parts of my trauma that I’d been unaware of.
“Each time, I notice something new about the film. It’s kind of like a never-ending jigsaw.”
While Louis’s epilepsy had a profound impact on him, including missing out on secondary school, living with a “vicious hallucination” and left him living “closer to death than life”, one thing that remained was his art.
“While suffering seizures, I had to stop many of the things I loved. The one attachment to the life I lived before, was painting. The compulsion to make art salvaged something.
“I hope that people view D is for Distance as a story about hope, not as an excuse for pity. I’d like people to leave feeling like something has washed over them and be able to pick apart the shards of meaning thrown out throughout the film.”
Screenings near you
Emily Stanley, PR and media officer at Epilepsy Action, who attended an early screening of the film in January, said: “I found it very immersive. I felt like I could feel what the people had been through and what was going through their minds, which was really interesting.
“It was definitely very moving and I think it offers such an in-depth, raw idea of what living with epilepsy is like for the person and their family as well. That will definitely stay with you.”
In November last year, D is for Distance won the award for Best Anthropological Film at the oldest documentary festival in Europe, the 66th Festival dei Popoli.
You can catch a preview of D is for Distance this Purple Day (Thursday 26 March) at:
- Pictureville Cinema, National Science & Media Museum, Bradford
- Garden Cinema, London + Q&A with the filmmakers
- Depot Cinema in Lewes + Q&A with co-director Christopher Petit
- Curzon Hoxton
- Curzon Camden
- Curzon Kingston
- Curzon Oxford
- Curzon Canterbury Westgate
- Storyhouse Chester
D is for Distance opens in cinemas in the UK and Ireland from 3 April. The BFI website has a full list of showings.
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