We have a number of projects in development which we will be announcing soon. The first is Painting Rocks, which is a timely tale about courage, humanity and individual strength of character. Based on the real experiences of Charlie Grave, who found himself in the middle of one of the worst humanitarian catastrophes the world has ever seen, this is a moving and uplifting story. More news soon!
Painting Rocks
23rd October 1984: ‘Dawn lights up a biblical famine – the closest thing to hell on earth. Death is all around. A child dies every 20 minutes.’ Michael Buerk’s stark BBC broadcast from the Korem refugee camp.
Charlie Grave was an 18-year-old volunteer teaching in Sudan. With the worst humanitarian crisis in modern history just over the horizon he left his school and, with his friend and pupil Faize, hitched towards the Ethiopian border to see if they could make a contribution.
Painting Rocks is the astonishing story of how the two teenagers set up and ran a UNHCR transit depot offering a resting point for thousands of refugees trucked from camps like Korem en route to better facilities in Sudan. The trucks travelled at night (to avoid the burning sun) and could deliver over 1000 sick and malnourished people a night. In a letter from UNHCR, Charlie’s ‘initiative, dedication and enthusiasm’ are credited with helping save over 35,000 refugees.
The film focuses on just one life, miraculously saved in a race against time to deliver, against all the odds, a sick child to a hospital across the desert in the middle of the night. In an almost unbearably tense finale, this dangerous mercy mission collides with the great Live Aid event at Wembley on 13th July, 1985.
2025 sees the fortieth anniversary of Live Aid and the extraordinary campaign on both sides for the Atlantic to raise money and awareness is already being commemorated. There is a musical, Only One Day at London’s Old Vic, while Netflix has just released We Are The World’- The Greatest Night in Pop, a documentary about the American chart topper recorded by the America’s Rock Royalty. The highlight is a speech by Bob Geldof, just back from Ethiopia, to remind the assembled superstars that ‘this year the price of life is a seven-inch piece of plastic with a hole in it’.
Painting Rocks offers a unique insight into the monumental efforts to save hundreds of thousands of lives. As the fortieth anniversary of Live Aid is celebrated, the film is a timely and haunting reminder of the extremity of suffering in the world and, with a tragic warning from experts that the region may be on the brink of yet another epic famine, that it seems the one thing we learn from history is that we learn nothing from history.
At Home with Henry
Henry Blofeld invites you into his Norfolk cottage for a very special and intimate encounter in At Home With Henry.
This presentation seats you in the armchair opposite Blowers as he regales you with priceless anecdotes from his larger-than-life life, lifting the lid on the foibles of fellow commentators and sharing some hysterical moments in the box and on tour with England.
Johnners, Arlo, Fred and other huge and hilarious personalities are brought vividly to life. There’s lunch with Ian Fleming at his Jamaican residence, Goldeneye; discovering his connection with the writer’s villain Ernst Stavro Blofeld and being serenaded by Noel Coward; the unfortunate conjunction of his bicycle with a bus; scoring two centuries at Lord’s; taking the wrong blonde to Monte Carlo and being around an hour away of being called up to play for England’s stricken test team in India.
These are all wonderful vignettes from Henry’s rich and varied life and there are many, many more. Henry’s great gift is to engage the cricket connoisseur and those who know nothing about the game alike with his enchanting personality, warmth and humour.
So, when as gets colder outside this winter, close the door, batten down the hatches and gather round the screen. Blowers will warm the cockles of your heart with At Home With Henry.
At Home With Henry, it’s the perfect present for the cricket lover in your life – and ideal entertainment for the whole family.
Note: this is a video-on-demand production so can be purchased and watched where and when you like!
Photography by Andrew Florides
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