We sat down with Emma Everitt, the director of Adam Hills: Foot Fault to talk about the motivations and challenges she faced throughout the production of our new film for Sky Documentaries.
๐ช๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ป ๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ผ๐ฝ๐น๐ฒ ๐ฒ๐
๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ฐ๐ ๐ณ๐ฟ๐ผ๐บ ๐๐ผ๐ผ๐ ๐๐ฎ๐๐น๐?
Fundamentally, this is a film about being included. Disabled or not, itโs hopefully something all viewers can relate to. You can expect laughter throughout with Adam Hills' infectious humour, feelings of frustration and injustice at disability being often โleft on the sidelinesโ, and tears of joy as you follow the "tribe" of Para Standing Tennis players campaigning to be seen.
๐ช๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฏ๐ถ๐ด๐ด๐ฒ๐๐ ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฎ๐น๐น๐ฒ๐ป๐ด๐ฒ๐ ๐๐ผ๐ ๐ณ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐ฑ๐๐ฟ๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฝ๐ฟ๐ผ๐ฐ๐ฒ๐๐?
Getting the federations and Grand Slams to buy into this "new" form of tennis, and the tight turnaround on the film - simultaneously running two edits and filming on location.
๐ช๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐ถ๐ ๐๐ผ๐๐ฟ ๐ณ๐ฎ๐๐ผ๐๐ฟ๐ถ๐๐ฒ ๐ฝ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฑ๐ผ๐ฐ๐๐บ๐ฒ๐ป๐๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐๐ต๐?
The standup. Often documentaries can feel quite straight and serious, but I was keen to subvert the genre and really lean into both Adam's humour and, for the Para Standing Tennis players, the biggest joke of all - their sport not being recognised by the Grand Slams or governing bodies. Comedy can help address challenging subject matter or provide some lightness after quite tense or serious scenes. I'm really pleased with the way lead editor, Andy Hewitt, has cut the standup into film and made the other scenes subversive and fun.
๐ช๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐๐ฎ๐ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐๐ ๐ฝ๐น๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฒ ๐๐ผ๐ ๐๐ถ๐๐ถ๐๐ฒ๐ฑ during ๐ณ๐ถ๐น๐บ๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐๐ต๐?
Spoiler alert ... Wimbledon. Throughout the film, it feels like, for Adam, the only way to sufficiently shine a spotlight on Para Standing Tennis is to play at the venue he dreamed of as a child, tennis' spiritual home. In the final scene, Adam and a number of the characters we've met walk out on toย Centre Court. After playing on the hallowed turf, they chat in the tunnel, underneath the famous Kipling quote โIf you can meetย withย Triumphย andย Disaster,ย Andย treat those two impostors justย theย same". That felt apt.
๐ช๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐ฑ๐ผ ๐๐ผ๐ ๐๐ต๐ถ๐ป๐ธ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฎ๐๐ฑ๐ถ๐ฒ๐ป๐ฐ๐ฒ ๐๐ถ๐น๐น ๐น๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ป ๐ณ๐ฟ๐ผ๐บ ๐๐ฎ๐๐ฐ๐ต๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐๐ต๐ถ๐ ๐ฑ๐ผ๐ฐ๐๐บ๐ฒ๐ป๐๐ฎ๐ฟ๐?
What Para Standing Tennis is. And for people's misconceptions about disability to be challenged.ย
๐ช๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐ถ๐ป๐๐ฝ๐ถ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐๐ผ๐ ๐๐ผ ๐บ๐ฎ๐ธ๐ฒ ๐๐ต๐ถ๐ ๐ฑ๐ผ๐ฐ๐๐บ๐ฒ๐ป๐๐ฎ๐ฟ๐?
I am a secondary carer to a brother with Down's Syndrome. Telling stories about minority voices was the reason I became a filmmaker. In this documentary, I wanted disability to be incidental, rather than front and centre. Disability is often sensationalised, depicted as either tragic or 'inspiration porn'. I wanted the characters to be seen as people rather thanย disabledย people.
