17 Feb 2017
Written by Longitude Team
A short film depicting a realistic post-antibiotic world is being backed by the Royal College of Pathologists and leading scientists from the UCL Centre for Clinical Microbiology, the University of Cape Town, the University of Birmingham and Antibiotics Action.
CATCH is set in a possible near future where antibiotics can no longer treat infections and the world is gripped by the threat of a global pandemic.
Synopsis: In a near future where all antibiotics have failed, a father, Tom, and his young daughter, Amy, are quarantined in their house during a lethal pandemic. When Amy gets sick, Tom must make an impossible decision: give her up to the authorities or risk infection himself.
CATCH is currently appearing in festivals and will be publicly available online from Autumn 2017.
Professor Laura Piddock, University of Birmingham, Director of Antibiotic Action and Longitude Prize Panel Member said: “We all take these drugs, and therefore we are all part of the problem; we need to be part of the solution. If we don’t get on top of this problem now, then I’m really quite concerned about what the future holds for my grandchildren.”
The film was written and directed by Paul Cooke and Dominic Rees-Roberts, participants of the Wellcome Trust’s Emerging Talent programme for science communicators. Television credits include Hawking, Channel 4’s Experimental, Discovery’s Outrageous Acts of Science and BBC Horizon.
The film stars Lollie McKenzie, 11, who played Matilda in the West End musical of the same name from September 2013 to September 2014. Lollie appears as Amy, an eight-year-old girl quarantined with her father in their home. The father is played by experienced stage and screen actor Henry Douthwaite.
catchshortfilm.com CATCH on Twitter CATCH on Facebook
Genre: Fiction Running time: 16 mins Country of origin: UK Completed: 2016
