Louis Petit suffers from a rare, frighteningly debilitating form of complex epilepsy that shattered years of his young life and erased his memory of childhood. Louis’ parents, filmmakers Chris Petit and Emma Matthews, tell Louis’ ongoing story through an extraordinary archive of footage. The father’s unmade film project concerning the writer William S. Burroughs and former CIA chief James Angleton – both addicted, obsessive and paranoid – provides a wider frame to explore the links between technology and the subconscious, capitalism and the inner reality of the mind. Using a stunningly edited array of film clips, artworks (including Louis’ rich depictions of his “visionary” condition), sound textures, and road movie travels, “D is for Distance“ focuses simultaneously on the microcosm of personal pain and the macrocosm of social decline: a remarkable essay-collage, and a beacon of hope. – IFF Rotterdam
Chris Petit & Emma Matthews
FI 2025 | German Premiere
88 min | English
Chris Petit
Born in Malvern, Worcestershire, in 1949. Author of eleven novels. Numerous works for television. As a filmmaker, he plays with essayistic, documentary and fictional forms and their intertwining. He shares with Iain Sinclair, with whom he frequently collaborates, a psychogeographical approach to the urban reality of London, as in his first novel Robinson (1993).
Films (selection)
Radio On 1979 | An Unsuitable Job for a Woman 1981 | Chinese Boxes 1984 | London Orbital (with Iain Sinclair) 2002 (20. UX) | Unrequited Love 2006 Content 2010 | D is for Distance (with Emma Matthews) 2025
Emma Matthews
English editor, including numerous documentary films. Cinematic collaboration with Chris Petit, whose works she edits.
R: Chris Petit, Emma Matthews | B: Chris Petit | DOP: Jussi Eerola | E: Emma Matthews | S: Olli Huhtanen | M: Rio Harada-Parr | P: Mika Taanila, Jussi Eerola | With Jodhi May, Chris Petit, Louis Petit