END OF THE ROAD
A SWIFT FILMS PRODUCTION
About THE FILM
End of the Road is a 73 minute feature documentary which tells the remarkable story of two life-long friends who attempt a journey of great significance. Ridiculed by their friends for not having an ounce of common sense or resilience between them, Sy and Alexis are desperate to prove their doubters wrong.
After purchasing a second-hand car for £100, the pair embark on a fraught and highly eventful 4000 mile journey across seven different countries and a stretch of the Western Sahara Desert. With no knowledge of car mechanics, they must rely on their warmth, charm and strength in adversity to have any chance of arriving at their destination in The Gambia. If successful in reaching their goal, their car (or what's left of it) will be auctioned off for local charities.
With their passion for meeting people and visiting places of natural beauty and cultural importance, this unique documentary also offers a rare insight into the people, places and culture of Western Africa.
The film is a very intimate portrait of two engaging characters whose spirit of adventure and infectious enthusiasm far outweighs any fear of failure.
Inspired by the ‘do-it-yourself’ ethics of filmmaker Shane Meadows, the independent film has been a real labour of love. The film’s producer and director, Richard Nicholls armed himself with a camera, two close friends to star in the film and very little else before jumping in the back of their car to document this incredible story. Prior to setting off on the journey, everyone involved in making the film thought that Sy and Alexis's lack of car mechanical knowledge would make for amusing footage. This became slightly less funny when they were standed on the edge of the Sahara desert by themselves with a car that wasn't moving....
ABOUT THE DIRECTOR
In 2005, Richard set up the film production company Swift Films through which all of his work is now produced. Later the same year Richard produced and directed a six-part observational documentary series called Emergency: Firefighters. The series continues to be broadcast on Sky and ITV in the UK and has been sold all round the world. The following year Richard won a Royal Television Society Award for making a broadcast film for ITV about the social impact of the 2006 football world cup.
From 2007 onwards Richard started making a number of travel and adventure films. He directed a one-hour documentary called Race Across America about a solo British cyclist attempting to break the UK record for cycling across the United States. The film was used as the launch programme for a series of documentaries about extreme endurance and has gone on to be broadcast all over the world. In 2010 Race Across America won the Special Judge’s Award‚ at the English Royal Television Society Awards and was nominated for Best Television Production at the Media Innovation Awards.
Richard has also produced an exclusive documentary for Sky and ITV called Graffiti: From Tags to Riches. The film, which examines how graffiti has evolved from social menace to tolerated art form was nominated for Television Programme of the year at the South West Media Awards. Recently Richard produced a 12 part documentary series about Customs officers in the UK for an Australian broadcaster and Sky tv in the UK.
End of the Road is Richard’s first feature-length documentary. He is currently working on his second feature-length documentary; the extraordinary story surrounding a capital murder case in Virginia, USA.
About THE CAST
Sy Thomas is a stand-up comedian, presenter and actor based in London. He has been friends with Alexis since primary school. They currently share a flat together in London.
As a stand-up comedian Sy has performed at clubs throughout the UK, including the Amused Moose, Comedy Café, Jongleurs, The Komedia, The Pleasance, London and Edinburgh, and the Comedy Store, London and Manchester - as well as regularly at venues for Off the Kerb, CKP and Mirth Control. His cheeky, friendly manner, and natural improvisational ability, make him an extremely popular and in-demand compere - and he has been honing his skills as resident co-host at the highly regarded 'Falling Down with Laughter’ in London Bridge, which won ‘Best Small London Comedy Venue’ at the 2008 Chortle Awards.
In 2009 Sy and fellow comedian Simon Feilder began filming some short comedy sketches on their sofa. This snowballed and 'Life of Si' was formed, culminating in their debut show at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, where their blend of videos, double act-style banter and misguided tomfoolery received rave reviews from audiences and press alike. Off the back of their festival success, coupled with a constantly updated online presence, ‘Life of Si’ have gone on to film promos for CBBC’s ‘Bamzooki’, a number of ‘seasonal’ sketches for Wordia.com, and in 2010 are performing at festivals in Leicester, Brighton, Los Angeles and Edinburgh again, with their follow-up show ‘Life of Si: Si Harder’.
Sy also fronted kids’ tv channel ‘Nickelodeon’ from 2006 and went on to present all of the Channel's live studio projects and continuity links for nearly 2 years - including the BAFTA award winning half-term show ‘ME:TV'. Sy flew out to cover the KCAs from Los Angeles, co-hosting the first ever UK Kids Choice Awards alongside McFly. Having cut his teeth as a presenter at Nickelodeon, Sy has gone on to present for many other companies and channels including MTV, Virgin, RDF, Vodafone, and CBBC. Most recently Sy has been covering red-carpet film premieres, band interviews, and on-the-street vox-pops, for entertainment show ‘Unlimited’ on Facebook.
Sy’s wide-ranging comedy acting skills have also been put to use in the now-defunct-but-much-loved sketch group ‘Cat of the Week’, and most recently, as the main role in Vodafone’s award-winning viral film ‘Office Grand Prix’ alongside Lewis Hamilton. Sy can also be seen ‘disbelieving his gran’ in a major advertising campaign for Volkswagen.
Alexis Dubus is a stand-up comedian, presenter and actor based in London.
Along with Sy, he runs the award-winning comedy club 'Falling Down with Laughter', which has played host to the likes of Jack Dee, Sean Lock, Stewart Lee, Richard Herring, Russell Brand and Adam Hills.
In 2008 Alexis took his first solo show, A R#ddy Brief History Of Swearing to the Edinburgh Fringe, where it received rave reviews and won the Three Weeks Editors' Award as one of their Top 10 Fringe Experiences. The show's since been performed in London, Rome, Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney, Leicester, Brighton and Hanoi.
At the Edinburgh Fringe 2009 Alexis repeated the Swearing show, and took up his first solo character show, Marcel Lucont: Sexual Metro, which received some great reviews. In 2010 Alexis premiered his solo show A Surprisingly tasteful show about nudity at the Adelaide Fringe and Melbourne Comedy Festivals in Australia. Alexis also played a role in Mark Watson's The Hotel which was awarded a Fringe First by The Scotsman newspaper.
About THE COMPOSER
Gareth Cousins composed and recorded the original score for End of the Road.
His film music production credits include the BAFTA and Brit award-winning Notting Hill, Thirteen Days, From Hell, Dark City, Desperate Measures, Lawn Dogs, as co-composer on Titanic Town and Arktos, and composer of The Un-Gone and Magic Hour. His work with Sting on The Mighty received a Golden Globe nomination, and work on Batman Begins led to a Golden Reel nomination.
From 1986 to 1993 Gareth was House Engineer at London’s Abbey Road Studios. Since 1993, Gareth has worked as a freelance Composer, Producer, Engineer or Arranger on a wealth of projects.
Credits
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