DOCUMENTARY | 'Bet on Yourself'

The story of John Reeve, an 80 year old entrepreneurial legend from war-torn England, who sailed to the Caribbean to become a cruise ship excursion mogul.

John owned an island-themed nightclub in the centre of Birmingham, hosting crooners like Dusty Springfield, Liberace and Tom Jones. He intrepidly sailed across the Atlantic with no experience and no motor, crashed at least three airplanes and two boats, lived with Pygmy Indians, had his skull caved in with a 4ft iron pipe, escaped from a Grenadian revolution, and entered the '88 Winter Olympics as the US Virgin Islands bobsled team (yes, the same year as the Jamaicans).

Nothing in life has ever stopped John and he is an inspiration for everyone to go out, make mistakes and make a mark on the world.

https://directorsnotes.com/202...

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Winner 'Best Documentary' | Birmingham Film Festival 2019
Winner 'Best Documentary' | Moscow Short Film Festival 2019
Winner 'Best Foreign Film' | DTC Film Festival 2020
Winner 'Best Documentary' | Teesside Film Festival 2021
Winner 'Best Short Documentary' | Bare Bones Film & Music Festival 2020

Nominee 'Best Documentary' | Firenze Film Festival 2019
Nominee 'Best International Documentary' | Georgia Documentary Film Festival 2019
Nominee 'Best Editing' | Oregon Documentary Film Festival 2019

Official Selection | Cardiff Mini Film Festival 2020

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Director & Editor | Harvey Eaton
Director of Photography | Alex Newton
Title Design | Max Wilson
Foley Artists | Megan O'Hagan, Sulaiman Bhaimia

Special Thanks to
The Reeve family, Megan O’Hagan, Henry Hales, John Holland, Aleks Cvetojevic, Will Dorrien-Smith, John Parker, Oliver Clark, Jack Abbot, and Andy McGuigan at The Spit & Sawdust pub

© Harvey Eaton 2019