The £15,000 cancer film set for Oscar glory1 min read
Reading Time: < 1 minuteA young British writer whose teenage cancer inspired his idea for a short film will be celebrating his birthday by attending the Academy Awards ceremony in Hollywood on Sunday.
Tom Bidwell drew on the year he spent undergoing chemotherapy treatment in hospital for non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma to create the story of a terminally ill boy whose dying wish is to lose his virginity.
Mr Bidwell said it was dismissed as the “worst idea I had ever had” by a close friend and rejected by the film festival in his adopted city of Leeds. But Wish 143 is now in the running for Best Live Action Short.
Costing just £15,000 to make, it tells the story of 15-year-old David, who has just a few months to live. David is contacted by a well-meaning make-a-wish charity, which asks him whether he wants to travel to Disneyland or come face to face with football star Gary Neville. Instead, he asks for an hour alone in the company of a naked woman.
