A Poetic Journey Through Memory, Art and Illness: D is For Distance Marks Christopher Petit’s Powerful Return to Cinema

Acclaimed filmmaker and writer Christopher Petit (Radio On) returns to the screen with D is For Distance, a deeply affecting exploration of memory, creativity and the fragile boundaries between life as lived and life as imagined. The film centres on Petit’s son, Louis, who at just 12 years old was struck by a rare, life‑threatening form of epilepsy that erased his childhood memories and reshaped the course of his life.

Through a rich montage of contemporary family footage, travel diaries and evocative fragments from early cinema history, Petit constructs a moving portrait of an artist shaped by both adversity and imagination. The film becomes a meditation on the power of images—how they preserve, distort and sometimes replace the memories we lose.

D is For Distance also confronts the stark realities of navigating medical systems, exposing the bureaucratic obstacles and persistent misunderstandings that surround epilepsy. Petit’s approach is unflinching yet compassionate, offering viewers an intimate window into a family’s resilience and a young artist’s evolving world.

The result is a work of rare emotional clarity: part essay film, part personal archive, and wholly committed to understanding how we make meaning when memory falters.