My Life: Blood Sugar Brothers, co-directed by Enderley Pictures founder Billy Arthur and produced by Nine Lives Media, has enjoyed great success since its initial release on CBBC, including a BAFTA nomination.
The documentary received a multitude of award nominations, including a BAFTA nomination, Royal Television Society win, an Asian Media Award nomination and a Learning on Screen nomination.
The documentary follows sixteen-year-old Billy as he works with filmmaker Sunny Kang and researcher Michael Carr to capture his 13-year-old brother coming to terms with his condition by travelling to India to meet other children with diabetes.
With their family, Alfie and Billy have raised money for the charity Life For a Child, who give free medicine to children in India with the condition.Billy proves himself to be a gifted young film-maker who is passionate to shine a light on diabetes and what it is like for his brother and young people in India to deal with it day to day.
In the documentary, he and his family travel to Jnana Sanjeevini Diabetes Hospital in Bangalore where Billy and Alfie witness first-hand how this hospital supports thousands of children who can’t afford the medical supplies they need.
Affordable medicine is key to solving many of these issues and the brothers also meet a forward-thinking tech company who are creating more affordable test strips loomed from silk, which is also better for the environment than plastic strips.
This documentary empowers its young contributors by breaking down the fourth wall to reveal, through Billy, how films are made. Through Billy’s journey, CBBC’s viewers will learn about the importance of filmmaking as a way of increasing the circle of compassion and helping improve understanding.
In this way, My Life will yet again be breaking new ground in both documentary style as well as content.
The groundbreaking documentary has enjoyed multiple reruns on CBBC, and an extended life on iPlayer, and has been critically acclaimed and extensively praised for its unique take on filmmaking, and groundbreaking approach to new content.