Scouse director receiving plaudits across the Atlantic

A LIVERPOOL director is proving that you should follow your creative dreams, as his debut film has received glowing reviews on the festival circuit.

- By RYAN PATON

Michael J. Long (inset) from Aintree first had the idea for Baby Brother in 2020 and initially hoped to make it as a short film.

However, the 32-year-old’s vision snowballed into something bigger after conversations with his friend Tom Sidney, who works at a school in Manchester with children from troubled backgrounds.

The story explores how generational trauma can define a person's life and is inspired by people Tom worked with - and those Michael observed while growing up in Liverpool.

He told the ECHO in an exclusive interview: "They end up doing something bad and then you have an empathy towards them. What's the reason they're like that? Everyone has got some sort of problems in their family.

"There's people who go to the boozer with their dad and get off their barnets in the bog. And you're just like, 'What's this?' With their own father. [The film] is focused on how trauma can be passed down. In some cases, it's impossible for people to either run away or dodge it."

The film, which can now be purchased to watch on Google and YouTube, follows two brothers, on two days, five years apart, as main character, Adam, returns home from prison to look after his little brother, who is vulnerable and easily taken advantage of.

Michael reached out to one of the city's rising stars, Paddy Rowan, who has appeared in Little Boy Blue, G'wed and Unforgivable, to see if he was interested in playing the lead role.