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14 Days South: Over Sea and Land

14 Days South: Over Sea and Land — is a short 30-minute documentary about five eco-adventurers bikepacking across the UK, with a twist. They will also be using waterbikes to perform two sea crossings: Orkney Islands to John o’ Groats, and Land’s End to the Isles of Scilly. They will be passing through six of the UK’s National Parks, meeting with numerous experts in the environmental and sustainability space. This helps the viewer understand how humans are interfering with these landscapes, and what scalable solutions there are for regenerating and restoring them. Additionally, they will be exploring what all this means for our future physical and mental health.

  • Kevin Merrey
    Director
    Sean Conway’s - ‘Europe or Bust’
  • Gavin Kaps
    Director
    Sean Conway’s - ‘Europe or Bust’
  • Isaac Kenyon
    Writer
  • Alex Pierrot
    Writer
  • Isaac Kenyon
    Voiceover Narration
  • Jamie Barnes
    Graphic Animation
    THE LAST WILDERNESS OF SCOTLAND A canoe expedition into the wild heart of the Scottish Highlands
  • Kevin Merrey
    Editor
    Sean Conway’s - ‘Europe or Bust’
  • Isaac Kenyon
    Key Cast
  • Alex Pierrot
    Key Cast
  • Sal Montgomery
    Key Cast
    Expedition with Steve Backshall Suriname: Lost World on Dave
  • Lukas Haitzmann
    Key Cast
  • Alex Egan
    Key Cast
  • Maeve McCarthy
    Music
  • Gavin Kaps
    Director of Photography
    Sean Conway’s - ‘Europe or Bust’
  • Isaac Kenyon
    Executive Producer
  • Alex Pierrot
    Co-Producer
  • Ollie Axon
    Additional Footage
  • Stramash Films
    Additional Footage
    02 Orbital Marine Power Tidal Turbine BBC News
  • Lily Hope
    Soundtrack Team
  • Maren Bosma
    Soundtrack Team
  • Richard Lines-Davies
    Soundtrack Team
  • Project Type:
    Documentary, Short
  • Genres:
    Climate Change, Environmental, Cycling, Bikepacking, Adventure, National Parks, UK, Conservation, Rewilding
  • Runtime:
    30 minutes
  • Completion Date:
    October 20, 2021
  • Production Budget:
    25,000 GBP
  • Country of Origin:
    United Kingdom
  • Country of Filming:
    United Kingdom
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Full HD 1080p
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • United Nations COP26 Conference
    Glasgow
    United Kingdom
    November 6, 2021
    United Nations Premiere
    Official Selection
  • Kendal Mountain Festival
    Kendal
    United Kingdom
    November 18, 2021
    Official Selection
  • Adventure Uncovered with Paus.TV online premiere
    Online
    November 24, 2021
    Online Premiere: Adventure Uncovered with Paus.TV
    Official Selection
  • Royal Geographical Society of London (with IBG)
    London
    United Kingdom
    January 13, 2022
    Official Selection
  • Fort William Mountain Festival
    Fort William
    United Kingdom
    February 20, 2022
    Official Selection
  • Think Shorts (5* Review)

    March 31, 2022
    Official Selection
  • Debrief Adventure Festival
    Ipswich
    United Kingdom
    March 5, 2022
    Official Selection
  • Stroud Film Festival
    Stroud
    United Kingdom
    March 24, 2022
    Official Selection
  • Adventure Uncovered Film Festival
    London and UK wide
    United Kingdom
    April 1, 2022
    Official Selection. Film shown April 1 – October 1, 2022
  • Cotswold International Film Festival
    Stroud
    United Kingdom
    May 1, 2022
    Award - Best Medium Length Film
  • London Mountain Film Festival
    London
    United Kingdom
    May 14, 2022
    Official Selection - Film Shown between 14-29th May 2022
  • Cannes Shorts
    Cannes
    France
    June 3, 2022
    French Premiere
    Best Film Poster Award
  • Travel Fest Albania
    Tirana
    Albania
    July 18, 2022
    Albanian Premiere
    Official Selection
  • Docs Without Borders Film Festival
    Rehoboth Beach
    United States
    August 13, 2022
    North American Premiere
    Award Winner - EXCELLENCE
  • The Adventure Travel Film Festival (Cotswolds) Hatherop Castle 2022
    Cirencester
    United Kingdom
    August 13, 2022
    Official Selection
  • Norway Action Film Festival
    Sandvika
    Norway
    August 21, 2022
    Norwegian Premiere
    Most Critical Subject
  • Portobello Film Festival
    London
    United Kingdom
    September 2, 2022
    Official Selection
  • Pharos Best Inspiration Film Festival
    Athens
    Greece
    September 16, 2022
    Greek Premiere
    Official Selection
  • Xplore Alpes Festival
    Bourg Saint Maurice
    France
    October 29, 2022
    Official Selection
  • Oaxaca FilmFest
    Oaxaca
    Mexico
    December 9, 2022
    Mexico Premiere
    Official Selection
  • Scarab Short Film Festival
    Dubai
    United Arab Emirates
    December 18, 2022
    Middle East Premiere
    Official Selection
  • The Adventure Travel Film Festival (Perthshire Scotland) Strathallan School 2023
    Perth, Scotland
    United Kingdom
    July 8, 2023
    Official Selection
  • The Adventure Travel Film Festival (Australia) Bright 2023
    Bright
    Australia
    February 11, 2023
    Official Selection
Director Biography - Kevin Merrey, Gavin Kaps

Kevin Merrey (photo is of Kevin) specialises in producing content for outdoor pursuits, endurance & adventure sports and expeditions. Kevin works closely with top-flight brands in the adventure sports sector internationally such as Craghoppers, Lapierre bikes, GoPro and Powertraveller and other household names such as Ford.

Kevin has made films and produced imagery for a number of world-class adventurers, such as Sean Conway and Jonas Deichmann, in many wild and rugged environments, and his projects have taken him all over the world to places such as Peru, Laos, Russia, Oman, Corsica, and the Pyrenees. Clients to date include endurance athletes, pro mountain bikers, paddleboarders, trail runners, wild swimmers and ultra cyclists.

Kevin has a wide range of skills and experience that includes photography, camera operation, drone piloting, producing films, web & graphic design and marketing.

Gavin Kaps is a renowned visual storyteller creating high quality imagery. Some of Gavin's recent projects include:

BikingMan Laos, Photography & Film Production, May 2019

Adelaide Goodeve Performance Coach, Video Commercial, November 2018

Vetrun180 Portugal Pathfinder Expedition, Photography, September 2018

Sean Conway Trans Europe Cycle World Record, Cinematography, April-May 2018 (film due June 2019)

Driven2Extremes Sahara Rally Challenge, Photography & Film, March 2018

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

14 Days South: Over Sea and Land sets itself apart from the crowd via an intriguing and fascinating journey of endurance and adventure. Significantly, it addresses the important and very current climate issues we are facing. It highlights that, in the UK, there are still adventurous feats that have not yet been performed — the two water bike sea crossings in the documentary illustrate this — as well as a plethora of innovative, successful and scalable solutions to the climate crisis which deserve more awareness. This documentary aims to educate, inspire and offer hope to the audience with regard to the UK’s role in improving our planet’s future climate.

On a personal level, the key aspect that drew me to this project was that it had such an emphasis on eco-adventuring. I travel extensively for my filmmaking, and it was eye-opening to discover how complex it is to take a regular adventure and film production and improve their eco-credentials; we worked hard with the crew to achieve this, and have learnt many best practices that we will carrying on to further projects.

As the head of a production company passionate about making films sharing my love of the outdoors, this was a chance to be involved in a project that allowed me to expand my directing and cinematography abilities. My previous films have purely focused on adventures and strove to immerse the audience into the protagonists’ world of adrenaline and excitement. With this documentary, I was faced with the challenge of weaving a unique journey with several educational interviews. This led me to experiment with various forms of storytelling, which largely revolved around the pacing of the edit. I believe I have succeeded in creating a film which keeps the audience gripped by the exceptional feats of the cyclists, whilst at the same time allowing enough room for the valuable lessons from the interviews to be digested.

Visually, there are three main parts to the film: the landscapes journeyed through, the intense cycling, and the educational interviews. I wanted to showcase the expansiveness of the UK’s National Parks and green spaces; to achieve this, sweeping drone footage is combined with wide-angle shots to provoke awe. This contrasts with POV and close-up footage of the cyclists, which is especially striking during the strenuous and triumphant water bike sea crossings. Finally, the interview scenes provide a time for reflection and bring the audience back to the core message of the project.