Owen Tooth – EastEnders’ first disabled director and acclaimed filmmaker – has been awarded the prestigious Netflix Documentary Talent Fund for his latest project, BAND. The short film covers the story of The Serenaders, a marching band that became the celebrities of the quirky marching band world, but was this band all that it seemed, or was it a community gripped by obsession?
Ahead of the film’s release, our editor, Emma Purcell, got the opportunity to speak to Owen Tooth about the project, his relationship with David Chabeaux, whose story inspired the film, and what it was like to be a recipient of the Netflix Documentary Talent Fund.
Owen Tooth: breaking boundaries in british television and documentary filmmaking
In 2025, Owen Tooth made history as the first disabled director of EastEnders in its 40-year run. His debut ‘block’ of four episodes culminated in the VE Day standalone special, which trended on X and garnered headlines calling it “Perfect”, “Beautiful”, noting it “Left fans gasping for breath” and “In floods of tears”.
Owen loves a dose of comedy with his drama, whether that’s in documentary or scripted work. His films have won festivals and earned awards including Best Film, Audience Choice, Best Director, Best Comedy, and Best Documentary, and screened in competition at Oscar, BAFTA and BIFA qualifiers. Owen was recently named BFI Midlands Filmmaker of the Month and nominated for the Amplify Debut Director award.
Owen has been using a wheelchair for over four years after a rock climbing accident triggered an autoimmune disease, which affects his joints. As a wheelchair user and an ally, Owen pushes for collaborative change in the industry and is determined to hold the door open for other disabled filmmakers to follow.
From marching band glory to cult revelation: the making of BAND
Thanks to a recommendation, Owen was introduced to David Chabeaux, an actor, producer, musician and animal rights campaigner, who was keen to create a documentary about the success of his family’s marching band.
Speaking about how he first met David and came up with the idea of the documentary, Owen said:
“David came to me. I think someone had recommended me to him as a local filmmaker, and he came to me with a pile of videotapes. He literally had almost 250 hours worth of footage, and he wanted to make a documentary about how brilliant the band was because they were fantastic. They’d won every contest for 40-something years. They’d never come below third place. They were world-class.
“So I just started watching the footage with him. But then it was while he was talking about his life, growing up in the band, that it started to feel very, very strange to me. I started talking to him about maybe this wasn’t a normal childhood, and maybe there’s something darker going on. So that’s how the story really began.”
Owen continued: “It took a while for him to be comfortable with the idea of making a film about his life growing up in a cult. As we were talking about that, we saw the Netflix Documentary Talent Fund got announced, and we decided we’d just go for it. We entered that together.
“At the time it was announced, we were still deciding what film we’re going to make, and how we’re going to tell this story. It just fit perfectly. It was a really nice way of focusing us on how to tell that story really succinctly.”
The documentary film BAND combines stunning archive footage with new interviews to present a portrait of a community gripped by obsession. The Serenaders dedicate every waking moment to perfecting their performance…but when brainwashing meets the Bossa Nova, there is no escape.
When asked if he knew much about The Serenaders before joining this project, Owen said:
“No, not at all. I’ve never played in a marching band. I don’t know anything about that kind of music at all. When David first spoke about it, I felt I wanted to help him find a way to tell the story, but I wasn’t personally interested in it because I’m not interested in marching bands.
“But then the more we spoke, the more I felt there’s something for everyone… I think it’s about the hunt for perfection, and the fight to be the best can overtake your life and become more consuming.”
Owen highlighted the mental impact David got and continues to face from growing up in a marching band:
“David’s quite open that it’s really affected him throughout his whole life emotionally. He really struggles with feeling good enough and being able to accept, even if he does something amazingly, he really struggles to accept that it’s okay and that it’s good enough. That’s definitely affected his whole life. He says a lot of the other band members have felt exactly the same way.”
Owen went on to share what it was like making the documentary, and the support put in place to accommodate his accessibility needs and other disabled crewmembers:
“We had neurodiverse crew members who were helping us. I only asked about access needs for myself, so I don’t know if there were any other physical disabilities in our production besides myself.
“When I’m working on something like a show, it can be a bit more complicated, but when I’m directing, it’s much easier for me to get my access needs met. As far as Netflix was concerned, it was super simple. They were ready to be really helpful if they needed to be. But because we were filming in Derbyshire, it was just a matter of finding places that felt right for the story, but also that I could access. We didn’t find anywhere that was a problem.
“The same for the post-production. We finished the film at a place called Modern Air in central London, and I think some of their rooms weren’t very accessible, but they got ramps in. So it was absolutely fine when I got there.”
Navigating the Netflix Documentary Talent Fund: a journey of growth, pitching, and new friendships
Now in its third year, the Netflix Documentary Talent Fund supports emerging filmmakers to nurture their talent through making a short documentary. This year’s six recipients were challenged to respond to the prompt “you’re never gonna believe this…”.
Owen expressed what it was like being a recipient of the Netflix Documentary Talent Fund and gave more details as to how the application process worked:
“Completely mind-blowing because it feels like a very big deal. It feels like a very big step for me. The whole process has been great working with WDM and Netflix, and there’s a lot to learn, just from the way that they send notes every time you send an edit to them, or the process of building the story, because there are a few stages before we got selected.
“We sent a synopsis of it, and then we sent a sort of sizzle reel, which is a couple of minutes of footage and a bio about ourselves. Then we had to go and pitch in person, which was nerve-wracking because I’ve never done that kind of thing before. But it was such an amazing learning opportunity to have a go at properly pitching. That went really well because we got it.”
Owen also mentioned the benefits of collaborating with other emerging filmmakers applying for the fund:
“We also made a lot of friends on the way. There was another filmmaker, Maya, who I noticed posting in a forum asking questions, and I messaged her and said, ‘Are you pitching for the Netflix Documentary Talent Fund as well?’, and we ended up helping each other throughout the whole process. So she became the archive producer for our film, helping us deal with getting all the deals we needed in place.
“My first question when Libby from WDM called to say we got it was, ‘had Maya got it as well?’, and she had, so it’s been a really wonderful experience, making friends with another filmmaker and learning from each other.”
BAND takes the spotlight: Raindance Premiere and global release on Netflix’s Still Watching Channel
BAND was officially selected as a part of Raindance Film Festival and premiered at the event on Thursday 26th June 2025. Owen shared his excitement ahead of the film’s premiere, in which he said:
“I can’t wait. I always get nervous at premieres because it’s the first time you properly see it with an audience. As a filmmaker, there’s nothing you love more than seeing it with an audience and watching whether people gasp at the right moment, whether they laugh at the right moment, and whether they get bored and start checking their phones. So I’m incredibly excited about that.
“I’m probably more excited about Friday (27th June). It comes out on the Netflix Still watching Channel on YouTube on Friday morning, and just the idea that it’s going to be out so quickly and ready for everyone I know to see, and then all the people I don’t know can watch it as well.
“I’m very much used to films I work on having quite a long life in festivals before they go to the audience more generally. So having something that’s going to go straight to the audience the day after its premiere is so exciting.”
What’s next for Owen Tooth: new projects, collaborations, and championing disability in film
Owen gave us a hint at what other film projects he has coming up, as well as some exciting announcements:
“I’ve just been selected for the ScreenSkills High-end TV Regional New Directors Champion Programme, in association with Directors UK. The idea behind that is to fast-track regional directors into the TV industry, into a higher position within the next year and a half.
“I’ve been partnered with a brilliant director who works in the same areas as me in documentary and high-end television called Khurrum Sultan, who’s an incredible mentor, so I’m really excited about that.”
Owen continued: “Besides that, like I said, I work in drama as well as documentary. I’ve directed the EastEnders VE Day special, and I’ll be working on another EastEnders block of episodes later in the year.
“Also, David and I got on really well together, so we’re looking at developing some more ideas as a partnership. I didn’t expect us to end up being such a good fit, but we’ve ended up just really enjoying each other’s company.
“Disability centred, I have a short film, which entered for BFI funding, and we’ll find out in a month and a half if we’ve got that. That’s a really exciting project, which is a very much disability centered, near-future sci-fi story.”
Owen concluded with some valuable advice for other aspiring disabled filmmakers:
“Find your community, and don’t give up the fight or be ashamed. When I became disabled, I started having problems. I tried my very hardest to hide it. There are real problems in the industry when it comes to disability, but the more that we shout about it, and the more that we group together, the more that we can overcome those.
“I found some incredible communities that I feel like are my home now. There’s DDPTV, which is an organisation and a Facebook group in the community who are doing so much to promote disability and equality and equity in the film and TV industries. They’ve done so much to help me grow as a person and a filmmaker.”
You can find out more about Owen Tooth by visiting his website and following him on Instagram and LinkedIn.
BAND is available to stream on Netflix’s Still Watching YouTube Channel.