In this documentary Becoming Umberto, husband and wife team James and Victoria Wall tell the story of Robert 'Umberto' Walker, a traditional sign-writer from West Yorkshire.
During the 30-minute film, you'll discover his inspirational story of growing up struggling with education to doing job after job while pursuing a career in art. Robert's path took an unlikely turn when he found himself working in the education sector. When he wasn't teaching, he was his alter-ego rockstar, Steve Albino.
James has worked in the film industry for the last decade but hasn't made a film of his own since 2013 when he released The Truth About Romance – a feature film which has had over six million views.
"I made the switch to documentaries a few years ago," James tells Creative Boom. "I've been involved in eight feature-length documentaries, three of which are available on Amazon Prime. After encouraging words from my wife, we set out to make our own films. My wife's background is in mental health support. She has a great knack at making people feel comfortable. She's a very creative-minded person, so not only is she great during the interview she's also learnt how to operate a camera very quickly."
Becoming Umberto is the first of many films the couple will be releasing this year. "We feel the tide is changing and people are interested in watching long-form content and hearing about people's stories," adds James. "It's important to share honest stories from real people. It doesn't matter how many social media followers they have or if they've gone viral. It's about talking and opening up and saying something that might be relatable to someone else, which might help them through the day."
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