SYNOPSIS
Based on the true story of a bright young man whose life is gradually consumed by his obsession with Fixed Odds Betting Terminals.
Terminal is an uncompromising look at the harms of long term gambling and is an intimate and sometimes darkly comic portrait of addiction and how it dominates and destroys someone's personal and professional life.
DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT
Terminal is a personal story that draws on my own experiences of suffering from long term gambling harm. The story unfolds using a unique, gambling machine point of view that provides an intimate, first hand perspective of the problem gamblers experience and allows for an unfiltered and unflinching account of how the disease of addiction can gain control of someone and dominate them in a stealth-like manner.
The film captures the horror of the problem gamblers experience and juxtaposes it with beautifully lit, visceral imagery and a carefully selected sound palette based on the same sensory seduction techniques that gambling machines use to seduce their helpless victims.
The film’s intimate vantage point allows the audience to observe the harsh realities of the punishing, self destructive life of a problem gambler whilst also experiencing the dark comic edges that emerge from within the protagonists wildest and most delusional fantasies.
I believe that Terminal's story and its insights can play a role in bringing the silent horrors of problem gambling to a wider audience by shining a light into this dark and rarely seen world, in particular within the South Asian community where gambling is an unspoken and taboo subject.
The film has been funded by Gordon Moody, a charity that provides unique treatment programmes for those suffering from gambling-related harm.