Life Begins Now

Partying, snogging, drinking - for a lot of us, college life is the best of times, but for people with learning difficulties, moving on from this special period in their lives raises unique challenges. This sensitive film spends the last few weeks of term at Derwen College in Shropshire with six students as they prepare to graduate and enter the real world. Jon, Aled and Aled have been an inseparable gang for the past three years, united by their Down’s Syndrome but also their love of mischief and girls. Gang leader Jon has cultivated a reputation as a hard man on campus. He doesn't want to get a proper job once he leaves college; instead he's going to pursue the life of a gangster: "fighting, hot-tubs, strippers". His two trusty companions Aled and Aled are also signed up to this hedonistic lifestyle but as the time approaches for Jon to say goodbye to college and his best buddies, reality bites and his hard-man mask begins to slip. Leaving college is a daunting time for anyone but the staff at Derwen has added concerns for its students. The future really is a journey into the unknown.