The Possibilities are Endless: musical legend Edwyn Collins presents film of his life in Oxford

Not only is he responsible for such great tunes as A Girl Like You, but he has overcome terrifying obstacles to bounce back as an artist.

After suffering a severe, Edwyn, effectively had the contents of his mind wiped. A new film, The Possibilities Are Endless, charts his recovery to the stage – which included a towering performance at our Truck festival.

Edwyn presents the film himself at The Phoenix Picturehouse in Jericho, tonight, followed by a short set of songs and a Q&A session hosted by the Oxford Mail, and featuring Edwyn, his wife Grace and film directors James Hall and Edward Lovelace.

The film starts at 8.15pm. Click here for details and tickets

The Possibilities Are Endless

The concept:

The celebrated lyricist, Edwyn Collins could only say two phrases after waking up: ‘Grace Maxwell’ and ‘The Possibilities Are Endless’.
The film tells the incredible story of Collins, a songwriter who had the contents of his mind effectively deleted after experiencing a stroke.

Placed inside Edwyn’s mind, the viewer embarks on a remarkable journey from the brink of death back to language, music, life and love. With the help of his wife Grace, Edwyn submerges himself in a landscape of memories, as he tries to unlock the story of his past.

More than a story of determination against all odds; it is an intimate and life-affirming tale of rediscovery.

The making of the film:

The Possibilities Are Endless is the third feature from exciting new British directing talents, Edward Lovelace and James Hall (filmmakers behind the global box office hit, Katy Perry: Part of Me).

The documentary blends intimate retrospective moments with real life scenes to paint a unique portrait of Scottish singer and songwriter Edwyn Collins, and his wife and manager Grace Maxwell.

The film captures Collins’ exhilarating return to writing and performing music following a severe cerebral haemorrhage in 2005.

The Possibilities Are Endless is filmed from Edwyn’s perspective, allowing the viewer into his mind-set, allowing for a rare immersive experience.

Post-stroke album, Losing Sleep, in 2010. They were long-time fans of Edwyn Collins and his 1980s band Orange Juice but it was this album, Collins’ eighth solo project that particularly intrigued them.

“The album felt like it was coming from a different place,” recalls James Hall.

“Edwyn was always known to be very lyrical and witty. ‘Losing Sleep’ felt more direct, but with all the meaning and density of what he had been doing before, just in a different way. It was interesting to think, ‘How is he doing that? Is he the same guy inside?’”

The directors were fascinated by the songwriter who had created such an impressive body of work before experiencing a stroke - which changed everything about him. He lost his memories, had to learn to communicate again and was almost a different person. Therefore, what would his subsequent work look like?

What was the artist now trying to say? They wrote to Collins and Maxwell, initially asking to interview Collins without a camera in order to talk to him about his childhood, his past, his career and his new future.

Collins and Maxwell were enthusiastic. “When we met Ed and James I suppose we were a bit surprised by these two young guys. But they immediately inspired Edwyn’s trust, and mine,” Maxwell recalls. “We just took to them. Edwyn is intuitive about things like this.”

The artist:

Edwyn Collins was born in Edinburgh and formed the rock group Orange Juice in Glasgow in 1979.

It enjoyed a huge hit with the song Rip It Up in 1983.

Around the same time Collins met Lanarkshire-born Maxwell in London where she was working as the house manager of a small West End theatre called The Arts Theatre. He asked her to manage Orange Juice and then his solo career when he left the band.

Collins and Maxwell became a couple a year or so afterwards. Collins’ solo hit A Girl Like You transformed him into a global pop star in 1994, taking him to the US.

In 2005, one Sunday afternoon Collins and Maxwell were enjoying the last of their weekend - preparing a roast for their evening meal. “I had popped out to collect the car from a friends and remember coming home to a deathly quiet house”.

Maxwell discovered Collins collapsed on the floor. He was rushed to hospital where doctors reported that a blood vessel in his brain had burst. He had suffered a hemorrhagic stroke. After 6 days in intensive care Collins fell into a coma.

Eventually waking from a coma, it was discovered he had suffered acute aphasia (a condition that affects the brain and leads to problems using language). Collins was in hospital for 6 months. His recovery was painfully slow and Maxwell had no idea what parts of Collins would return.

The couple, who married in 2006, are intent on not letting Collins’ stroke become what defines them. “It’s hardly unique,” says Maxwell. “It’s happening to families all over the place as we speak. What I would say though is that afterwards, everything is changed. Everything is completely different. Your life, your relationships, everything. That’s not a necessarily positive or negative thing but it makes you reflect on things. You find yourself retreating into yourself a bit more, asking what’s it all about, life, death, the universe.

"It’s a process that goes on inside you. You spend a lot of time thinking about what it is to be a person and the nature of the time we have here. What is it for and why does it matter so much?”

Maxwell describes the first year Collins was home from the hospital as a precious time for the family.

“Looking back at it now I don’t remember it as a miserable period,” she recalls.

“We had nothing to do except to be together. It was quite luxurious in a way. Life is now back to being hectic and I remember that time as being very peaceful and being really happy.”

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