Plot

Chronicles comedian Eddie Izzard's rise to fame from early influences - losing his mother to cancer at a young age before being sent with his brother to boarding school - to his close relationship today with his father.

Believe chronicles comedian Eddie Izzard's rise to fame from his early influences - losing his mother to cancer at a young age before being sent with his brother to boarding school to his close present day relationship with his supportive father.—Raindance Film Festival

'Believe' chronicles comedian Eddie Izzard's rise to fame from his early influences - losing his mother to cancer at a young age before being sent with his brother to boarding school to his close present day relationship with his supportive father. At school, when he saw what getting into the Cambridge Footlights Revue could do for your career his goal became to follow Hugh Laurie, Stephen Fry and Emma Thompson and try for a place at the University. When that didn't work out he headed to the Edinburgh Festival, equipped with nothing but a unicycle and some banter, eventually figuring out how to draw a crowd. He's been working hard at it ever since. 'Believe' is the mantra of Eddie Izzard: if you want to be a singer, you've got to believe you can sing, if you want to be a comedian you've got to believe you can be funny. Eddie believes in Eddie and it was this rock solid self-belief that allowed him to perform onstage as a transvestite when it was considered career suicide. When his highly successful West End show, Dress To Kill won critical acclaim he had only himself to thank for booking the theatre. The film combines home video, stills and archival footage in this portrait of the performer.—Anonymous

The story of one man's triumph over adversity: cameras followed the comedian on a very stressful comeback tour and caught the story behind some of his best loved material en route. Prior to his Sexie tour in 2003 and under extreme pressure to write, he delved into his own life for inspiration. So began an accidental voyage into his past that paralleled his world tour and culminated in a moment of revelation about the source of his relentless drive. Film contains exclusive never-before-seen footage including the famous 'wolves' material, his first student sketches and unicycle-riding as a street performer in Covent Garden. Hilarious and moving by turns, an inspiring tale of how tragedy can be turned to laughter.