FREE WHEEL

PRODUCED DOCUMENTARY. 52 MINS

Ushuaïa TV award at the What a Trip ! Festival

He survived one of the darkest nights in recent memory. He came out paraplegic. Together with his wife and an old friend, he set himself an impossible goal: to climb Kilimanjaro in a wheelchair. Not a film about disability. A film about resilience, love, and the stubborn refusal to stop living at full force.

INFORMATION

CATEGORY TV DOCUMENTARY

STATUS PRODUCED

YEAR 2025

FORMAT 52 MINS

BROADCASTERS TF1+, USHUAÏA TV, UPTRACK

Synopsis

On 13 November 2015, Pierre is at the Bataclan. He makes it out alive, but his life shifts entirely. Paraplegic, he must relearn everything: the gestures of daily life, his relationship with his own body, the space he takes up in a world not built for him.

But Pierre is not the type to stop. With Myriam, his wife, and Nicolas, their old friend, he decides to set himself an absurd and magnificent goal: to climb Kilimanjaro. From a wheelchair.

Free Wheel does not glorify performance. It does not turn Pierre into a superhero. It follows three ordinary human beings through an extraordinary adventure, with their doubts, their exhaustion, their moments of grace and their laughter on the edge of the abyss.

As we approach the tenth anniversary of the attacks, this documentary produced by Troublemakers Originals in collaboration with Wheeled World is a necessary reminder: do not forget the horror, but tell also what some people have built on its ruins. A story of pain, love, and an extraordinary will to live.

Gallery

The team

Director

Fabien Écochard

Fabien Ecochard is a Paris-based photographer and director working across documentary and commercial films. His work is driven by a deep curiosity for people and everyday life, always placing human stories at the heart of his images. Through an authentic and sensitive approach, he captures genuine moments and brings a strong sense of humanity to his work.
FOUNDER / CEO / PRODUCER

James Hagger

James Hagger is a producer and the founder of Troublemakers. He views production as a space for dialogue between storytelling, craftsmanship, and artistic integrity. Trained in London in the late 1990s as an assistant director, he worked alongside Nick Love, Kevin Reynolds, Christian Volckman, and Harmony Korine—experiences that have shaped his vision.

Co Producers

Wheeled World

Myriam and Pierre, a couple consisting of one person with a disability and one without, co-produced the TV documentary Free Wheel alongside Troublemakers Originals. Pierre, who was injured at the Bataclan, is paraplegic and uses a wheelchair. But that doesn’t stop them from exploring the world: For Wheeled World, setting out on an adventure means reconnecting—with themselves and with the world around them.
PRODUCER

Robin Noël

Robin began his career in feature films alongside Eric Toledano and Olivier Nakache for the company Quad Films, assisting them on internationally acclaimed films. He joined Troublemakers in 2020, sharing founder James Hagger’s ambition to develop and carry ambitious long format projects, blurring the imposed boundaries of genre and technique.