Coconut Monk Films
Discover Stories That Matter
About
Coconut Monk Films is an independent production company led by Julia Stovell and Oliver Potterton, creating compelling documentaries and narrative films that explore complex human stories with depth and integrity.
Julia Stovell is a BAFTA-longlisted documentary filmmaker whose work spans character-driven observational documentaries and narrative features. Her debut, The Boy With Proteus Syndrome for Channel 4 was BAFTA longlisted for Best Newcomer, promoted to prime-time and sold internationally. She brings unique perspective to military narratives through four generations of family service, cultivating a decade-long relationship with the Vietnam War photographer and veteran community. Julia was selected for the prestigious Guiding Lights Mentorship Programme with Academy Award-winner James Marsh and has been mentored by renowned producer Kenith Trodd (The Singing Detective). Her narrative screenplay Deadeye received BFI NETWORK support through the BFI Early Feature Development Award.
Oliver Potterton is a BAFTA-nominated producer who began his career at The National Film Board of Canada before spending years as an award-winning trailer editor in London, cutting campaigns for films by the Coen Brothers, Ken Loach, Robert Altman, and Roman Polanski. Chosen by acclaimed photographer Helmut Newton, he edited Helmut By June (StudioCanal/HBO/BBC Four) – nominated for Best Arts Documentary at Banff World Media Festival – and also edited Peace One Day (BIFA Best British Documentary). Oliver produced and edited the BAFTA-nominated feature EVERYTHING starring Ray Winstone, which won Best International Digital Feature at Cairo Film Festival.
Together, we've created over 20 years of award-winning work across BBC, Channel 4, and independent production, specializing in character-driven storytelling across documentary and narrative forms.
PTSD A Love Story.
“A masterpiece on trauma, healing and hope” Professor Peter Lee. RAF Chaplain Iraq 2003.
PTSD A Love Story. In post production
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PTSD A Love Story. In post production *
PTSD: A Love Story- In post-production.
Tagline: “One war ends, another begins at home.”
Logline: After seven years of unprecedented access we reveal the hidden war fought in Britain's living rooms. Luke, an RAF veteran, returns from Afghanistan
with severe PTSD and attempts suicide twice. His wife Nikita refuses to give up on him, launching a desperate campaign to save both her husband and their family.
This isn't just another war documentary—it's an intimate love story that exposes the brutal reality of what "coming home" really means for military families.
Executive Producer : Andre Singer.
Written and Directed by Julia Stovell & Oliver Potterton.
Consulting Editor : Judith Merritt.
THE HEIST
THE HEIST. Feature documentary. In development
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THE HEIST. Feature documentary. In development *
“When heroes become revolutionaries, the whole world watches.”
THE HEIST- In development
Tagline: “When heroes become revolutionaries, the whole world watches.”
Logline: Two paralysed Vietnam veterans execute the ultimate political heist- infiltrating the 1972 Republican National Convention to disrupt Nixon’s acceptance speech on live TV, launching a movement that changed America forever.
A political thriller, documented by legendary war photographers Catherine Leroy and Tim Page, and anchored by Bruce Springsteen’s transformative Vietnam Veteran’s benefit concert in LA, this film reveals how the most wounded among us became the most powerful voices for change.
Executive Producers: Alex Gibney & Andre Singer.
Writer/Director : Julia Stovell.
DEADEYE
DEADEYE Feature Fiction. BFI Early Feature Development Award.
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DEADEYE Feature Fiction. BFI Early Feature Development Award. *
“When the most wounded among us become our greatest healers.”
DEADEYE- Fiction Feature-BFI Early Feature Development Award.
Tagline: “When the most wounded among us become our greatest healers.”
Logline: After a failed suicide attempt, a traumatised veteran finds unsuspected salvation at a remote Scottish horse ranch, where working with rescue horses saved from slaughter forces him to confront his own demons and discover that second chances come in the most unlikely forms.
Status: In development-BFI Early Feature Development Award.
Writer/Director : Julia Stovell.
Development Support: BFI Network.
RAISING HELL. Feature documentary. In Production
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RAISING HELL. Feature documentary. In Production *
RAISING HELL
RAISING HELL- In production
Tagline: “The greatest lie is the one we tell ourselves.”
Logline: 1964. Texan born PJ Proby was set on being bigger than Elvis, who had hired him to record his demos. The Beatles launched his career on their first ever
TV show in England. Tom Jones called him “…the greatest singer I ever heard” and Led Zeppelin were his backing band on his Three Week Hero album.
Then overnight he disappeared.
50 years later, a naive filmmaker turns up on his doorstep in his hideaway in the middle of England and is told a story stranger than fiction…
Filmed over ten years, Raising Hell is a psychological portrait of talent, trauma and the patterns we struggle to break.
Writer/Director : Julia Stovell.
Writer/Producer : Oliver Potterton.
HIGHLAND COWBOY. Feature documentary. In development
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HIGHLAND COWBOY. Feature documentary. In development *
HIGHLAND COWBOY
HIGHLAND COWBOY- In development
Tagline: “What do we owe strangers versus those we love?”
Logline: A man in a Stetson hat and chaps working with half-ton racehorses in the Scottish mist, refusing to wear a hard hat. This is Jock Hutchinson—former
Royal Marine pilot turned Highland Cowboy— who’s discovered that the same damaged racehorses he rescues from slaughter can heal his fellow veterans from
the invisible wounds of war.
Highland Cowboy is an intimate 18-month character study of a brilliant, complex healer caught between his calling and those he loves most.
Writer/ Director : Julia Stovell.
Writer/Producer : Oliver Potterton.
