MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — A documentary highlighting the tragic death of Nolan Burch during a 2014 hazing incident at an unsanctioned fraternity on the WVU Morgantown campus has earned multiple awards, most recently a regional Emmy.
In addition to the Emmy for the Ohio Valley Region- Best Documentary Cultural/Topical, ‘Breathe, Nolan, Breathe’ has also won the IndieFEST Film Award of Excellence and Best Film of the 2020 Feedback Documentary Film Festival.
Dan Catullo, CEO of City Drive Studios and WVU alum produced the film that begins with stirring actual footage of the death of Nolan on November 14, 2014. Nolan’s parents T.J. and Kim Burch worked with Catullo and WVU to launch the “Would You?” campaign focusing on anti-hazing, medical amnesty laws and bystander intervention.
“It was extremely courageous for them to share such a personal moment,” Catullo said during an appearance Friday on MetroNews ” Talkline.” “That’s a horrific thing for anybody to watch, but for them to put that out there for the world to see says a lot about the Burch family.”
Dan Catullo, CEO of City Drive Studios, and T.J. Burch, Father of the late Nolan Burch, talks with @HoppyKercheval about the film Breathe, Nolan, Breathe winning a regional Emmy. WATCH: https://t.co/yCFQ3nDJuy pic.twitter.com/2uk1o440ba
— MetroNews (@WVMetroNews) November 13, 2020
The recognition has pushed the film, and its very direct message onto many college campuses and high schools in the nation.
“It’s hard to watch, but I think part of the reason it’s successful we kept it so raw and real,” Catullo said. “People get engaged right off the bat and they want to watch whole thing, we didn’t sugar coat anything.”
“We know for a fact that it’s doing its job- it’s saving lives and the fact that it has gone national and international, it’s bittersweet and it’s tough to watch, but it’s one of those things that just had to happen,” T.J. Burch said on “Talkline.”
The “Would You” campaign attempts to drive home the importance of intervening when a celebration turns quickly into a medical emergency. Medical amnesty laws protect bystanders and those affected by drug or alcohol overdose when incidents like what happened to Nolan.
“We know so many other tragedies that have happened to other men and young men and women in sort of the same way,” Burch said. “In every single instance if someone would have just made that phone call and done something those young folks would be with us today, so yes do the right thing.”
The Burch family has established the NMB Foundation help spread the message and show the film to groups and organizations.
“You know it’s having an impact, whether it’s from the silence on the other end or the questions the kids have,” Burch said. “You can tell it is really resonating with them and we all know that it has saved lives.”