Chronicles of Love, Grief, and Transformation
What use is love if it breaks the soul?
Is unspoken language the most universal form of expression?
How can you love a God that takes everything from you?
These poignant questions reverberate through the narratives of our selection of short films. As each protagonist navigates their journey—whether moving to a new place or returning home after a loss—they embody the struggle for acceptance: of themselves, their truths, and the complexity of their emotions. By the time the credits roll, we witness their metamorphosis, hinting at rebirth, underscoring the notion a member of our audience told us all: “to come of age is to die.”
ESSEX GIRLS
Star and writer of ESSEX GIRLS, Busayo Ige, told us her story was rooted in reality, partially owing to the difficulty in finding filmic references because “Black girlhood is not explored enough.” She cited the British sitcom CHEWING GUM as one such reference, a compelling comparison as its star/creator, Michaela Coel, once echoed a similar sentiment when she once said, “Growing up, I never saw a Black woman in the director's chair.”
In the opening shot while her white girlfriends flirt with boys on the beach, Bisola awkwardly tries to attract the attention of an indifferent white guy they’ve set her up with. Their unspoken privilege is pierced when she later tells them bluntly, “He doesn’t like Black girls.” Consistent meanings are formed in the unarticulated throughout. The racism of the teacher who removes the only two Black girls in his geography migration class. New hairstyles symbolise self-acceptance in a bathroom scene. It's an overall homage to making friends with those you don’t have to perform for.
AREA BOY
AREA BOY harnesses the same themes, this time following a boy’s journey into adulthood. Eli also faces becoming integrated versus being an individual, torn between the conflict between who we feel we are and the norms of the communities we are part of. Director Iggy London emphasises courage in the strength of individuality yet contrasts it with the need to belong. We’re reminded how introspection creates conflicts when we feel ashamed and fear judgement, particularly for queer teenagers.
NYAME MMA
NYAME MMA portrays a 30-year-old queer man’s homecoming for his father’s funeral. It was shot in Ghana at a time when a bill passed stating those participating in the “wilful promotion, sponsorship, or support of LGBTQ+ activities” as well as those found identifying as LGBTQ+ will face prison sentences. It's implied that Kawarma moved villages because of his shunned sexuality, and a reunited moment with his ex-lover sees alternately coloured subtitles on screen, without accompanying voices. It is as though the men can read each other's minds, or that some things cannot be said. As our resident conductor of post-film conversations, Nigel, said, this inaudible dialogue conveys “conversations that need permission to exist.”
APPRECIATION
This evident lack of space for male grieving and how much must remain private (making their loss even more isolating) is inverted by APPRECIATION as it showcases a woman leaning on her community. Tomisin Adepeju’s short subverts the Pentecostal pastor as the archetypal consoler, struggling to give her sermon when she returns to work after the sudden murder of her son. Adepeju’s own mother is a pastor in real life, so we can feel the care taken by him to bring the cultural specificity of this often unseen world to the screen in this personal tale. Through the Yoruba spoken; the vivid clothes of the churchgoers; palms on heads, and the dance of sorrow and gratitude, he calls on us all to appreciate the full spectrum of human emotions. To seek out moments of serenity and serenity amid the world's disorder.
