D!RECTOR'S STATEMENT
THE BRITISH SEASIDE TOWN
There is something absurd about the British seaside town, the ‘English Riviera’.
The idea of the ‘non-british’ seaside inhabitant still feels culturally novel. I find myself in the dual position of being from, and not from, that place.
There is something ridiculous about me being there, and being ridiculous makes me quintessentially British.
There is a darker side to this. Being a minority allowed me to see all the texture of the seaside town through an observational lens, admire its beauty and poverty, all of its different shades.
The role of observer, however, may suit me now, and in the context of filmmaker is even useful, but it is still a role that has been assigned to me, not one I chose.
I would have rather have grown up without that sense of distance from those around me.
The pandemic caused many people to return to their hometowns. Returning after a prolonged absence allowed me to re-engage with the place in a new way; as someone who didn’t need to fit in, rather than someone who couldn’t.
My shapeshifting and transformation aims to subvert people’s preconceptions of who I might be. The fact that I feel the need to do this as an adult says a lot about how it was to grow up as a mixed race person in a British seaside town.
ABOUT THE D!RECTOR
I’m Devonian/Goan Portuguese (Indian). I was raised by my mum and my grandma taught me to tell stories.
I started in music, playing guitar for Johnny Mars from age 13. I had two top 40 UK singles, played with Rihanna and played at Wembley Arena, Glastonbury and Brixton Academy. After being featured on Must Be The Music for Sky1, friends asked me to act in shorts/music videos, including The Fat White Family, and I presented a TV show (Pro DX) for Disney.
Exploring the possibilities of storytelling, I formed a theatre company. Our first show brought Pre-Raphaelite paintings to life, dramatised with Keats, Boccaccio and Dante, in a dilapidated mansion on The Bishop's Avenue,
My first short film as director, ‘An Old Man of the Hills’, won best screenplay at the 2017 The London Film Awards. I then focussed on directing, writing, producing and editing shorts and music videos.
I was selected for Cinemadamare, the world's largest traveling film festival. I made 16 shorts (including a short starring Filippo Scotti), screening work at Venice Film Festival 2018.
Developing as an actor, I co-ran monologue nights attended by actors including Emily Beecham. I directed and acted in 'True', a play set in a care home in which the residents were sculptures I made from junk, performing it at The Lyric Theatre. I worked with White City Youth Theatre at The Bush.
My first feature film, Dirty Postcards, premiered at the BFI in 2022. In 2023 I developed a 6ep sitcom TV series based on Dirty Postcards. I also have a 6ep dystopian sitcom in pre-production, along side my second feature film.
!NTERV!EW CONT!NUED
I work best when I’m just a little bit out of my depth, and think an exciting artwork is born at the moment Experiment meets Practice.
We are all multi-hyphenates and rigid specification stops cross-practice germination and the new permutations (originality) that come from that. I find learning new skills so joyful that I often prefer doing things I’m bad at.
At the premier, the laughs came at the moments I was anxious people may judge me negatively, reaffirming that if the work feels painfully revealing, then it may be of value. Only through honesty can we connect. Something nuanced and genuine might reach less people, but it might reach them profoundly.
The antithesis of nature is no longer the city, it’s the screen.
The reason I make films is to energise people to go out and play in their own epic stories. I notice how much content drowns desire; vicarious experiences, addictive yet unfulfilling, compel audiences us to scroll but leave us drained.
Stories have the power to free us by inspiring us and calling us to action.
For me, it’s a self-portrait, my first major piece, and a calling card that showcases a few sides of who I am and what I’m interested in.
I realised how hard I need to work in order to feel happy, how much I have to learn and say as an artist, and how important it is, for one’s own sanity, to be close to other people.
I was so happy people found the message in the bottle!
!NTERV!EW WITH THE D!RECTOR
At the beginning of 2020, a time of worldwide reassessment, I wondered if I was actually any good at what I do.
I thought, if I call myself an interdisciplinary artist, I should be able to single handedly create a narrative piece.
I started small, putting no pressure on myself, taking the opportunity to create something, whatever that may be. The stillness and lack of culture over that period freed me from expectations and comparisons.
It also encouraged me to use what I had, who I had, and where I was. I learnt we always have all we need to make a film.
I developed the piece as a web series. I made 5 x 5 min episodes, then got carried away and made the next 5 episodes 10 - 15 mins long. From conception to wrap, production took 18 months.
During this time I did all I could to improve my focus.
I lived and worked alone in the seaside village in Devon, prioritised the project above all else, cut the wire to the WiFi, made a rule to only use electricity in the daytime, slept and woke with the light, ran marathons and swam in the sea all year round.
I tried to live healthily, but the project broke me, and it took me 6 months to recover from the 18 months in solitude.
D!SCOVER MORE
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CL!CK
