Off-Set: BBC Film

Dionne Farrell

BBC Film – THE SHORT ANSWER

INTERVIEW WITH

Dionne Farrell, Development Executive at BBC Film

What do you love most about your job as a Development Executive at BBC Film?

I really enjoy being involved in identifying the next generation of exciting filmmaking talent to support and champion in a meaningful, long-term way, whether that’s Adura Onashile proving that she can direct for screen, or Runyararo Mapfumo making something with a bit more scale. I also like the breadth of the work because you can be an objective eye across lots of different stories, rather than trying to come up with these ideas and worlds alone.

Adura Onashile’s Expensive Sh*t encapsulates the idea of screening unseen lives – is that part of what you relished about the film?

It gives us a lens into a world that we don’t really get to see on screen. Onashile makes the person who is usually in the >>

shadows the main protagonist, which I think is really meaningful because there’s definitely a version of the film that is told through the eyes of the white characters. Modupe Adeyeye’s central performance as Tolu is also stunning and so compelling.

The shooting of Lizard was able to provide opportunities to a community of Nigerian creatives. What is the value in this kind of cross-cultural exchange?

Lizard is a piece that’s really originated by its director Akinola Davies Jr and is very personal in many ways. In terms of it being shot and set in Nigeria, it was about honouring that story and Akinola’s vision. As the BBC, we have to make British films and support British filmmakers, but I think the idea of Britishness is quite malleable and you lose something if you are not able to tell British stories that aren’t set in Britain. We’re such a multicultural and multi-ethnic society that not everyone’s frame of reference is going to be something that needs to be set and told in the UK. We’d be missing out on so many brilliant stories if we weren’t able to make these films!

What do you think makes short films so powerful and appealing?

It is a really unique medium because you have so little time to tell the audience what’s going on, get them to invest, and

Expensive Sh*t

blow them away. I think the challenge but also the joy of great short films is only having to communicate one idea. Runyararo Mapfumo’s Dawn in the Dark, for example, is just a beautifully sensitive portrait of a young girl on the precipice of grief. Lizard is about a young girl who starts to see beyond or beneath the surface of her community; it’s thrilling in terms of that build and escalation. If you only have 15 minutes to watch something, then what better way to spend your time than discovering a great short film and a great filmmaker.

What would you say to empower Black creatives involved in or thinking about getting involved in the film/TV industry?

Whatever you want to do in this industry, whether it’s telling stories or helping people to tell those stories, your voice is valuable and necessary. I’m also seeing a

Dawn in the Dark

lot of great people creating communities or networks for themselves. These can comprise of people who you go to for advice or for a shoulder to cry on; people that can help to lift you up when you’re not able to do that yourself. You can find that anywhere and it can surprise you sometimes who those people are. Something like S.O.U.L. Fest is a great community to be a part of! Christopher Deane n

Lizard