In profile: Filmmaker, Jet Summan

ALL THE hen Jet Summan fell out of love with acting, he knew exactly what WORLD’S he wanted to do: study. An actor from a young age, he won a scholarship to A STAGE the-then Birmingham School of Speech and Drama at the age of 13 and spent his teens treading the boards, Jet Summan took time out from his acting performing Shakespeare career to study for a BSc (Hons) Fire and and other plays, eventually Rescue at the University of Wolverhampton. securing an agent. He’s since returned to his first love, releasing But after a few years, he an award-winning film that centres on a decided he wanted more male victim of domestic violence. He talks and made the decision to to WLV Life about making an impact. step away and pursue a more academic route. “I was in the wrong frame of mind for acting and because I’d always wanted to study for a degree, I wanted to do something completely different,” he said. “I’d always been interested in the services, such as the police, fire and armed forces, so looked at what I could do; when I saw the Fire and Rescue degree, I knew it would suit me down to the ground.”

He put acting on the backburner and focused on his studies, combining it with being a reserve firefighter in Derbyshire. But in the third year of his degree, the acting bug came back to bite him and he signed up with an agent again.

“I loved my time at Wolverhampton; it opened my eyes to studying at a higher level and the teachers were really supportive,” he said. “I met people from different backgrounds and cultures

and the whole experience was brilliant. I was so proud that I followed my dream to get a degree and wouldn’t hesitate to tell anyone to study because who knows where it could lead.”

Since graduating, Jet has followed a diverse acting career, appearing in commercials, BBC TV series such as Holby City and Birds of a Feather, independent films and dramas. In 2019, his unveiled his most exciting project yet: a short film called Damage, which tells the story of a man who is the victim of domestic abuse.

The film, for which Jet picked up the Best Actor award in a featurette at the Idyllwild International Film Festival of Cinema in Los Angeles in March, was the actor’s idea.

“I saw a documentary about men who had been abused by their partners and I had a lightbulb moment for a film,” said Jet. “It’s not a story you hear about very often, because men don’t often admit to being victims of abuse. But it’s out there and the research I did, talking to men who had been abused and to the charity ManKind, really opened my eyes to it.”

From a germ of an idea, it quickly grew into a concept and then a script, written by Melissa Donello, after Jet put forward the idea to TestaRossa Productions, with whom he had worked on the 2017 Italian/British crime drama, Artichoke. It agreed to co-produce it with Inspirit Productions.

As associate producer, Jet used his industry contacts to gather a strong cast, including Amy Shepherd, who played Emma, the fiancée of Rav, played by Jet; Bhasker Patel of Emmerdale fame; Barti Patel, a regular in the BBC series Doctors; and Jason Riddington, whose appearances include Luther.

“I had to go to some really dark places to do justice to the character and to the men who have suffered domestic violence,” said Jet. “I talked to so many men who were survivors of domestic violence when doing my research. What they told me was really powerful and it made the film powerful, too.”

Funding is now being sought to turn the 17-minute film, which opened the Birmingham Film Festival in 2019, into a featurelength movie – and it would be a dream come true if that were to happen, said Jet, who still lives in the West Midlands.

“There is amazing talent in the UK film and television worlds and I feel incredibly lucky to be a part of it,” said Jet. “I’m grateful for every opportunity – from getting my degree to working on such fantastic acting projects – and I’m hopeful for more collaborations in the future, especially here in the Midlands, where I’d love to see the independent film and TV sector continue to thrive.”