PERSONAL WORK
(New Generation Award)
Ashima
Dillon & Co / SoundChips
Shortlist
|
Title of Piece:
|
Ashima |
|
Production Company:
|
Dillon & Co / SoundChips |
|
Director(s) :
|
Dillon M. Banda |
| Business Region: |
37037 |
| Short Synopsis: |
‘Ashima’ follows Natacha Maboma, a young Cameroonian-American woman who, at the time of making the film, had been living and travelling abroad in Asia for 3 years. Whilst visiting Hong Kong for the first time, Natacha reflects on the experience of being a young woman - and specifically, a black woman - living away from home and travelling the world on her own. Her thoughts are interspersed with the lyrics from 3 songs that have had a special significance for her during her travels. ‘Ashima’ was filmed across the Hong Kong islands before the COVID-19 pandemic and also before the pro-democracy protests. It is the third and final film in a series exploring the importance of music in people’s lives. |
| Runtime: |
06:54 |
| Release Date: |
2020-08-14 |
| Director of Photography: |
Dillon M. Banda |
| Editor: |
Sean Cunningham |
| Music Composer: |
Hotel Neon |
| Sound Design: |
IYO |
| Individual Credits: |
Subject and Narrator - Natacha Maboma |
| Individual Credits: |
Production Assistant - Van Ngoc Dang |
| Notes for Judging: |
I felt drawn to tell Natacha’s story, because I’d noticed that there aren't nearly enough depictions in the media or in popular culture of black girls and black women travelling for leisure, living abroad and / or living away from their places of origin in instances that aren't the result of forced and / or involuntary displacement. As much as it is vitally, crucially important that we tell black stories that highlight the scourges of systemic oppression, racism and anti-blackness, I’ve also always felt - as a black man myself - that it is as important that we show more depictions of black people (and people of colour) existing in spaces and contexts in which we have historically been underrepresented. And so, the conception of this film was borne out of a desire to contribute to the further and fairer representation of black people in wider contexts that reflect how a lot of us actually live our lives, and to show how even in a world plagued with systemic racism, anti-blackness and inequality, we still can - and do - aspire to lead free, adventurous and expansive lives, just like anyone else. |
| Statement: |
37091 |
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