Ashley Francis-Roy shared Emma Garvie @ Acme TV Ltd 's post on the TM Hub

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Excited to be answering questions about our film Damilola: The Boy Next Door on The Talent Manager hub today. x

Emma Garvie @ Acme TV Ltd shared an image

Acme Films are thrilled and honoured to be nominated for an RTS award for Damilola: The Boy Next Door.Our PD@AshleyFrancis-Roy, PM@Read more

Acme Films are thrilled and honoured to be nominated for an RTS award for Damilola: The Boy Next Door.

Our PD@AshleyFrancis-Roy, PM@EmmaGarvie , AP@NelsonAdeosun and Researcher @ShaharulKhan are excited to be in the TM Hub today and this week to answer any questions you might have about the making of the film.

Our aim with the film was to tell the truth behind the headlines. Yinka’s perspective gave unique insight into a story we thought we knew. #rtsawardsnominees

Edited on 24th May 2021 16:53pm

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Sarah Lee @ The Talent Manager

We're excited to have you @AshleyFrancis-Roy @EmmaGarvie @ShaharulKhan @NelsonAdeosun and colleagues! Can you tell us what the doc revealed that the press coverage didn't?

5 years ago

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Ashley Francis-Roy

@SarahLee Thanks Sarah - A lot of the contemporary press coverage was obviously focused on the investigation into Damilola’s death. There was a lot of coverage of what was in the end a very messy investigation. There were several trials and ultimately the whole criminal case wasn’t resolved for around 6 years. Damilola’s murder was also part of a much bigger story and quite a political one.

5 years ago

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Ashley Francis-Roy

@SarahLee His death caught the attention of the whole nation at a time when the media and politicians were really focused on council estates and working class communities. There was a big moral panic about the poverty and violence in these places, but often the media and politicians ended up demonising the places and the people who lived there. A lot of the contemporary coverage fell back on dehumanising cliche and classist, sometimes racist, assumptions.

5 years ago

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Ashley Francis-Roy

@SarahLee I think our film tries to offer a different perspective and framing of the story - the perspective of those people who felt demonised by the press and the politicians. For Yinka and the people who grew up in the area to be able to take control of the narrative and say that although what happened to Damilola was horrible, there was a beautiful and joyful community on that estate that had value. And Damilola was part of that community - he wasn’t a lost, lonely little boy.

5 years ago Edited 5 years ago

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Ashley Francis-Roy

@SarahLee It might not seem like a massive point of difference, but for the people who grew up there and for others who can relate it means an awful lot.

5 years ago

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Nelson Adeosun

@AshleyFrancis-Roy @SarahLee I wholeheartedly agree with Ashley on this. The people living in council housing were seen as quite monolithic, which I hope the film and we as crew members have shown to be erroneous and damaging. The black and white nature of the press coverage really dumbed down what was in actual fact quite a complex living situation (both good and bad) for many of those who lived there prior to and after Damilola's unfortunate passing.

5 years ago

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Sarah Lee

@AshleyFrancis-Roy that came across really clearly. Have I remembered rightly that some of the blocks were knocked down afterwards too? I watched it a while back but came away with a distinct impression of 'community' and sense of the good times there

5 years ago

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Ashley Francis-Roy

@SarahLee that's correct! almost all of the estate was knocked down shortly after Damilola's death. So this amazing, strong community was dispersed and torn apart right at the time they needed that sense of community most. For the people in that area - Damilola's death and the end of that community was a huge life-changing moment. For the people who were Yinka's age at the time it almost felt like it marked the end of their childhood.

5 years ago

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Becs Hall

Really proud to see TM-ers involved in such great programme making, so congrats @AshleyFrancis-Roy on your nomination. Can I ask what the challenges were behind making a doc on such a sensitive subject matter?

5 years ago Edited 5 years ago

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Ashley Francis-Roy

@BecsHall Thanks so much Becs! It’s an incredibly sensitive subject - it was really important to all of us, especially Yinka, that Damilola’s family knew about the film and were behind it from the start. We contacted Damilola’s dad Richard Taylor very early on and his blessing and consent was essential. Thankfully he understood what we wanted to do and saw how it was a celebration of the people Damilola had an impact on.

5 years ago

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Ashley Francis-Roy

@BecsHall I don’t know that we would have been able to make the film without his blessing.

It was also incredibly hard for Yinka and the contributors in the film. We were asking them to delve into a really painful emotional period of their lives and that definitely was hard. I don’t think Yinka was really prepared for how hard she would find it. As a crew it’s important to be sensitive to that and make sure that Yinka is doing ok and not pushing things too much in one go.

5 years ago

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Ashley Francis-Roy

@BecsHall We could all go home and switch off to some degree, but for Yinka it was her own life and trauma that we were exploring and it affected her deeply. It was important that the film didn’t become too depressing and grim, and that everyone who took part got something from the experience. I think for Yinka and the contributors, there is a sense that talking about this period of their lives was incredibly good for them.

5 years ago

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Ashley Francis-Roy

@BecsHall You can almost see the weight lift off their shoulders in the film - it feels a bit like therapy for them. This is a quietly devastating and sad film, but we worked hard to ensure it was also uplifting and redemptive - as much about healing, hope and love as it was about pain, trauma, and loss.

5 years ago

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Becs Hall

@AshleyFrancis-Roy this is all such interesting stuff, thanks so much for answering my question. So much food for thought. Good luck for tomorrow evening!

5 years ago

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Matt Born

Hi - what was the genesis of this film, and Yinka's involvement? Did she come to you / the channel with the idea, or did you want to look back at Damilola's story - and find her?

5 years ago

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Ashley Francis-Roy

@MattBorn Thanks for the question Matt! Acme Films and Channel 4 were working closely together to find the next big do***entary talent - everyone loved Yinka and knew she had a huge amount to offer and a lot of potential. The next step was finding a story or world she could explore - Yinka mentioned her connection to Damilola briefly in an early meeting and it seemed like something worth exploring.

5 years ago

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Ashley Francis-Roy

Me and AP @NelsonAdeosun came on board to develop the idea further. We did some initial research and found there were loads of really fascinating themes and approaches to the story. We also discovered the interview of Yinka on Panorama as a child - this really brought the idea to life and was really the moment we knew there was a very compelling and insightful story to be told. We filmed a taster where Yinka watches that Panorama for the first time ever.

5 years ago

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Ashley Francis-Roy

That scene was really the thing that brought the idea to life for the Channel and got it commissioned.

5 years ago

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Matt Born

@AshleyFrancis-Roy @NelsonAdeosun - that's really interesting. So the idea was always to be looking at it from her perspective, the impact on the community etc - rather than a ''true crime'' type doc that evolved into something else.

5 years ago

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Ashley Francis-Roy

@MattBorn Yes definitely - we knew from very early on that this was going to be a film that centred Yinka's perspective and the community around Damilola that was impacted by his death. There had previously been so much about Damilola's death, there was nothing new to say about his murder or the investigation, and so we knew the focus of this film couldn't be his murder, or his killers.

5 years ago

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Natalie Grant

Hey @AshleyFrancis-Roy @NelsonAdeosun @ShaharulKhan ....Great doc and congrats on the nomination! ...I wondered what challenges you faced making the doc and how these were overcome?

5 years ago

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Nelson Adeosun

@NatalieGrant Thanks for your question. I can of course only speak for myself but I think the challenge with this project was the various different films we could've made. It could've been an expose, a true crime doc or even an archive doc. But I think the way we conquered was to make sure everything was seen from Yinka's perspective and that it either altered her perspective on the matter or made her reflect on her younger self with adult eyes, both of which are of course easier said than done.

5 years ago

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Robin Parker

@AshleyFrancis-Roy @NelsonAdeosun @ShaharulKhan How much did Yinka's involvement help reassure the community that your motives for making the doc were solid? Where there aspects where you faced resistance and how did you approach them?

5 years ago Edited 5 years ago

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Ashley Francis-Roy

@RobinParker Great question - thanks Robin. The community in Peckham have justly felt demonised by the media in the past, and so it is totally understandable and expected that sometimes people are really distrustful of filmmakers and journalists. That Yinka was the person making this film had a huge impact in helping the local community and our contributors trust us.

5 years ago

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Ashley Francis-Roy

@RobinParker Yinka is from the community and so people felt much more at ease talking to us - they knew Yinka understood their story and that she would make sure it was portrayed fairly. Our amazing AP @NelsonAdeosun grew up in the area too and did an amazing job helping people understand what we wanted to do with the film.

5 years ago

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Ashley Francis-Roy

@RobinParker Having a crew made up of people of colour was extremely important in creating an environment and space for our contributors in which they felt comfortable expressing their feelings. Acme Films prides itself on working with underrepresented communities and bringing their stories to life in a way which is collaborative rather than sneery or judgemental.

5 years ago

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Ashley Francis-Roy

@RobinParker But like in any film we of course faced resistance, and lots of people weren’t ready or didn’t feel able to get involved for a range of reasons. But for some people the pain and trauma of this experience is really difficult to talk about.

5 years ago

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Sharul Khan

@RobinParker Thank you for your question, Robin. Just to add to Ash's answer - Yinka knew Damilola as well as anybody outside of his family. She saw him almost everyday at the time, they shared memories and moments, and then she went through the ordeal of the murder. It was easy to understand for most why Yinka may have so many unanswered questions, having gone through all of this as a 10 year old and not revisiting the time and topic ever since. This naturally gave contributors the reassurance

5 years ago

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Sharul Khan

@RobinParker that the research and filming intentions came from a genuine place. However resistance in a place like Peckham was expected - given the combination of neglect from the government and negative press of the area over the past decades. The community understandable had their guard up at times. I guess the way we approached this was to spend time to give importance to the voices that wanted to voice their resistance. We showed we were willing to listen to the harsh facts and neither Ash

5 years ago

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Sharul Khan

@RobinParker nor the team had shied away from the uncomfortable realities of Peckham at the time Yinka grew up there and also before then.

5 years ago

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Steven McVeigh

Hi,

@AshleyFrancis-Roy What is your process for gaining the trust of your key contributors and maintaining this whilst filming? Does this approach differ when using presenting talent to drive sequences as oppose to a observational, director/contributor style of doc?

How long did this take and what are your top tips for creating settings in which your subjects can open up as much as they did? Fantastic work!

5 years ago

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Ashley Francis-Roy

@StevenMcVeigh We spend a lot of time before we start filming gaining people's trust. We have in-depth conversations with people about our aims and intentions and how they fit into it, and talk to them about the whole process, and what filming will be like. Ideally we try and meet once or a few times without filming. It's important to try and build a connection with them and also show that you recognise and care about their motivations and agenda.

5 years ago

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Ashley Francis-Roy

@StevenMcVeigh I think that approach is probably very similar on both obs and presenter-led docs, except on presenter-led films the presenter also has to be part of that process at some point. Their relationship with your contributors is as important as the production teams.

5 years ago

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Ashley Francis-Roy

@StevenMcVeigh I think it's important that people feel like they have a sense of privacy and safety in a space - so an intimate, private place is important. But I also look for settings and environments that mean something for them - that can really help them open up or prompt things that might not otherwise come up. Thanks for the great question Steven! x

5 years ago

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Robin Parker

@AshleyFrancis-Roy @NelsonAdeosun @ShaharulKhan Congratulations on your New Voices Awards hat-trick!
Yinka Bokinni wins for Best Debut Presenter
Ashley Francis-Roy wins for Best Debut Director
Acme Films wins for Best Company for New Talent

5 years ago Edited 5 years ago

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