Actor and emerging filmmaker Candice Onyeama (left) and a still from her first funded short film HUSH.
Candice Onyeama is an actor and writer who recently produced her first funded short film HUSH. An “emerging filmmaker”, Onyeama explains the less than straightforward journey to get her film off the ground, why mental health is a central theme and why it’s an exciting time to be a black female storyteller.
I recently wrote and produced my first funded short film HUSH. The film was the winner of the Ideastap Short Film Fund, and I was awarded £4,000 to make it. Although I had previously made an experimental short (Misidentity of Words), which I wrote, produced, directed and starred in, HUSH is the first film I have ever received funding for.
As a Nigerian British female, I wanted to tell a story that reflected and spoke to people like myself. I was very inspired by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s TedTalk on the ‘Danger of a single story’. I also wanted a chance to show a personal and alternative side to what the black female British experience is ‘supposed’ to look like.
HUSH tells the story of a teenage British Nigerian girl Uche, who after a mental breakdown suddenly stops talking, and the cultural divide and identity crises this episode exposes within her family.
Mental health is not a topic I feel is properly understood or managed within many African communities. Many of the discriminatory and alienating experiences suffered in the black diaspora can make our communities the most vulnerable, which is one of the reasons I wanted to tackle it on film.
I also wanted to challenge the persistent stereotype of the hard, masculinised, strong black woman we often see in the media by showing a softer image; one which reflects our fragility and vulnerability.
Getting a film off the ground, regardless of your gender or race, is a challenge. I definitely faced my fair share of very trying moments. I think one of the key things I learnt on the producing side is the importance of collaboration.
Although £4,000 might sound like a lot, it’s a task making it stretch to cover the budget for a 15 minute film. Forming co-productions and getting as many executive producers on board as possible can be a lifeline to fund your film.
HUSH tackles the challenging subject of mental health.
So although I produced the film under my company Genesis Child Productions, we reached out to another company (P for Production), who came on board as executive producers and helped us cover the cost of insurance for the film. I would also advise anyone entering a competition, or seeking funding from an organisation, to fully understand and be thoroughly comfortable with the terms and conditions before proceeding.
When producing work with someone else’s money, there will always be certain stipulations or requirements attached, so you’ll need to be okay with them all before you proceed. For the Ideastap Fund, they were keen to have as much collaboration as possible between their members. As a winner of the fund, I was required to choose a director from the Ideastap network. Luckily the director who came on board for HUSH was ideal for the project, so it all worked out.
Being an actor, as well as an emerging filmmaker, I think one of the challenges is knowing how to define yourself. As actors, we are encouraged to promote ourselves aggressively, so there is a whole heap of information about our thespian endeavours online, along with our membership to a variety of casting services.
But when we decide to move behind the camera, you can face some resistance to our competence and identity as filmmakers. I do feel there is less resistance in America in this regard. Instead, the American culture encourages actors to have multiple strings to their bow in the creative field. A perfect example being the recent success at the Sundance Film Festival of actor Nate Parker’s film Birth of a Nation, which he wrote, produced, directed and starred in.
This kind of multidisciplinary creative culture is slowly emerging in the UK, but I still think there is an element of snobbery towards the actor/filmmaker tag from the filmmaking community here. They believe our efforts are mainly for ‘showreel’ purposes.
As an actor/filmmaker, we need to be confident in our identities across multiple disciplines, and not feel obliged to choose one identity over the other to gain legitimacy. And as a black female storyteller, this is one of the best times for us. The digital space and social media has allowed us to defy traditional platforms, which have ignored us for so long, and connect with an audience directly.
People like Cecile Emeke and Issa Rae have shown the diversity within our experiences through their films and content. I personally connected with another Nigerian filmmaker Chika Anadu through Twitter. Her film ‘B for Boy’, and its use of the Igbo language, was definitely an inspiration for my film.
Through my company Genesis Child Productions, I am looking to collaborate with and develop more work by women of African descent, and from indigenous communities. So get in touch.
To connect with Candice Onyeama, you can ‘like’ her on Facebook at Genesis Child Films or follow her on Twitter @GenesisC_Films.
You can watch the trailer for HUSH here.