Filmmaker Iggy London’s short Area Boy is the story of a young boy named Eli in the wake of a house move and in the run-up to his baptism. He’s a character in limbo, leaving a space he knew and entering one he’s not quite sure of, and amongst it all he’s searching. Searching for purpose through those he meets and sees around him. It’s a gripping story with a subtle dreamlike, maybe even fairytale-esque quality, that elevates it into being something truly special. London captures the short on 16mm too, a texture that marries perfectly with Eli’s nostalgia-inflected coming of age story. DN joined up with London to ask him about the making of his film, the religious themes he wanted to explore within it, and what it was like to have your debut narrative short premiere in Venice.
What was the starting point for Area Boy?
It’s hard to really pinpoint where the idea came from to make the short film. I think Area Boy is an amalgamation of some of the people that I met throughout my adolescence. It’s hard to describe but during these formative years, I met people who felt like they were on the fringes of societies, worlds that I could and could not connect to, and who I ultimately found quite striking, striking enough to make a short film about. It’s also hard not to separate these characters and stories from my own life also. Nigerian family. Growing up as a kid in East London. Church was life and life was church.
What was it about those people that you wanted to explore through the short?
I am extremely passionate about telling this film because at the heart of it lies a very strong desire to challenge the idea of holy or not holy; wrong or right. I want to create worlds which hold a mirror to the society we live in and capture an essence of film that allows you to remove yourself from your own subject position to another’s, to create empathy through storytelling. To do this, I seek to tell the stories that feel real, capturing life as it happens rather than exaggerated ideas of reality.
I want to create worlds which hold a mirror to the society we live in.
The dynamic between mother and son is an extremely interesting one. Within typical African cultures, children are rarely taught to challenge their parent’s ideologies, it is considered disobedience. Area Boy seeks to fit the side of the coin to showcase a young man who is forced to consider what he truly believes for himself versus conforming to the life his mother wants for him.
So far you’ve had a great festival run including screenings at Venice and London Film Festival, what has that part of the filmmaking process been like for you?
It’s a great feeling. It certainly feels special for my first ever narrative short film to have had its European premiere at Venice Biennale. Biennale always felt like the epicentre of great filmmaking, so it really puts it into perspective.
You captured everything on 16mm film, what provoked that creative decision?
I think the main desire in making this film was creating something distinctive. It goes without saying but 16mm film provides a level of nostalgia that I thought was very interesting. Specifically because Eli seems to be stuck in time and this physical restriction paired well with 16mm film that felt quite timeless. From a production perspective, we shot the short film in four days so it was important for there to be a level of focus. With a limited amount of film rolls, it added to the attention that everyone had on set, rarely being idle and dedicated to making the best film.
16mm film provides a level of nostalgia that I thought was very interesting. Specifically because Eli seems to be stuck in time.
I also knew that shooting on film would complement some of the slower moments in the film; where camera movement, the subject matter and their locality were all stripped back. Moments where nothing substantial happened in the slightest. But the important requirement was creating a dream-like feel that took us away from reality, into something transcendental. This was key for the story and shooting on film definitely provided this.
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What cameras and lenses did you opt for? Aside from shooting 16mm, was there anything else technically that helped you shape the film to your vision?
I spoke with my Cinematographer Christian Huck and he said: “I wanted Area Boy to feel very distinct, a stylised but truthful approach without overcranking the skin tones which only seemed possible on 16mm. Shot on an Arri 416 and Zeiss High Speeds I could achieve a classical yet timeless feel which was crucial for the director. Movement-wise we were juxtaposing handheld shots for the realistic feel against more controlled setups from the dolly for a more dreamlike quality. The lighting package included a mix of HMIs and LEDs to add to the existing lighting layout within the locations, we scouted a lot to find naturally appropriate environments since we knew we wouldn’t be playing with a massive tool kit. Panavision and their support played a tremendous part in making that vision come to life and we could not be more thankful.”
You mentioned there about shooting the film in a brief four day window on film which would’ve brought challenges. What hurdles did you face in the making of Area Boy?
I think one of the main challenges was trying to build a world which was very distinctive. If I had set the world in London; in the same places and spaces that many other TV shows and films are set, would it have the same impact? So locations became a huge part of the creative and pre-production process. I’m a huge fan of the work of Clair Denis, Jonas Carpignano, Xavier Dolan. So it was also important that the film felt European, even if the story felt very British.
Rather than shooting in a bustling city; shops filled with people, parks and fields full of community, I wanted the town Eli and his mother moved to, to be a far cry from the picturesque world in which we often see rural England to be. The world in which Eli moves to is filled with binaries; the working class families live in commonality. The spaces which they occupy are inherently mundane and uninspiring to the young people who live there; stripped back and often broken. So all the more reason why the church and religion become a place which people live by.
I wanted the town Eli and his mother moved to, to be a far cry from the picturesque world in which we often see rural England to be.
What was your journey into filmmaking as an artistic practice and something you could pursue as a career?
Growing up I watched a lot of Def Poetry Jam. It was this spoken word poetry television series hosted by Mos Def that was broadcast on HBO. Every episode felt like a Sunday service of some sort. I grew up watching Daniel Beaty, Saul Williams and Black Ice perform on that stage and share words that felt transcendental for me. I started writing my own poetry and performing it at events around London until an audience member asked me to make one of my poems into a film. And so in 2016, I made my first film.
I try not to think so heavily about having a distinctive style or whether I have a style at all. It always ebbs and flows. But I definitely think the years of Def Poetry Jam and performing spoken word developed a certain way of looking at the world; emotive storytelling, experimental film techniques, using music and camera as motifs. Those years were my film school. My key into making films. I just didn’t know it.
For me, Area Boy has a very dreamy, almost fairytale-esque quality to it, which I think is down to the nature of Eli’s journey and the gorgeous 16mm visuals. Was that a texture you were aspiring to imbue in the film? It just feels so fresh and not at all like the stereotypical British, gritty portrayals we usually see in these types of stories.
I think for a long time British films have leant towards a gritty realism film language. Whilst it serves certain stories, I knew that Area Boy was more about developing a tone that felt like we were in Eli’s head. The uncertainty, the internal thought. Having scenes which feel like they are frozen in time, to provide you with a glimpse of Eli’s own perspective, the party scene being one of them. It was through this thought process that I decided on the dreamlike scenes and how we could push them in a transcendental style, something I have always been a fan of from the likes of modern filmmakers such as Claire Denis.
What’s the future of your filmmaking looking like at present?
Lots of things! It would be nice to say I have it all figured out by now. Perhaps turning Area Boy into a feature film. Or completely moving away from any form or genre itself. Who knows! The next film could be a sci-fi. All I know is that I want to continue making striking and thought-provoking films. I’m also just really excited to see where the short film Area Boy takes me. It’s been amazing to work on it with some amazing creatives and I’m really looking forward to getting back to writing and telling more stories.
