From the director: The idea for this short began when I came across a photo of an Asylum seeker who was suffering from a skin infection caused by some mould at his direct provision centre during the pandemic lockdown in 2020.
At a very uncertain period, this young man found himself deprived of medical attention and a transfer to a new centre. As an immigrant myself, I became outraged and curious as to
how this was even possible. So, the image of that young man’s grossly infected skin became my talisman for this short film.
Similar to most Asylum seekers, our protagonist, Ikenna, is living in a new country where the language, culture and race are vastly different from his. Not really knowing where you belong
or how you fit in is a reality I and many immigrants can strongly relate to. With no parental figure, Ikenna’s only support system is his brother who is a lot older than him. These factors in
addition to the living conditions at his direct provision centre only elevate Ikenna’s social exclusion and desire for validation. As such, exploring the political as well as the psychological aspect of such struggles through the point of view of a thirteen-year-old asylum seeker becomes necessary. I want to push contemporary audiences to go on this nightmarish reality with young Ikenna, in order to engage with an underrepresented protagonist and gain new perspectives. My goal for this film is to address real societal issues in a creative genre style that is rarely seen on our screens.
From the director: The idea for this short began when I came across a photo of an Asylum seeker who was suffering from a skin infection caused by some mould at his direct provision centre during the pandemic lockdown in 2020.
At a very uncertain period, this young man found himself deprived of medical attention and a transfer to a new centre. As an immigrant myself, I became outraged and curious as to
how this was even possible. So, the image of that young man’s grossly infected skin became my talisman for this short film.
Similar to most Asylum seekers, our protagonist, Ikenna, is living in a new country where the language, culture and race are vastly different from his. Not really knowing where you belong
or how you fit in is a reality I and many immigrants can strongly relate to. With no parental figure, Ikenna’s only support system is his brother who is a lot older than him. These factors in
addition to the living conditions at his direct provision centre only elevate Ikenna’s social exclusion and desire for validation. As such, exploring the political as well as the psychological aspect of such struggles through the point of view of a thirteen-year-old asylum seeker becomes necessary. I want to push contemporary audiences to go on this nightmarish reality with young Ikenna, in order to engage with an underrepresented protagonist and gain new perspectives. My goal for this film is to address real societal issues in a creative genre style that is rarely seen on our screens.