Elvis reactions, The Long Goodbye ending explained, Indie Filmmaking with South London Film Festival founder Kyriakos Georgiou

EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

Sophie: Hi everyone. We're back with that final scene podcast. My name is Sophie. I'll be your host for the next hour or so, and I'm glad to confirm we have the full crew back.

Ben and Simon. Hello.

Ben & Simon: Hello. Hello.

Sophie: Simon. You're gonna tell us all about your Glastonbury adventures. But, uh, first I wanna introduce our very special guests that we are honored to have with us today in person actor, director, producer, and founder of the south London and film festival Kiko. GII I'm gonna say that in Greek, but please introduce yourself properly.

Simon: So yeah, I go to your heel for the group listeners, but Kiri for short, for those who get mixed up with the letters. , that's nice to have you, dude. Thank you so much for having. Amazing. Uh,

Sophie: we're excited to dive into all things, film festivals, and indie filmmaking with you [00:01:00] today. Um, on this episode, we're gonna talk about the long goodbye Isma short film that won the Oscar last year and more specifically breakdown its final scene.

This is a shorter premier to your festival last year. So really keen to get your insights on that. But first of all, let's start with what we usually do on this episode, which. What have you guys been watching this past few days? Simon? I feel like you have been watching. Bunch of drunk braids throwing up in mud tens over the past few weeks.

Simon: But that's true. I'm conscious that I don't wanna be like a Glastonbury wanker but it was good. So lots of good bands, lots of campfire action. Uh, what does that

Ben: mean? Campfires? You

Simon: know, you sit on a fire all

Ben: okay. And you just have a nice chance. No, just knowing you. I thought it could be something different.

Simon: for Sophie. I tried to enjoy Kendrick Lamar. I just couldn't get connected to the music. Like I just, it didn't do anything for

Sophie: me to be fair. I was, I mean, I saw him live [00:02:00] six years ago at running. Yeah. Like 2015. I can't count 7, 7, 7 years ago. Seven and fact, he was really good back then. I don't know what has happened to him since

Ben: I thought he was good.

I thought of the headliners. I thought he was the best one. I watched him on the B over the weekend and I thought. he was of the, of the three. He was probably the one I was most impressed by just because once you've seen McCarney live, you've seen that set like a million times. He doesn't change it. He does the same thing every time.

Same with Billy Eilish as well. Yeah. And Billy Eilish is one, I was a little bit like solving somebody about it today. And actually, I kind of agree with what they were saying that it kind of feels like she's a little bit burnt out. Like she's been touring, she's been like releasing albums and touring nonstop for like the last six or seven years.

And she's only what. I know she's like 19 or yeah, something like that. So yeah, I was a little bit like underwhelmed and she didn't do the bond theme, which really pissed me off I was literally waiting for the whole thing. I was like, we're gonna get to the end and then she'll, she'll end. She'll bring out hand Zimmer.

She'll bring out Johnny Mar it'll be amazing. Then she didn't do it. And I was like, oh, thank God. Well, fuck. I hope dare you.

Simon: That bond thing was fantastic. I was actually working in a bar, so it was an extra [00:03:00] hardcore glass. We had to work in the bar. Oh, you doing the volunteering thing? Yeah. Yeah. Oh, nice. So you had to do an eight hour shift and then you could go out raving afterwards.

Wow. So shout out to all the park bar C rotation crew . Well, I've actually watched some films. I watched Rocky horror show. Love it. Um, I love it. And I watched broken flowers. Jim, Jon mush. I don't think I mentioned that last time. Did I? Bill Murray? Yeah. Bill Murray. Yeah.

Ben: Nice then. So we can't talk about every episode it watching the boys, but obviously we watched hero orgasm and it was really good.

um, yeah, it was fantastic. I went and bought the Batman and now time to die on DVD. So I watched both of those. One of those made me cry. Which one? I'm not going to tell you. and you have to, you know that, of course it was no time to die. I cried like a baby on, I saw the cinema. I cried again. I read a really interesting article on the sales London film festival website about films to see before you watch it completely agreed with every single one.

I thought it was perfect. Diana, the day was on the list.

Kyri: I'll told Joe about that Dale, Joe. He was right district, nothing touches license to

Ben: [00:04:00] kill license to kill, I think was on the list as well.

Kyri: So that's like the mega drug Lord.

Ben: One yeah. With Timothy Dalton. Yeah. With Timothy Dalton. Yeah. Fantastic. Cool.

Um, and then I've watched some rimed stuff. So I watched, I did watch all of four lines. I watched a bit of

Kyri: it long was a bit long. Yeah. Episode. Yeah. And, uh, course it's a long, long, 10 minutes watched rogue one.

Ben: You know, I had to watch his big star wars debut. I

Sophie: feel like it's the best star wars film from the new ones.

Ben: Yeah. Oh, definitely. It's the one that you could just watch it on its own. You don't need to have seen yes. Any of the rest star war. Yeah. You could watch it and you might, you probably, you might enjoy it. just because you don't like all that fantastical stuff, but yeah. So yeah, watch quite a lot in this last week and trying to find dogma DVD, which I will find eventually

Simon: is that the film with Alanis Morissette.

Yes, Alan in it as guard Kiri. So yeah, I've been watching a lot of stuff. Actually. We've been preparing for a special event for the festival. So we've been looking at lots of stuff to do with L LGBTT. So lots of different types of films, but in my own time, it's funny, you mentioned, uh, with row one, cuz I'm a huge fan of that.

I do think I grew up with a generation of the prequels. Thank you. [00:05:00] But what was interesting about that? When I, when I saw DAF ADA, when I was younger, I wasn't that afraid of him, you know, because it just looked real, you know, wasn't ready to mind the back in his head. Um, but I understand when I fir when I saw rogue one and I saw Darda for like how he was.

I was scared, you know, I thought, wow, this is how they must have felt, you know, back then when, and this is showing my age, I'm not as old as I look. Um, but yeah, , it doesn't look old. No. Um, but yeah, like, you know, I realized how terrifying he can be, right. The scene at the end of

Ben: rogue, one brilliant in the hallway, which I feel like is like a star wars trope now of like the hallway scene is brilliant.

It's the, and I, I agree. It's the first time watching it kind of, you go. Oh shit. I can understand why people were terrified of this. Cuz my uncle is of the originals generation. I remember him talking about seeing a man dress as Darth Vader in a supermarket, as a

Kyri: child and being terrified when I was growing up, I used to be into like wrestling and all that stuff and oh my God, you and I have so much.

I grew up being, I dunno if you know the [00:06:00] undertaker, like I was this, this guy in like a black, you know, black outfit and, you know, dark hair he's meant what was he? He's like a guy from the dead or I dunno. Oh, there's a lot of scary

Ben: background. Yeah. He was a, he was a, he was a biker and then he was dead and then he was brought back from the dead and yeah,

Kyri: it's all very, I, I was terrified of this guy growing up.

Yeah. And then when I become a teenager, I remember there was this girl I was talking to and I said to. Don't you think he's scary? Just no and I, that's why I realized, okay. You know, that's cuz you're involved in it, you know, when you're involved in something you, you realize. Yeah. Maybe if you step away, but in regard to stuff I've been watching, I mean, shout up to paramount.

Plus I've been watching this new south park features. I dunno if you've seen them brilliant. Like there's a nice, nice way to I've seen them. Yeah. But there was the. Features about COVID and it's a boys, but they're older. So they're grown men and it's, it's set in the future and they make sure, you know, it's set in the future.

I do

Ben: wanna check apartment plus, cuz they've got the halo series on there. I really wanna watch that one. Cool.

Sophie: Uh, well, very quickly. I just wanna call out a couple of things. So the umbrella academy, have you guys

heard of it? Uh, [00:07:00] yeah, I haven't watched the latest season yet

Ben: though. I've heard. It's gone.

Have you seen the

Sophie: first two? Yeah. Watched the first two, right? Yeah. So the umbrella academy is like an Netflix. My kind of like dopamine show, you know, you know, it's not perfect, but you just go back to it because it makes you feel all fuzzy. It revolves around a dysfunctional family of adopted siblings that have superpowers and they reason I to solve their father's death.

Like the mystery that's around that. So since season one, things have changed. I know, I just love every single character in that show. And Simon season three out of nowhere,

Simon: Mrs. Doubtfire.

Sophie: Crystallized by the XX. Oh, out of nowhere. And I'm like, oh, I'm gonna lose my shit. Like it. So it was so well done. So, and then very quickly, I, I know we talked about this before starting recording, but. Elvis last week, thumbs up.

Ben: Did hips make you go crazy as all the adverts seem to make out?

Because it's [00:08:00] all just focused

Sophie: I'm going to say is that I'm officially jumping on the Austin Butler, Oscar buzz train. that's what I'm wanna say. Well, I'm not a massive bus Luman fan, like I, and Juliet Mullen rose, like the Greg, there are things that I like about these films, but also he's a very particular kind of filmmaker.

And I know we're gonna talk about filmmaking. In a bit, but the film has received very mixed reviews because it has such a distinct identity. It has like crazy cuts and like insane transitions. Like you need to be in that kind of mindset because otherwise. It can be perceived as very fast paced and you you're like, oh shit, I need to cut my breath for a second.

So it's very like, you have to be tuned in, but there is something to be appreciated when it comes to like original film, you know, when you see something authentic and you're like, I'm seeing there's a vision here. I think so I can either like, choose to be, grab my way through the film or sit. Relax, enjoy it for what it is, even though it's on my traditional cup of tea.

Ben: The one thing you can say about learn, [00:09:00] I think is that no matter what the film is, if you didn't know anything about the film and you put someone. You know, it's him.

Kyri: I hope that there was a 20 minute standing novation. Was I hearing camping

Ben: festival? Doesn't it? It has one of the longest like standing ovations, I think can, has

Kyri: had you clap for 20 minutes.

You

Sophie: can't clap for 20 minutes. I feel like that's fake news, but it's true. It's also true, but it's

Ben: like, it just takes 20 minutes for everybody to walk out. Cause they're standing to try and get in. So that's

Sophie: fake, but. I mean, your palms go numb. Like, like you can't, you you're. Right. Like I

I would, I would do like a 20 minute standing ovation for Austin Butler's performance, which as I said to you guys earlier, I feel like is the best male performance that I've seen in the leading role this year. So far, he doesn't just embody Elvis. Like he is Elvis, like in every single scene. It's like.

It's so hard to show like groundness and like humanity and emotion behind that kind of like crazy costume and makeup, but he somehow pulls that off, like [00:10:00] so beautifully. I was very moved even towards the end. He just, mm Seth's kiss. On the other hand, Tom Hanks, his worst performance, Dave. Well, it's

Ben: interesting cuz the Austin Butler's one like when with any kind of biopic, it's, it's a really hard line between.

Impersonating the person and kind of inhabiting the person. And I haven't seen the film yet, but what I've heard about it is it says that Aon Butler inhabits Elvis and Tom Hanks is very much a kind of a weird kind of impersonation. Colonel Tom Parker kinda see two differences

Sophie: there. Yeah. Yes. Yeah. It's almost like Butler can step into Elvis sus and you can kind of tell the authenticity in there.

And then Tom Hanks, like an imitation, which is what acting so about. You have imitation and then you have like, literally embodiment. Right? Did she go

Ben: won't feel method. So people don't even like calling it method. Yeah. Why what's wrong with method? I think people don't like to refer to it as method because the term method has [00:11:00] gotten negative connotations.

In recent years from like the Jared Leto, sending rats to his co-stars as the joker kind of thing. Whereas other actors, people like Christian bale, they don't really call it method because it's not, it is just like it's performance. And this idea of method is something that's gotten a bit of a bad rap recently.

I dunno. Yeah.

Sophie: There. A lot of polarizing opinions on that because you're right. Like Jared, Chris, and be like Daniel de Louis they've taken method acting way too. Literally. And the guy

Ben: from succession has been the really big example because obviously there was the, is the New York times article about him last year in which they kind of painted him as like an obsessive when actually then everybody else has come out and said, no, he's not an obsessive.

He's just really, he's really committed to it. He doesn't treat people like crap. He doesn't treat people. Kendall treats people, but he just inhabits that, you know, he wears the clothes and he kind of has that attitude. It doesn't mean he's a Dick to people. Like I think the thing is, is people have used method acting to excuse kind of

being a Dick for a while.

I think there's a, there's also this misconception of it as well, because I mean, when I was [00:12:00] studying acting, you know, a lot of it was, was about like St. Lasky and learning about, you know, all that sort of stuff. And I think, especially with the whole, he fledger thing, I think audiences who may not have the experience in that field of work.

Obsessed with this idea of Heath ledger and what happened. And it just makes a good story. Doesn't it? You know, like, like a Jared letter, sentencing, rats to coat, you know, but how much of it do we know is actually, you know, once they take their clothes off and their outfit, you know, are they the same? Or it sounds like a good story, you know, but you know, was he the joker at home who knows,

Sophie: you know, you're right.

And, and, and I think it's also the concept around. Acting is still like a profession at the end of the day. Like you don't have to be a Dick to people, especially in a professional like workplace in order to bring your art to the table. I'm vastly paraphrasing. But I remember this kind of quote from John caves where he said something I'm on the lines of, yeah, you can do the whole method acting thing.

Or you can just show up and act , which is, which is like you, you can bring your 100%, but like, [00:13:00] you know, stepping into the character while like the camera is like rolling, and then you can just speak yourself or you can just do the whole like journal letter thing. So, yeah. I, I don't know. I don't have strong opinions.

Like just don't be a Dick. Like when you're working, I've got a question for

Kyri: you. Yeah. So Elvis has, you know, Large audience, obviously. Yes. And in terms of generations, there's, there's that the older generation who really were obsessed with Elvis and, you know, probably, I dunno if they still listened to his stuff, but we don't really hear Elvis immediate these days.

So the younger generations probably have no idea unless their parents or elders played it for them. You know, there's not many people that would know. What do you think that younger audiences out of sort of the older generation and the younger audience. Who do you think this a film appeals more to? Yeah, the

Sophie: demographic is very interesting.

I think there are two big players here, like Austin Butler. I dunno much about him, but I know he dated Vanessa Hudgins for a while. So like he's like prime MTV stars. Is he not still dating Vanessa HUDs? I don't think he, no, I think they broke up weeks ago, but like he has that kind [00:14:00] of like Dezy crowd from dating her.

And I think someone like her potentially. So I think that's how they were able to draw like a younger crowd through him in a way. And then you have to Hanks, which is like America, sweetheart, which I feel like you see Tom Hanks, like, okay, well I'm gonna go see that film. But I don't know whether it's Simon, you have a better insight in terms of like, what is Elvis Pressley like legacy in that kind of younger generation, how he's perceived?

The one thing that I did, like, which is, again, it. Loman thing is that you have a lot of modern music in like, uh, some people are gonna hate that, but actually like that, I, I know there was like a Doja cat in that, like , for me, it's interesting. It's like, you don't expect that. And like in the world of like, I mean, we're recording this in 2022 where you have like, 25 biopics coming out every single year, 90% of the Maga nominated for an Oscar.

Like if you wanna do another fucking biopic, you might as well do something interesting with it. And for me, El Elvis brought that kind of like interesting [00:15:00] angle. But yeah, like from younger generation, I feel like Hanks and Butler are gonna be the main draws rather

Simon: I just don't think it's very attractive to young people. I don't think it would be a big draw. Yeah, I think in terms of cinema going public, you might know this Sophie what's the split of age ranges that tend to go to cinema nowadays, or you might know this cur is it older? And is that why they're skewing these films older?

I, I, it's a good question. I, it's really hard to tell because since the pandemic is skewed, the, the statistics, but definitely it is younger. Audiences are less in favor of cinema, you know, and I mean, and it's interesting what you were saying earlier about the Marvel sort. Dominating the industry. I think there's more of an interest in independent film now.

Yeah. Because they've been dominating for so many years that people are tired of it. People they've been rinsed. Yeah. You know, and, and then once you see, you know, all these huge movies and you think you see something like, say, you know, we'll talk about later, long by, but when you see these, these independent shorts or features that have their own voice.

People who [00:16:00] like maybe spark an interest in film because you know, they've experienced Marvel experienced these scenes. They realize, whoa, there's a bit more of it was this it's a movie. No,

Ben: no,

Kyri: I liked it. No. Can I say something?

Ben: No, I don't get

Sophie: it. What don't you get about it? Cool. So why don't we move on to our discussion with Kiri?

So what's your story? So

Kyri: I grew up in south London. Um, it's something I've been, you know, Passionate about, you know, doing something creative. My dad was really, really into film. He loved movies. In fact, sometimes it was a bit inappropriate because like , I remember when I was really young, he said to me, you need to check this film out.

The sixth cent is fantastic. and um, I know you're listeners. I don't wanna give spoilers, but I don't care anymore. It's so old. If you haven't seen it, you know, go it's the final scene. I watched it. And you know, the opening where you get shot, right. And he he's sitting on the bench. He said, dad, is he dead?

And he said, sh . I was like, I got it straight away. And then there was that scene with the mom in the kitchen. I wouldn't go upstairs on my own. I [00:17:00] did someone in the bathroom with me when I go toilet was just, I ruined my, why did he show that to me? You know, I never understood why he did that, but there was another time where, again, living in south London, people do really naughty things.

And I was with my mom one day, we were coming back from a family event. I dunno why, but someone shot, I dunno if it was a BB gun road, I know the metal bullet. I dunno what they called shot my back of my mom's car window. And it like, you know, glass shatters and it's all sort of stays together, but it was shattered splinter and she was driving very, very slowly and I was in the back scared and the bang, it was so loud, you know?

And you were in it. I was in the car. Yeah. And, um, It's south London. Right. And then, um, I , we got home and obviously my dad had come out and she said, George, look, what's happened. You know, someone's done this, someone shot the car, someone shot the car. I can't believe it. And he came and said, you know what? I just watched Titan.

Brilliant and like, you need to go watch it. You need to go watch it movies. Fantastic. And I was thinking like, look the car, you know, but that's, you know, that's why childhood grown up. And I studied film. I was passionate about it. And then I was [00:18:00] in, I was doing my a levels and he was about 18 years old and then my father passed away.

So, um, at this point he was, they were separated doing Cypress, uh, from my family are from, and. I thought, what do I do? You know, what, where do, like, I was dealing with the, you know, when their parents are not together, anyone that's lost the relative, it's hard, you know, you, you've got not only you're battling with your emotions, you're battling with legal processes.

You know, it's all about money. It's all about funeral, this and that. And, um, solicitors and stuff. And that's all I was dealing with in, I thought, what, what can I do this? I got kicked out of college because I didn't finish my studies. I was falling behind them deadlines. And I thought, what am I gonna do?

You know? So I went away for a. And I came back a new person. I just decided I'm gonna go out there and try. And I was doing anything I could to get on set, whether it was background work, extra work running, and things like that. From now just made contacts. I went from one thing to another, to another, to another.

And then, um, I decided to go back to the school that I went to as a student, they were looking for a technician and I learn on the job. I, I met the kids and it was really weird because the, the [00:19:00] age bracket was quite close together between my age and then the, the students. So I was 18, you know, when my father passed away and I think I was.

About just about just almost 1920 when I started there and the, the, the kids are still 1819, you know, so a lot of them recognize me and I'm in this position where, how do you, you know, teach these kids, these things. Right. So as the years went on, I was there for about five years and the age gap went and I become more of a Sur then, then Kiri.

Um, and then, uh, yeah, like things changed. And then I, I was made redundant from. And I thought, okay, now's the chance I'm gonna go and be creative. And yeah, it was started writing and learning how to edit, taught myself, editing all that stuff. Got another job in a school. But this time, a bit of a more senior position, more directly teaching the kids about the sort of filmmaking process editing photography.

Saved all my money that I got from my full-time job. Got myself a camera. What camera did you? Uh, I got a cannon fived. So at the time that was like the big, big deal, you know, and I got a lens which I still use today. The lens is fantastic. 70 to 200, the cannon L series of fan , but yeah, no, go and get one's fantastic.

But yeah, like I used [00:20:00] that and I went out there was, was. Doing events. And this is the thing that I say to a lot of people, when you see opportunities grab 'em and you know, you gotta realize like I, I went to, so I went to ComicCon Stan Lee was there and there was a free hour cue to go and get into this event.

I had no tickets and you have to pay as well to go and see him talk. And I thought. I wanna be in there, you know, I wanna and was with my partner. She was with me as well. And I said, hold on a minute. And there was this big security guard, checking people's tickets. The queue went all round the back and I just went to the phone, said, excuse me.

I had put my camera on my shoulders said, excuse me. And he just said, yeah, mind out the way. And you let me in and he said, press over there. So I went over and see this big section where they have like the BBC and all these like big companies. Wow. And I thought, you know what, I'm not going over there. I'm going to the stage.

So I went right over to where the stage was. And then they, then they, they said, right, they're closing doors. They they're gonna start the first talk. And I was like, oh my God. And it was already starting. And Stanley had come on the stage and no one was gonna come and grab for you. So I just sat down on the floor right in front of the stage with my big camera.

And I got some of the most amazing pictures of Stanley got to meet him, talk to him. And these were some of the [00:21:00] last ever pictures of him, you know, when he came. England or Europe and, uh, yeah, it was really cool. Wait, what about your partner? Was she just like shoved outside? She was waiting outside. Yeah.

and I come back said, oh my God, I miss Stan. So that's nice. I've watched Titanic. Yeah. Yeah. so, yeah, it was great. And you know, from there I used those pictures. I I'd like right. You know, guys, look what I've taken. They put them on their website, you know, and whatever I could do. And then I got hired to go and do them.

And I started getting more gigs and getting more photography work. Then it was like, oh, can you do a music video? Can you do this? Can you do weddings? Yes. Do you want to continue doing weddings? No, I hate them. they're horrible. Yeah. From there I, but I was working in another school and at that point I decided.

I've had enough here. I'm gonna get all my kit. I'm gonna, you know, go and start making stuff. My friend, who's a filmmaker and producer, he said to me, just do it. You know, just go. So I went, started loan up clients and boom, one thing after the other and made a short film and lockdown and made a festival.

Sophie: I have so many questions about that.

Okay. So first of all, from what I've read about you, it feels to me like this period was a massive like period [00:22:00] of reflection for you because one, you release your short film. When like gives you lemons, take them because they're not left in Tesco. Right? Brilliant title. Yeah. brilliant title for our non British listeners.

Tesco is a massive supermarket chain here. So FYI, how did you find the motivation to. Should it produce it, put it out. And secondly, which kind of related the first question is like, I'm sure you were in touch with a, with a lot of new and established filmmakers at the time. So I would love for you to give us a bit of a breakdown, like an idea of the atmosphere at the time, in terms of like, how were filmmakers approaching like creativity?

There was no new stimulations. There were no like new experiences. No, like no social interactions. Can you walk us through

Kyri: that? I was one of those people. I dunno if you guys go through this, but, um, do full time stuff. So, you know, when you're in that position and like I was in my previous job, you just want bloody time.

You just want time, you know, , it was always drive. We spend our whole lives wanting time, and then we [00:23:00] die because you know, we die and then it's like wheres the time, you know, where did the time go? And when lockdown happened, we had time and I used to beat myself up. Like I used to think if I'm sitting there watching a film, I'm wasting time, I need to go and be creative.

I need to make stuff. I need to do stuff. And that's what I was doing. All my partner was at work family, out, doing stuff like, like everyone I knew was busy. My friends are out. I can't meet up with them. And I thought, what am I supposed to do at this time? You know, I need to be creative. It got to a stage where lockdown happened and I can't be creative because like, I mean, I can't make money.

I can't do much. Cause everything's. I thought, wow, I have time. Life has paused. The world has stopped. And for the first few weeks I was a bit, you know, what am I doing with this? And sitting in the sun, we did a few barbecues, just chilled out and, you know, did the typical Greek thing, lots of Greek music and, um, and a plate message I actually found out my neighbor was.

Greek. This is how bad, I mean, I dunno, British people. We're just like, we're not in tune with our neighbors, but it was actually funny. I was shooting my short and if those who haven't seen it, like I'm [00:24:00] playing this guy, who's on his way to work, but he's dressed in his work outfit and I was having a barbecue in the garden, was playing Greek music.

Next thing you know, the neighbor knocked on the door. And I opened the door in this like suit and it just cause we were filming the upper half of, I was in suit and shorts. It was really hot as well. So I opened the door and she must been thinking, what is he doing? But at, there was all these tripods and light stands and everything.

And she was probably, she was just like only fans for show. She must what the hell is going on. And she, I was thinking, who are you as well? Like thinking this. And she was talking to me in Greek and I was just so confused. And there's that bit of language barrier when someone's from Greece and you're from Cypress and.

And I was like, oh, you're Greek. Cuz she was telling me that she's Greek cuz she heard the music and she wanted to come and say hello. And I was like, oh wow, we should have been socially distancing. But we didn't, it was a work event. It was a work. Yeah, it was, she was part of the crew.

Ben: Yeah. She was the sound up writer on the boom

Kyri: um, yeah, we like the film really.

I just thought to myself, what are people doing in this time? Like we're here, but what, what is everyone doing? And I thought about [00:25:00] those guys who go on the train every day, they commute to work every. You know, how are they coping in this time? And it was, it is one of those things where I imagine that they must be finding hard to adapt.

And then I thought how many people are struggling during this time? And I thought I need to do something creative. And I wrote this script and then I really liked the script and I was laughing my head off and I wrote it. And then I thought, I wonder if anyone else thinks it's funny. So I sent it to one friend.

Loved it, another friend loved it and everyone was saying, gosh, you need to make this film. So I did. And yeah, it was doing really well at festivals. And I realized that when my film was being successful, it was getting selected this country there, that country there, and it was getting awards and things like that.

And I thought, I need to. Like now give a voice to others because there's all these, there were some festivals I'm not gonna name them, but this is my experience. As a, as a filmmaker, there's millions of festivals out there and I thought, what do I do? How do you, what do you submit to, how do you know what's legit?

And then, you know, some of them, like, you know, you're, there are many scams out there. Yes. Yeah. Again, I can't say who please don't them,

Sophie: but like, yeah, [00:26:00] there are a lot of people need

Kyri: to be very careful. Yeah. Yeah. You have to be really careful. And I realized. No one knows, you know, and there's lots of like, you know, particular ones where you submit and then you've gotta get your friends to vote.

And, and I realize I. I wanna have my own say, you know, I wanna say what I think is good out there. Yeah. Like I, I just set it up and people were just following you. And all of a sudden it was just blowing up and people were like, you know, really proud to have something from south London. And I thought, wow, you know, this is, this is amazing.

And rain dance. Uh, within three months when I started it, I said, One day would be like them within three months. We've partnered with them. That's a big, thanks to, uh, David Martinez. Who's the producer and Elliot Grove, founder of rain. It, they really looked after me, uh, gave me some advice. I had a session with Elliot who gave me really good tips and advice and I just saw, yeah.

Shout out, shout out. Yeah. Amazing.

Ben: Starting film festival must be difficult enough as it is. What was it like trying to start a film festival in the middle of. The whole world just kind of going to shit

Kyri: for about two years. It was, it was probably the best time to do it. Okay. And, and I, and the reason for that is because it sounds [00:27:00] cool because I was on the phone to Arnold fortune NE's agent, because I thought, I just thought B everyone is off.

Everyone's doing nothing. And Arnold fortune Neer is doing nothing right now. So let me try and see if I could use my hero. Great. I watched, you know, all these films and I thought I get my heroes. Um, we managed to get an interview with Mo Gilligan. Who's a comedian from south London, honest, fortunate in particular was one that I really, really wanted to get.

And we got really, really close. And then he had a problem with his heart and was off. And we even like tried to reach out to he'll

Ben: Beon. Were you waiting to say that? Should

Kyri: I was like, I was like, should I? And then, yeah. And I thought, and there was this big debate. Do I put my face on it? Cause I'm a filmmaker. I wanted to sort of do my own thing and get seen. And I thought if I'm involved with the festival, it. Pushed me away from what I wanna do, you know, and if I ever had my film, I, you know, what's gonna happen.

So I made a rule. I said, I'm never, ever gonna have any films that I've worked on or, or been in part of the festival. Uh, so it's fair. You know, we've got independent judges. How many people are on the festival [00:28:00] team now with you? I can't think numbers, but it is a big team, you know, we're growing and yeah, like we, we've got a nice diverse team as well.

And that's, that's important as well, because I think that the one thing that's interesting about art and film, anything is that it's a voice, right? You paint a picture, that's your, that's your voice. That's your art and film is the same thing. People write about what they know and. When things happened, it was the black lives matter movement films coming in about that.

It was pandemic, there was a loads of movies about the pandemic. In fact, there was this thing that kept coming up. We had about five of them and it was free that were literally exactly the same. And it was about this, you know, those hotlines where you call like dating or the video, like the, where they. Do something sexy for you in the, in the video thing, heavy breathing.

Yeah. Like, I dunno, it was I've forgot. They called those why sex lines? Yeah. Sex line. Yeah. Like one of those things, and it was basically the guy would be calling one of those sex lines and the woman's on there going, Hey baby, doing all this stuff. And really, he just wanted a chat cause he was lonely and it was really nice idea.

But then lots of people had to say, but you also have her. [00:29:00] Yeah. Yeah. And then she, and then she was lone. She's coining it in. Right. But, but yeah, that's the thing, like she was lonely too, and he was lonely and then they, what, in the end they had a lovely conversation and it was not about sex and stuff and you know, and oh, there's no charge.

Oh, what a lovely ending. It's a different, if it's, it's a different ending, if she's likely,

Ben: uh,

Kyri: 150 pounds, if you know anything about these sex lines, you just get charged with a minute. You call there's no, just, she doesn't send an invoice at the end. who's gonna pay that.

These guys that ring in are so honest with their invoice paying. They always pay every week so someone wants to get your attention and they're a filmmaker. What's the best way to frame it and get you to pay attention to it. That's a good question. There's never a right or wrong length of a film to make, but sometimes some messages don't need to be 20 minutes long.

Sure. You know, sometimes you can make a point in, in five minutes, 10 minutes, even two to three minutes, we have a film that we're gonna be screening soon. And I cannot say the name of it, but it is incredible. And [00:30:00] it's so powerful and it's only three min, less than three minutes. Even we have to decide, you know, when we're putting on our, our program, when we have a list of.

If every film was 20 minutes. So say you made a 20 minute film, you made a 20 film. That's 40 minutes of an audience's time. I always think the masters of, of short emotional films are Pixar. Yeah. Cause they can literally have you in tears within like 35 seconds and tell you a whole story within three

Ben: minutes.

Well, um, uh, we're obviously we're gonna talk about the longer buy in it in a few minutes, but that is a it's 12 minutes long and there's a lot more. Emotionally and politically then films that are like two hours long to you, what even possibly do. And it's, it's a perfect Testament to this. I won't talk about it too much, but it's a perfect Testament to the right pacing and the right time.

Yeah, it's a whirlwind 12 minutes. That says is so much more than as they say, like, you know, you could have a three hour biopic of something that it makes it much clearer and a much more important statement than something like that could.

Sophie: Okay. A couple of last quick questions. So the first one, I [00:31:00] mean, from everything you've been saying, like, you sound like someone who's.

Incredibly passionate about what they do. And from my understanding, you want to bring all kinds of stories like to the forefront, but from a south London lens. So I would love to hear from you, like, what are your plans, this here in terms of making that happen? Like, what do you have going on?

Kyri: So yeah, we are called the south London film festival mm-hmm, but we're international.

So we have films from all over the country, all over the world, you know, and we have films. Countries that I probably wouldn't even know how to pronounce voices. We had yeah. France,

voices from different parts of the world are so important. And my plan is I wanna encourage south Londoners. I wanna encourage more people to go out, do creative things, be inspired and expose them to more international voice and equally get south London on the map, you know, like get, get our people out there and, you know, it's just a matter.

Giving that voice in regards to what's happening. [00:32:00] Uh, we have some really exciting stuff happening this year. So we're part of London, bro culture, which is, uh, Luum. So they've won the they're London. I mean, I'm from Luum, so I'm really proud of that as well. So it's great. Um, but yeah, we're involved in that and we've got some cool things.

We're gonna have networking events. We're coming up to do a pride event, which is happening amazing in, uh, mid. So, yeah, it's gonna be really cool. We've got amazing films. And what, like you say, passion, you know, I am passionate about doing this. So sometimes we have films that come in that maybe don't reach the sort of annual festival that we can show, but we still wanna show some, you know, so this is the opportunity to show some of the films, some of them that did win and some of them that haven't been seen before.

Really amazing music video that come in, uh, which we cannot wait to show everyone about toxic masculinity. So it's really, really nice. We are in talks about particular thing we might be doing for black history month. So some special films about black filmmakers told by black filmmakers, we're working with universities and colleges we're going in doing talks, things like that, uh, workshops, uh, this amazing [00:33:00] film that got in touch with Liam.

Roger. He made this short film called London's forgotten, and it's like a poetic short about knife crime. This is more about the victims and about the path they take. And it's a very poetic style short. So in a way sort of experimental, but not. So, yeah, we're gonna be screening his film in October. I believe then we're gonna be touring schools and hopefully, you know, talking about this, working with organizations to, to sort of raise awareness, bring works, hopefully get this stuff in curriculums, cuz why not?

That's. Push for that. Right.

Sophie: Amazing. And we're gonna have all of this info in our show notes as well. So you better send me all that stuff. We do have a lot of filmmakers from London listening, but we also have a lot of filmmakers outside of London who are so in terms of how they can get involved with the festival, cuz I believe submissions are open.

Kyri: Correct? Yeah. Submissions are open pretty much all year round. So when they end, we just open them again, just check our social media. We'll say if they're closed or the website. We put it upsets closed or open, but back to Liam and his, his short film about knife crime, [00:34:00] he reached out to us. He reached out to the festival and said, Hey, I've got this idea about, I wanna, I wanna do this film.

I've written it direct what team we need money. We need to make this happen. Obviously I wish I had the money to give to people. We don't, um, we've been nonprofit, but what we can do, we have an audience. So we, we did a crowdfunding Q and a. We talked about his film. What, what his plans are. We're also friends with green lit.

They were amazing for doing crowdfund that they focus on film. So we got him in touch with them and set them up mm-hmm but there was a particular person, uh, called Marie who was in there. She was just writing notes throughout the thing. And I was looking and I thought it's really interesting, you know, it's really passionate.

And at the end she had like, I think it was two pages of notes of what I was saying. I thought that's, that's really good. You know, that's really amazing. And at the end, I said to, I said to Liam, you need to keep people like that. People who are passionate, that, that are hungry, that that really, really want to help.

And that's the people that will go far in this world, in this industry. Let's wrap this up with

Sophie: your personal like project because you tested quite nicely. What is it all about?

Kyri: So I am planning to make a TV series. Oh. Um, just to give an idea. [00:35:00] As part of research, one of the things we're doing, we're watching lots of comedies pee show in between us Simon, uh, fresh meat, only forcing horses.

These are some of my inspirations. This is the route we're going down.

Sophie: Oh, that's so exciting. It's cool. Yeah. I'm still looking forward to the festival and all of the events that, you know, you have coming up, like please invite us for every single one of them. Yeah. Thank you. Um, cool. Let's take a quick break and then we're gonna come back for.

Our final scene.

Sophie: Here we go again. So as mentioned earlier, the along goodbyes, a short film that was produced in co Bema that won the best life of action.

Short film Oscar last year. Behind mad states was co-writer and director ail, Cara, best known for directing surge. If you feel like having an anxiety attack for an hour and a half, please watch this film. It's really good. it's really good. It's very well sold it so well, it's very well directed. [00:36:00] Can you say an anxiety attack?

I said, yeah, like uncut gems. I feel like it's good, but like it will, you need to be in that kind of mindset to enjoy it. I loved uncut gems. Yeah. I feel like search has that kind of like tone, but it's very nihilistic in the same. I don't know. Um, anyway, 12 minutes long, the long goodbye is divided into three acts.

Every single one of them is entirely different ton, which I feel. It's one of my favorite things about the film actually. So the first part is a British south Asian family at home Amit's characters at the heart of a busy household. We met him having a dancer with his younger brother, criticizing another sibling for not doing the washing up and arguing with his dad over whether it's for what's in the news upstairs, we see a group of girls preparing for a wedding and, you know, with a bride meeting that Siman is a word colleague again, like everyday mundane, boring life stuff.

Now. While all of this is happening. Suddenly we see a group of white nationalists. It's not just the police right. Baring into their home. This is the middle section, terrorizing the family before [00:37:00] dragging them onto the streets and attacking them. And finally, the very last section, which is what I would call the final scene.

SI stone dramatically, again, turning into some kind of surreal musical horror in a way where Reese's character performs. The spoken words, last poet, Reese, last rap song, where you're from from his 20, 20 concert album along Dubai to end the film in a gut wrenching punch. So now, before talking about the final scene, I feel like we need to address the urgency of that film.

So. Simon. I know like you texted us the other day. Um, when you watched the film, you were like, this film is more relevant than ever. Why

Simon: I was after something a bit gentle to watch so I thought outfit Sophie is short film. film having like heart palpitations, right. An hour. But I just thought in the context of the overturning of Roe versus Wade, the way populism is riding so high at the moment.

Just feels like this film is very off the moment and it [00:38:00] felt quite potentially real. It didn't feel that film doesn't feel that far off in terms of some of the stuff that's been happening. So that's why I found it so

Sophie: terrifying. You might have more context behind this ki, but, um, so they shot that film in 2020, correct?

I read a bunch of their interviews and. From my understanding is that Anil and Ray didn't actually know each other. So they kind of like got together in order to get, not that film made per se, but they wanted to get something out there. And like when they got together, they realized they had so much in common in terms of like what they felt at the time.

And you, we live in a post Brexit, England, right. Where you have like rising in intolerance and like, you know, you have dehumanization of like refugees in the Ukraine right now. So like there's a lot of turmoil and. Felt like from their interviews that kind of got together and they realized that was the therapy.

That was the way of like looking inwards and bringing their perspective and like frustrations out from that film. So we [00:39:00] can jump straight to the final scene, which I feel like the reason it works is because the first half of the film has that kind of incredible. Naturalistic filter. It almost feels like you're watching a documentary.

Like you're just watching people, just being people

Ben: like, well, it lures you into a false sense of security because obviously this setting is in a south Asian family, but it. Something that everyone would recognize. And it lures you into that while you have these kind of wonder tones of what's going on, you see the stuff like, you know, when I watched the second time you see on the screen, the kids watching the news about the riots and the background, you see that,

Kyri: that bit of comedy cuz you're not transparent.

Yeah, exactly.

Ben: Yeah. And so I think that's why, because it lures you into the false sense of security, of comfort, of chaotic nature of family gather gatherings to then something that as Simon said, The most kind of upsetting thing about it is that it doesn't feel far off, you know, in the Britain we live in today.

And it's something that I, I went and listened to the album as well. The [00:40:00] album is unflinchingly, honest and aggressive about what that feeling is like. And as, as someone who doesn't know that feeling, it's really difficult to make someone feel how you feel when you're from a completely different background and to kind of immerse you in, in.

And the longer bike does a great job with a Neil career, but then just this music in general, like the opening track and the longer bike is called the breakup. And it's the pretense of a breakup with a girl called Britney. And it develops into it's a breakup between his culture and Britain. And it's like, Not to get like all sweary, but it's fucking incredible.

Like it's fucking brilliant. And the film does that, his monologue at the what, what, I don't really know what to call it like a monologue or kind of his rapper, like it, like it's poetry. It's unflinchingly honest about the fact that what happens in the film is something that, unfortunately it feels like we're not that far off.

Like we have, you have films in the past, like V from vendetta, 1984, where you talk about, talk about [00:41:00] people being dragged away in the. well, unfortunately stuff like Brexit has meant that there is an atmosphere around the country of if things got a little bit more extreme, something like.

Kyri: Could happen. I saw this film very, very early before, you know, this had come to Oscars and everything.

It's done. Amazing stuff. I saw this from as a credit to ail ail actually had two winning films in our festival that year. Oh wow. He had teardrops, which was the keynote. Oh, okay. Now he's yeah. Yeah. Incredible. That's a good story. Yeah. He's an incredible director. Like ail is someone'd love to work with one day.

He's a really, really, really talented person. I, I wanna say this, you know, and I think it's really, really important that when I saw that film. I instantly broke down because I thought, whoa, I don't feel safe when Brexit happened. I was scared. I honestly was scared to play my group music going out because I thought, especially when it was the heat of, you know, get it done, you know, and I thought, if I'm now going around playing my, my music, they're gonna think, get out this country, don't play this in, in, and, and for the first time in my.

I felt I don't [00:42:00] have a place and I get it. I get how Riz is feeling. I get how loads of people are feeling. And this is in one of the most diverse places in the country we're in south London. And, you know, I mean, obviously I don't wear risk, risk rises, but yeah, no, I mean like in London. Yeah. But when I grew up and I looked at people like Riz, and this is why, again, like I said before, while we have a south London film festival, I grew up and I see people like Riz.

And when I saw that film. For the first time. Cause I, I then went through this identity thing where I was ashamed of being British. I was ashamed of seeing that, that flag, you know, every time I saw it, I used to see that associates with right wing. You know, that's not who I am. I don't wanna be part of that.

I don't agree with, with making people feel little, but then Riz armed. And when I saw this film and I, and I'm not just exaggerating, I'm really, when I saw it for the first time, I felt proud of being British

Ben: as a film in general. Like there's very few films that I would class. Something that's important and that a lot of people should see.

And I watched that. And one of the, my thoughts on it was is it needs to [00:43:00] be shown in schools in this country and around the world because it's. A really important film to show that this is a reality and that, or it could be a reality. And, but, you know, it's a reality for people like Riz and families like that, how they feel.

And that fear is a real

Simon: thing. I felt the same way after I watched book of Mormons actually and it, and in a similar way gave me faith in humanity and that material like that can be made and published and get popular for

Sophie: me. This is why the ending works because the first. Half is the kind of representation we are lacking right now.

Um, whether you have a big, or you have like your alone child, like regardless of your background, like the fact that you're seeing just like a British south Asian family, just doing fle. Honest. That's what they're doing for the person are doing. Yeah. That that's it like this isn't like on BBC right now, this isn't like they're, they're using like characters from this community to tell very specific stories.

[00:44:00] And like, for me, the ending wouldn't be so, uh, impactful if it weren't for the first half. So like the ending where we have, we change tone and you have like racist character is getting shot. He starts rapping from the ground and you instantly move to like, Heightened fictional, almost dystopian place where it's like, what, like, what is like, you're just having an old movement, like woman realization.

And I think from a storytelling point of view, like from a filmmaking point of view, like this is surreal. Like obviously he's dead. We just enter like different level of filmmaking right now. But to go back to your point, ki like, even for me, like, even though for many people that seems dystopian, that seems unrealistic for.

Immigrants for refugees. This isn't a dystopian scenario. Like this isn't a very real like nightmare scenario. Like I know, like to kind of relate on the Brexit stuff. Like I moved to London two weeks before Brexit happened. [00:45:00] And when I learned the news, I was like, interesting. So how does this change? My worldview?

And I remember obviously like Simon, like you were one of the first people that I got to meet, like when I moved here and I just remember. I knew like Brexit was this kind of like imminent cloud. On top of me, I was, I remember feeling very wary about getting comfortable, making friends, settling down, buying my own place.

Like it took me like a decent amount of years to create that sense of security around. Just be like, okay, this may just be it. But like, I remember having nightmares of like getting rid of my flap. Like one day you're in one day, you're out because. Like, let's see what happened with the abortion. Like, you know, like one day you're allowed to do something and the next day you're not.

So like we're taking all of these things for granted. And like, I feel like this is the kind of message that the, the raps last poetry ultimately does to you from [00:46:00] a, again, from a filmmaking. Perspective,

Kyri: even when you were describing it, I started feeling really upset thinking about it. Yes. Cause IME it, the horror that is horror.

Feel every word. Yeah. I dunno about you guys. But the bit that really got me was when the policeman gave him the thumbs up. Yeah. That I found that. And, and then the second bit was when he was shouting for help to the people in the window, in the next house along. And they just looked at they just down there and it really reminded me of this is England.

Have you seen that? Yeah. Yeah. Yes. Um, and the scene where the boy gets beaten up. No, one's allowed to do anything about it and they let this kid get terribly, probably beaten to death. I can't remember. Yeah. It's a similar feeling I got from that.

Sophie: Yeah. Yeah. One of the interviews that I saw from Ray on the film, cuz you mentioned, this is England.

You said this is England too. Yeah. I mean that, that's the meaning behind the long goodbye. Like this is England. two.

Kyri: What made that film so strong and why we care so much about it is because those characters were real. They were real people. It's funny, cuz I, I was terrified in Terminator growing up because the [00:47:00] second one in particular, you can't kill it.

You know, it's things like whatever you do, it's just like there you think that when something you cannot. Fix something you cannot stop. Sure. It's, Unter that extent to viewpoints when, when somebody can't be reasoned with that's my worst nightmare when you can't even have a discussion about something.

Yeah. That's the worst. Yeah. And, and this is the thing like, and again, and I mean, look, I've said my views on Brexit, how I feel about it is a very controversial thing. There are some people. And I, and even though, and my friend said to me, I was very vocal during this whole thing. And my friend said to me, stop preaching.

Simon: I went to get a Curry from local Curry place in turnpike lane. And it's owned by like an old Indian couple. And, uh, I was like, oh, have you guys voted in the referendum that they were like, yeah, out. And I was like, why? And they were like, well, it's too many, too many of us now it's overrun.

And I was like, so, so this. So this Brexit question, it's just never ending. Everyone's got a different angle in it. Yeah. And this, and, and that doesn't [00:48:00] necessarily lead to racism. And exactly. There's, there's a lot of people that I've realized that, you know, the moment we sort of outcast anybody that thinks differently to us, then we have a problem because we've become just like them, you know?

Exactly. I think it's

Sophie: very important that the song, the film ends with is called where you're from. Yeah. And it goes back to your point, because it's a question that perhaps no, perhaps like most definitely you and I have heard a million times, like I, and, and it goes back to his exact lyrics in that song where he's like, where are you from?

No, no, no. Where you are really from mm-hmm, which is a, like, it is a question that you've heard a million times, which if I'm honest, I have no problem answering. Mm. Like if you ask me where you're from, I have no problem telling you, but it's the tone of the delivery. Sometimes that, you know, what it implies,

Ben: one of the lyrics is, is, you know, you asked me where I'm from.

Well, I dunno, you're gonna have to give me a map and it's this thing, as you say, it's. You're not asking me where I'm from, [00:49:00] because you know the answer you want me to give you? You're not asking. You're not asking if I'm from bricks center. I'm not asking it from Lewisham. I'm from Tatham. You're asking me, where do I look?

It's where do I look like? I'm from not where

Sophie: are you from? And it's where you wanna go with that question where you wanna go is let's stop with the territory here. Oh, really? Let's make it very clear that you are from somewhere.

Kyri: You know, when I bring back to what I said about feeling British and, and, and armed, and, and I'm curious to know what his identity is and how, how he sees, because the reason I'm curious to know that is because it's a funny story.

I was in New York. We went with my partner who was coming on the train, and this lady come up and she heard us talking. And as Brits, do we dunno what's going on? We are. You know, when's the next train what's happening? Uh, she said, oh, you guys from London, it's like, forgive me for the horrific accent. And I said, yeah, she goes, um, wow.

You know, Brits, what are you doing? How you finding America? And I said, it's great. What did you think of New York? Um, I said, yeah, it's great. Did you visit the freedom tower? I said, yeah, it was like really touching. And, and then she said, um, you know what I hate about [00:50:00] Brits and I was like, okay. And she said, what you guys did to India was disgusting.

And I thought, yeah, she has a point, you know? And I was like, yeah, you know, they haven't got fans in many places and she goes, but then why do you live. What do you mean? Why do I live there? What, and then she said, well, you know, why, why you living there? And they're horrible. And she started talking and I thought, well, you know, there is a lot of bad history.

And then I started feeling very sort of like stop insult in my people. Okay. It's it is like weird because, you know, Brits have done Bri British history is horrible. You know? I mean, why are you gonna go and live that's pure. I mean, yeah. I mean, at the time Donald Trump was the president of the us and I was thinking like, what are you talking about?

Have you seen your president mate? Yeah. And, um, and I mean, I, I hate that's one thing I hate about, about the British history is the fact, and I hate that we don't teach enough people about it. And then she just said she we're blue blooded Americans and we don't need no queen tell her to kiss my ass. And she got off the

Um, she got off the train and, and like this lady said to me, we're not all like.

Sophie: Um, I would like to wrap up [00:51:00] this discussion with one final question in terms of the intention behind using music to end the film, because I feel like there's a reason behind that. And, uh, obviously like, I mean, as you mentioned, Ben, like Reese has an intricate relationship with music.

Like he's double as an MC for years. I am not very familiar with his music. To me. And like maybe Simon, I could, I would love your thoughts here. Like music sometimes is like the medium. That is the most cathartic in a way, because you can like breathe into a message without having to mu over it in a way just like, so it it's more instinctual than film even sometimes it's a bit of an equalizer.

Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. So for me, like to go back to that where you're from. What race must have helped, you know, in that moment, like the confusion, the frustration and the resentment towards like the kind of duality behind, like his identity is perhaps the best way that could have [00:52:00] communicated that message.

But yeah, I would love to hear everyone's take and like, why is music the. The medium to make that message most effective.

Simon: My only comment about that film that I would've, the only thing I would've changed is that I wouldn't have brought the music in so early. Cause I felt like

Sophie: I would've kept, what do you mean early?

Cause it's certain

Simon: in the end, but the music comes in before the rap begins. Doesn't it? Oh,

Sophie: you mean technically, like

Simon: I would've kept, I would've kept the action, like documentary style. Reality soundscape. Okay. It's really interesting. You talking about when the action started. Yeah. You know what? It's really interesting.

Now, one of our judges said to us, uh, in the comments, the music was, um, the abrupt, the abrupt introduction to the music, distracted him. Mm-hmm. Agree with, with that, I felt that like I disagreed with him, you know, and I felt that my opinion on that was, I mean, he, he, he was the only one that said it and I get it.

I get why, but then I also get why they chose to do that because I think that, and that was a bit genius in the way, because it was like [00:53:00] this obscenity of how it what's happening. It's like, yeah, let's just fucking put music on it. Almost made it more absurd. Yeah. Yeah. Let's put the absurdity to it. Let's just make this really uncomfortable.

I think that it works in a way that it makes you feel uncomfortable for the right reasons. But to go back to your question, I think. music just allows more emotion to be conveyed per second. If you like, cause more emotion can be poured into the delivery of the lyrics, to the like say the breathing of it, the energy of it.

I think that's why it can be so

Ben: powerful. I think. And that kind of goes back to kind of what I said about Ed's music in particular. In that he has a very, we've all seen Shakespeare in plays where it's like five minute long speeches and you're kind of like, okay, you know, you've lost me and now I dunno, what's going on.

He has, he has an amazing way with words. He's a, he's clearly very like rhythmic and he has a way of, if it had just been a regular speech, it could get lost, but because it has this cadence cadence to it. Yeah. This rhythm, [00:54:00] this, you know, emotion. Like he's able to deliver it in a really kind of stoic, beaten down way, but because of the way the beat goes, he's able to build it up and he's able to build himself back up in that scenario, you know, as you say, the cadence and stuff like that, it just has that lasting impact more so than just some kind of monologue

Kyri: wood in my head in that scene, Riz is actually dead.

And it's more like his almost like his spirit singing it's cause he's being shot. He's lying on the road. It's like a Hister or something. Yeah. Yeah. It's a surreal scene. So I think that's why the rap works particularly well. And I

Sophie: do think the reason he kind of resurrects in a way, like the one thing that we need to take away from this film is that ultimately this is a story about defiance rather than.

Even though we have a heartbreaking story in front of us. Like there is a lot to take away that is actually quite a powerful,

Kyri: a lot of his music is inspired by grim and grim is a very, very British thing. Yeah. I think that where say he's [00:55:00] doing that in that style. He's sort of also saying, this is who I am.

This is, this is me, which again, made me really relate to.

Sophie: Where ane and Ray made aware that they were shortlisted in your festival for the film?

Kyri: I believe so. Mm-hmm um, yeah, I believe so. I think, um, ane was gonna try and come down to the, uh, event last year. So they actually won in 2020 and the film cause we were in lockdown.

We couldn't, we screened it. We did the online festival. But I was, so it was so important to me that that film needs to be with a live audience. I don't care how many times people have seen it. It needs to be a live audience. So I said, I don't care how much time we've got, we are gonna show this at our next event, even though won last year, we're gonna show it.

And that's not gonna be a regular thing. It's only because people didn't get to see it. And yeah, they were really supportive and grateful,

Sophie: you know, amazing. Um, I think we saw the. Again, you guys, you, so, uh, Kiri, thank you so much for joining us. Uh, thank you please. Where can people find [00:56:00] you

Kyri: south London film festival on Instagram, south London, film on Twitter because you can't have bloody long words on there.

so just south London film festival, put it in Google. We should be the top thing on there. Get in touch. You know, if you've got any questions, get in touch. We do Q and a sometimes online with filmmakers, aspiring artists and whatnot. And yeah, keep an eye out for like more things we are doing. We're like, we will be as much as we can getting out there, aspiring more, more creatives,

Sophie: really exciting.

Okay. That was the show people. And remember stories are how we imagine ourselves in other people's lives, right. In a world where like certain stories have been pushed to side where certain people are othered representation matters to say yes to all kinds of stories, of all kinds of backgrounds, of all kinds of people.

Thank you for listening. We'll see you in two weeks. Bye.