| Production Title: Damilola: The Boy Next Door Company: Acme Films Line Manager: Jaimie D'Cruz Programme Length: 60 minutes Genre: Factual Sector: Broadcast Television Description :
To mark the 20th anniversary of Damilola Taylor’s violent murder on the North Peckham Estate, Channel 4 presents a poignant and reflective film presented by Yinka Bokinni DJ, radio presenter, writer and former resident of the estate and childhood friend of Damilola.
The horrendous and lonely death of ten-year-old Damilola Taylor in the dank stairwell of an estate in Peckham in November 2000 stunned the nation. It seemed to encapsulate a nation mired in moral crisis and a society that was fundamentally broken.
In the aftermath of Damilola’s death, the estate was demolished and the families dispersed. Now, twenty years on, Yinka Bokinni explores the devastating impact Damilola’s death had on her community, her area, and the lives of almost everyone she knew, confronting for the first time the impact of a tragic event which the children from the area have never felt able to discuss.
In this film, Yinka will attempt to reconcile the two versions of her past and try to understand how the warm, loving and happy community she remembers so fondly from her childhood was presented in the media as a crime-ridden “sink estate” that was somehow to blame for the tragic loss of a young life.
The “notorious” North Peckham Estate, once hailed as the finest estate in the whole of Europe had been shorthand for gangs, drugs and violence since the 1980s. But there was another side to life there. For the families who lived there, the North Peckham Estate was home to a warm and loving community. |
| Production Title: The Real Eastenders Company: Acme Films Line Manager: Jaimie D'Cruz Programme Length: 60 minutes Genre: Factual Sector: Broadcast Television Description :
In the heart of London’s East End, the docks of the Isle of Dogs were once the beating heart of Empire. Now the docks are long-gone, but the old ways of life carry on for these Real Eastenders, many of whom trace their Island roots back six generations.
Filmed over Summer 2019, first time director Ashley Francis-Roy presents the world as seen by children growing up on the Island’s council estates.
With narration and original music by local singer songwriter Hak Baker, this moving film finds the innocence of childhood alive and well in the least expected of places. |
| Production Title: Outrage Company: Channel 4 Line Manager: Rita Daniels Programme Length: Under 30 minutes Genre: Factual Sector: Online Content Description :
Retired Solicitor Tony Bennett is outraged by a lot of things, but nothing winds him up more than the metric system. He’s impassioned for imperial and is doing everything he can to resist the forces of metrication. Now he’s travelling over 200 miles from his bungalow in Shropshire to put his hometown of Bournemouth back in imperial order - a true metric martyr.
This film was made for Channel 4’s First Cut Pitch at the Sheffield Documentary Festival 2019. Five finalists were chosen from over 70 applicants. We were given an identical brief: to shoot and edit a three-minute film based on the idea of outrage. It was up to us how we interpreted this brief and to demonstrate directorial talent.
I was selected unanimously by the judges as the winner of the pitch and subsequently was awarded a 1x60’ First Cut commission, a one month paid development, a mentorship with an indie and a week’s training at the National Film and Television School. |
| Production Title: Hometown: A Killing Company: Wonder TV Line Manager: Jez Lee Programme Length: 30 minutes Season: 1 Genre: Factual Sector: Broadcast Television Description :
Award-winning journalist Mobeen Azhar moves back to his hometown of Huddersfield to cover the death of Mohammed Yassar Yaqub. Yaqub was shot dead by police on an M62 slip road on a cold and wet January evening in 2017.
But with rumours of drug empires, money laundering and high performance cars, just days into his reporting of the case, Mobeen realises that there is a much bigger story in town. With violence on the streets and a town that is terrified to talk, Mobeen attempts to find out where the truth really lies in a journey that forces him to face some ugly truths about his community and hometown. |
