PROCESS
A Jamaican immigrant in 1940s Britain is torn between dreams and reality as he tries to balance fatherhood and his life as a jazz musician.
CONCEPT
In the early stages, I had envisioned myself as interviewer - in the film, trying to make sense of both the historical events and emotional impact. I really admire Louis Theroux's informal approach to interviewing. But like I say, my expectation of the story had changed and so my presence in it diminished. I speak only once in the film, to ask if my mum was afraid of her father, and I think it makes the question all the more affecting.
RESEARCH
I began researching documentaries about people who're long dead at the time of their making. Films like this are characterised by the fact that the subjects cannot speak for themselves, and so the story relies on external perspectives.
