How does it feel to be free? Best friends Kay and Jenna are reuniting after being separated by prison. But reigniting what they had before isn’t straightforward.
Kay and Jenna are reuniting for the first time since Kay has been in prison. The lines are blurred as they try to renegotiate their friendship after being kept apart. The film explores how it feels in the immediate days after being released from prison. That surreal window of time where being outside becomes dreamlike, but navigating broken down relationships is confronting. Home explores those quieter moments that are often forgotten when we talk about prison, and uses human relationships to explore themes of friendship, love, and those complicated feelings in between.
Director's Statement
The idea for Home was born out of research I’ve been doing on experiences of prison. As a writer / director, I’m particularly interested in female experiences of crime and the criminal justice system, and explore this often in my writing. My research has led me to understand that many people leave prison without having anybody to meet them at the gate as they leave which I’ve found hard to comprehend, and I’d not seen much of an exploration or focus around this in popular culture. Crime is rarely explored on screen in a way that isn’t sensationalist, and whilst there has been a welcome increase in explorations of the root causes of crime in recent years, I often feel that delving in to the feelings of those affected by the criminal justice system is lacking beyond a few buzzwords and phrases.
As with my previous film, The Other End, I want to get into the heart of what the characters are truly feeling. The Other End explored what it feels like to know and love someone involved in crime, and I’ve built on that with Home, by placing the female character with direct experience of prison in the centre of the story, but maintaining the focus on her emotional journey, rather than attempting to explore what she did or why. I feel that the habit of forcing audiences to witness the pain and suffering of female characters is outdated and overdone, and so by taking big subjects that have the potential to be upsetting and placing them within quieter, often more domestic spaces, I’m still asking audiences to consider these issues, without needless displays of trauma.
My hope following the making of Home is to be in a position to develop my first feature, which also includes many of the similar themes explored in the film. As a director I will continue to tell stories that centre the female, working class experience, and look forward to being able to take learnings from my first short with me during this next step in my career.
Content Notices: Criminalisation, depiction of alcohol and substance use
Credits
Writer/Director - Nia Childs
Producer - Jessi Gutch
Co Producer - Alexandra Da Silva
Production Company - Fig Films
Supported by - One Small Thing
Kay - Shona Babayemi
Jenna - Natasha Jean Sparkes
Director of Photography - Matt Gillan
Editor - Chloe Hardwick
Production Designer - Giorgia Lee Joseph
Sound Designer - Ines Adriana
Original Music - “Together” by Ruff Sqwad (Copyright Courtesy of David Nkrumah
Purchasing a Film Festival Pass gives you access to all films in our programme during the festival. Films will be available to watch on our Knowledge Hub from 23 September, and will expire after 6 October.
We've set a number of different price options for our Festival Pass, so you can chose an option which best suits you:
£30 Solidarity Pass + Tote Bag! - We'll send you a limited edition Clean Break Film Festival tote bag after the festival ends!
£25 Solidarity Pass - If you have the means to purchase a Solidarity Pass, your generous support will be gratefully received.
£15 Standard Festival Pass - This is the standard price for our Festival Pass.
£5 Low or no income Pass - If you are unwaged or are on a low income, you might like to chose this option.
£1 Lived Experience Pass - This option is for people with lived experience of the criminal justice system.
Purchasing a Festival Pass supports Clean Break's life changing work with women with experience of the criminal justice system, or who are at risk of entering it. We greatly appreciate your support!
