Once An Old Lady Sat On My Chest
A young British Nigerian woman struggles to find a decent job. As her situation gets worse, she decides to take the drastic step of changing her ethnic name to an English one, hoping this will improve her chances.
Interview with Writer/Director/Producer Candice Onyeama
Watch Once An Old Lady Sat On My Chest here:
Congratulations! Why did you make your film?
The film is an ode to my Grandma who passed away the year I started working on the film. I wanted to use a personal story to explore the wider experience of being Nigerian British and diasporan identity. While working on the script, I came across a BBC article entitled 'Is it easier to get a job if you're Adam or Mohammed?'. The article highlighted the discrimination faced by job seekers with minority ethnic names instead of English ones and how very often they feel the need to change their names for a fair chance at a job. Names can form such a strong part of our identity and for diasporans, it can also be a very real connection to the motherland – so the idea of needing to assimilate and loose one's identity for economic reasons is highly problematic. With the current climate of growing right wing and nationalistic sentiment around the world, there is a worry that immigrants and citizens with ethnic names might face increasing discrimination in the job market and I hope with my film, I can raise more awareness around the issue.
Imagine I’m a member of the audience. Why should I watch this film?
If you're of African descent and the diaspora, I would say watch it to see a part of your story and yourself reflected. If you're not, I would say watch it to know your neighbor a little better and discover a story other than your own. I would also say to anyone, whatever background you're from to watch the film because it’s a great 13 minutes of entertainment – but I am a little biased.
How have the script and film evolved over the course of their development?
It has evolved quite a bit. Although the first pitch for the story was one of the winners at the Encounters Film Festival Widening the lens competition, a second pitch I did for funding at a UK media lab for BAME talent received a lot of criticism. However I always had faith and a strong belief in the story I wanted to tell and I knew the most important thing was not to focus all my creativity on just coming up with a great pitch for funding but to really work on refining and developing the actual script. So I withdrew my script from the lab (even though due to contractual reasons I still had to give them credit in the film – joys of the industry) and I spent the next few months reworking the script with support from my producer and other film professionals, till it was at a place I was relatively happy with. However I continued doing rewrites right up until the shoot. One of the reasons was that our brilliant lead actress Tanisha Spring, who I immediately knew was perfect for the lead role, was Jamaican and did not speak the Nigerian language Igbo that features quite a few times in the script. So I had to incorporate her difficulty with the language as a character feature in the story linked with the little connection she has had with the motherland, which I think she pulled off really well. Also changes to the location meant that certain parts of the script especially the end had to be rewritten for logistical reasons. But I believe a script is very much a living, evolving thing which changes during the different phases of a film, so as long as I stay true to the core essence of my story, I'm not too fussed with having to rewrite and edit through the process.
What type of feedback have you received so far?
I've been fortunate that most of the feedback has been positive. Apart from the awards and nominations it has picked up at various festivals, what's really struck me are the conversations it has sparked. We screened in France last year at the Black Movie Summer festival and afterwards I had over an hour's discussion with attendees around the issues of identity brought up in the film. Many people from the audience were from the French Caribbean, with one or two who were African Americans and it was really interesting hearing about their own relationships with their names, discussions around historic identity, slavery, colonization, renaming oneself like in the case of Malcom X and even the idea of the existence of a 'name privilege' that comes with having an English name instead of an ethnic one. These were a few ideas I hadn't really considered in detail when working on the film and it was great that the screening could open up these types of discussions and sharing.
Has the feedback surprised or challenged your point of view?
Definitely, as highlighted above.
What are you looking to achieve by having your film more visible on www.wearemovingstories.com?
Hopefully the We Are Moving Stories community will be up for checking out the film if its screening close to them or catching it when it’s released online. We are a also a production company, Genesis Child Films focused on stories by women of African descent and the diaspora, so if anyone on the site wants to know more about us, get involved or find out what we're up to next, then please reach out through our social media handles (below).
Who do you need to come on board (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists) to amplify this film’s message?
All of the above really would be great, except producers, we already have two fab ones.
What type of impact and/or reception would you like this film to have?
Getting people interested and discussing the themes of the film – maybe more discussions around introducing name blind application for jobs to protect immigrants and diasporan applicants with non English names from discrimination. Also, it would be great if the film can add in its own small way to more interest and backing for stories from diverse black communities. We are not a monolith.
What’s a key question that will help spark a debate or begin a conversation about this film?
I don't think there is one key question. But a few that could start interesting convos are: What does my name mean to me? What does my name mean to my family/community? What does my name mean in the country I currently live in?
Would you like to add anything else?
At the moment no, but I'll probably remember something the minute I finish this interview.
What other projects are the key creatives developing or working on now?
My fellow fab producer Nicola Gregory and I are working on a third short 'Born Again', a magical realism piece about a woman struggling with infertility who facing cultural ostracism and on the verge of a break down, has a magical experience that leads to her finally giving birth...to herself. The short will also form part of a trilogy of shorts on the Nigerian British female experience. We're currently getting our team together and are particularly interested in connecting with executive producers, so if that's you, reach out! We love a collaboration.
Interview: February 2019
We Are Moving Stories embraces new voices in drama, documentary, animation, TV, web series, music video, women's films, LGBTQIA+, POC, First Nations, scifi, supernatural, horror, world cinema. If you have just made a film - we'd love to hear from you. Or if you know a filmmaker - can you recommend us? More info: Carmela
Once An Old Lady Sat On My Chest
A young British Nigerian woman struggles to find a decent job. As her situation gets worse, she decides to take the drastic step of changing her ethnic name to an English one, hoping this will improve her chances.
Length: 13:39
Director: Candice Onyeama
Producer: Candice Onyeama and Nicola Gregory
Writer: Candice Onyeama
About the writer, director and producer:
CANDICE ONYEAMA is an award-winning Nigerian-British writer, producer and filmmaker whose debut film HUSH won several awards including the best short film prize at the BUFF film festival and the best screenplay award at the Oscar qualifying Reel Sisters film festival. The film was acquired for distribution by the online channel Tall Tales. Her most recent short, Once An old Lady Sat On My Chest was one of the winners of the Encounters Film Festival Widening the Lens pitching competition. It was an audience award winner at Black Culture Film festival, a nominee for Film Africa's Baboab Shorts prize and shortlisted for Performance Film and Media Insurance best short film award. She is an alumni of the New Orleans Writers residency and founder of Genesis Child Films, an indie film company, focused on a strong storytelling culture driven by women of African descent.
NICOLA GREGORY is an award-winning producer whose debut feature ‘The Hard Time Bus’ won several awards including best feature at the Hollywood Black Film Festival and whose company 2HOTFILMS aims to subvert stereotypes and present a balanced and manifold view of women and the Diaspora.
Key cast: Tanisha Spring(Uju), Ellen Thomas(Grandma), Layo Akinlude(Kemi)
Facebook: Once An Old Lady Sat On My Chest AND Genesis Child Films
Twitter: @candyonyeama AND @onceanoldlady_ AND @GenesisC_Films
Instagram: @candiceonyeama
Other: Vimeo
Funders: Crowdfunded