IN THE BREAK invites us deep into the London and UK music scene, where two people in their mid-late 30s lives shift as they experience the transformative power of love in real time.
MOSES – a musician – and NICOLE – a label exec – cross paths at a gig in London. Meeting each other provides a break from their everyday rhythm. It threatens what they think they know about themselves, in that it makes space for them to ask each other, and themselves, what it is they truly desire, both personally and professionally. These are questions they rarely ask themselves because they’re so used to giving their all to others. Soon, they realise what they truly, deeply desire, is each other. Two people find each other, and in the process, find themselves. Two people see each other, not just for who they are, but for who they could be. By the film’s conclusion, we’ll see MOSES and NICOLE’s journey isn’t ending but just beginning.
The earliest idea for IN THE BREAK emerged while I was editing my short film, PRAY. My producer Matimba and I were having a conversation about Black British cinema, which inevitably turned to love stories, an area my work is mainly concerned with. I grew up on a steady diet of African American cinema, in particular, films concerning romance: Love and Basketball, Love Jones, Brown Sugar. In that conversation, I struggled to name a story on this side of the shores which had had the same sort of effect on me.
But then I remembered the earliest Black British love story I held dear wasn’t in a film or a book. It was that of my parents, who have been together for over 40 years. They moved to London from Ghana as teenagers and I grew up seeing these two people navigate the messiness a union can bring, navigate their shifting desires for themselves, navigate the circumstances life would throw at them. But always seeing each other. Always believing in each other and what might be possible. People often ask why I’m so invested in telling love stories and it’s because I believe in it.
I truly believe in the power of love because I’ve seen it, I’ve felt it, in its nuances, its complexities, its joys, its griefs. In the freedom it brings.
IN THE BREAK aims to tell the story of the inception of this kind of love, one which is life changing, transformative. It has challenged me to fight against my own instincts, leaning into a space, not of fresh discovery and young love, but of two people in their mid 30s, more set in their ways, who see love as a threat. Writing and the possibility of directing this film has asked me to break my own tendencies and challenge my own ways of being; to allow myself to be broken open, so that new love - for my craft, for those around me, for myself - might blossom and grow.