The tough conversation surrounding the safety and citizenship of those fleeing poverty, famine or war is at the forefront of Naomi Sheridan‘s Kiki. The 14-minute short film focuses on a young girl named Adamma (Saoirse Azwihangwisi O’Connor) and her father, Jide (Derek Ugochukwu), both Nigerian asylum seekers living in a special complex for immigrants in Ireland. While they try to find a sense of normalcy, the pair are constantly threatened by angry anti-immigrant protesters, whose tensions are heightened when Adamma ventures out into the neighborhood alone in search of her missing toy, Kiki.
Relevant to today’s political climate, Kiki has played at numerous festivals, including the Newport Beach Film Festival, the Catalyst International Film Festival and the Dublin International Short Film and Music Festival. The film also received a nomination for Best Short Film Script at the Writer’s Guild Ireland’s Zebbie Awards and won Best Live Action Short at the Cleveland International Film Festival. Below, Sheridan talks to Deadline about the inspiration behind her latest short, Kiki.
DEADLINE: Just last year, there was another Irish short film, Room Taken, that tackled the subject of African migration to Ireland. I’m still learning so much about these fringe stories about the Black diaspora in these areas of the world. Regarding your short, which also centers Black immigrants, how bad is the situation in Ireland for those people?
NAOMI SHERIDAN: It’s similar to America in that I feel there’s a lot of people causing division behind the scenes, but it really started about a year and a half ago. People were coming into Ireland from different countries, and protests started outside the centers and at various places where they were staying, so you’d see it on the news. It would always be a wall of protesters shouting up at windows, and you’d just see a wall of windows, and I was always wondering what it must be like to be on the other side, listening to people as they were shouting, “Ireland is full,” and other things. I just thought about a kid looking out the window, and I wondered what that must be like—feeling that anger — and how you would deal with it, coming to a new country and feeling displaced.
There was also an incident where people were coming into a center, and they were getting off the bus, and these protesters started shouting at kids, and I just thought that was awful. I was nervous about where [this interaction] was going. It felt very explosive and heightened, and I just thought, “I would like to explore a story about what it’s like to be on the other side of that kind of conflict and negativity.” Then shortly after that, there were riots in Dublin, and that was terrifying to be walking along the street and [tensions] change like that, so easily. So, there were all the things that went into the script and story, where we’re seeing people who have possibly been divided come together in some way. I thought kids were sometimes able to get past things their parents can’t or see things more clearly.
DEADLINE: What was the greatest challenge in making Kiki?
SHERIDAN: There were a few, but I think it’s always about a matter of not having enough time. Given the circumstances, the actors did an amazing job, especially having kids in it as well. There was one scene with Derek Ugochukwu, who plays Adamma’s father, Jide, looking at some rings on the desk, and we only had five minutes to do it. Then also when he’s lying in bed and looking at the photo of his wife, it was five minutes. It was so intense, and I was just happy that we managed to get that. That he could bring that level of emotion to it in such a short space of time was amazing to me. He’s an amazing actor.
The kids [Saoirse Azwihangwisi O’Connor and Glenn Anderson] were also amazing. Another challenging one was with them in the bedroom scene, because it was the first day, and you’re just trying to get a feel for everyone. The kids were troopers, but it was a long day for them in a small space. So, trying to get all that emotion into that space was a challenge.
DEADLINE: You’ve got this well-crafted moment where one of the older kids at the anti-immigrant protest ends up leading Adamma back to his home, where you think he might do something to harm her, but instead he shows her kindness. What are his politics?
SHERIDAN: I actually thought that Liam was probably a kid who wasn’t political. This also might extend to his dad, who has not dealt with the grief of things in his own life that have turned into something very negative. Because he’s someone who hasn’t felt he’s been able to process things or talk to people. So, I think that even when they are at the protest, Liam is looking at his dad, saying all these hateful things, and you see that he’s really seeing the anger in him that he’s almost hesitant about it. Then his dad is almost egging him on like, “Why don’t you say something?” And then, when he says, “Burn them out,” the dad has this moment of clarity —like, “Oh, wow, this is all quite heavy where we’re going.” But then he’s caught up in the moment. I just thought that when Liam meets Adamma, she reminds him of his sister in some way. He just goes beyond all the politics and just thinks about how he misses his sister, who has died. So, I just felt there was a human connection between them when Adamma is asking him questions, and he’s responding to her, like a sister, saying, [semi-playfully] “Stop asking me questions.”
Glenn did a really good job [creating tension] in that scene, because sometimes he’s smiling, sometimes he’s not, or he’s giving her a hard time. But he had to do it in a way where it would seem [suspicious], but then also you could understand where he’s coming from, looking back on it. There were times when he was actually smiling, where he looked sinister, but he’s actually genuinely smiling when you look back on it in retrospect. It was a lot for the kids to take on, but I was blown away by how professional they were. Saoirse came into the audition, and I said to all the kids, “Now, don’t worry if you don’t know the lines. We’ll just have a conversation, and this is just practice.” And she was just very composed, like, “OK, let’s try it anyway.” And we were doing the scene, and she was totally ready to go and memorized everything. She acted brilliantly. She was so impressive that even Glenn was like, “Oh, this is who’s going to be in the scene with me?” And then after rehearsal had ended, he was like, “God, she’s really good.” So, I think they were an inspiration for each other in a way as well.
DEADLINE: What would you like people to take away from this short?
SHERIDAN: I really want people to see that we have more connections with people than we might know, and I feel like everywhere now there’s a lot of people who are actively trying to divide people for their own personal gain. That feels so horrible to me. I just wanted to show that despite all that, people can come together in a human way and have a connection. Sometimes, the people who are being pitted against each other often have much more in common than they realize. I wanted to take away from all the divisiveness out there and create a story where people can get beyond it and connect on a human level.
For me, it was about this kid who ultimately questions what Adamma and her family are doing here. When she starts talking about wanting to find Kiki, he’s like, “Oh, that’s the same toy my sister had.” And it becomes a very human, emotional thing, about a connection he really misses with his sister. I just wanted to transcend all the political stuff and say, these two kids connected on a human level, and I wanted to show the humanity of everyone in the story instead of adding anything divisive. Then, I just wanted to show the humanity of where that could go. This is not to say, like, “Oh, everybody’s going to be best friends at the end of it.” It’s not like that. But I thought that maybe they had one positive experience in Ireland that gave them a bit of hope. And out of their connection, his dad may start talking about the loss of his daughter. That’s the boy’s sister. It’s the start of a more positive journey. Nothing is solved, but maybe it’s given them something to talk about with each other and a sense that their lives will change for the better in the future, even though it’s not happening right then and there.
The post ‘Kiki’ Filmmaker Naomi Sheridan On Tackling The Plights Of Immigrants In Irish Short Film appeared first on Deadline.
