BEST 25 Straight 8 2025

Living in West London and working in Acton with the Bollo Brook Youth Club opened my eyes to the gentrification taking place in the borough and how deeply it affects the local community. For the Straight8 competition, I had the opportunity to experiment by filming the vacated premises of an ex-council house awaiting demolition to make way for new high-rises and new builds. Ami, who used to live in the house next door, composed a poem overnight about her life in the borough and her experience of going through this so-called “regeneration” after hearing about the project.

The film was originally made for Straight 8 2025. For the nature of the competition, it was shot on a cartridge of super8 film and edited in-camera. No editing has been done to it, and the developed film looks exactly as it was shot in-camera, with all its little imperfections.