What's In A Name

Directed by
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A handful of Brits with their non-Western names describe the difficulties and celebrations in how their names express who they are.

Meet: Desta, Amardeep, Poonum, Mehmet, Ahmed and Wei Ming.

What's In A Name explores the challenges and barriers people may face due to their names but ultimately it’s a celebration of who they are, their heritage, culture and history.

What's In A Name's featured contributors talk of difficult experiences ranging from: feeling alienated in majority-white places, where the majority cannot (and usually don't try to) pronounce their names correctly, often combined with a lack of knowledge in a name's cultural meaning; being re-named a white name by locals; through to feeling left out of story narratives where lead characters are predominantly given common Western names. Ultimately in all their lives there has been varying pivotal moments where personal strength has led them to address their name's narrative within UK's White ignorance.

Describing the beauty, cultural meaning and family ties that their names represent, this group of individuals talk about how they came to reconnect to their name, framing their names with confidence, empowerment and pride, instead of losing them - and a part of their identity- within the UK's Western culture.

Runyararo Mapfumo 'When it comes to filmmaking, sometimes it seems obvious but think about the questions you ask yourself, the observations that you take notice of, and explore these stories as you're bringing your own voice to the screen.'


CREDITS

Director - Runyararo Mapfumo

Producer - Siona Davis


DessyMak Productions


Funded and Supported by The Uncertain Kingdom


Executive Producers - Isabel Freer, Georgia Goggin and John Jencks

Director of Photography - Michael Vince Kim

Editor - Mdhamiri Á Nkemi

Camera Assistant - Lou Macnamara


Camera Assistant - Saskia Dedman


Camera Assistant - James Huthwaite


Camera Trainee - Alex Bojik

Editors Assistant - Franco Cuen


Production Coordinator - Hal Hockney


Composer - Jack Newton


Colourist - Tom Mangham

Art Director - Milly Wild

Costume Designer - Jeffrey Michaels

Sound Recordists - Cassandra Rutledge, Declan Chew

VFX Artist - Al Grimshaw

Sound Designer - Chad Orororo