One of the most critically acclaimed British short films over the past year was Area Boy, written and directed by Iggy London.
'Area Boy follows Eli, an aimless teenager, who has moved to the outer edges of a provincial town with his mother. As he settles in, he tries to escape the bleakness of life while navigating questions of self-identity, as he balances his time between his delinquent friends and the church community. Torn between two worlds, Eli must find himself and embrace who he truly is.'
On the film festival circuit, the movie has enjoyed success and won the Best Scripted Short award at the 2024 Santa Barbara International Film Festival.
London is earning quite the reputation for himself not just as a short film maker, but as the creative driving force of various commercials and music videos.
MovieMeter caught up with Iggy this week to talk about the success of Area Boy.
Iggy London exclusive interview
MovieMeter: When a new project comes to you, how do you decide what medium to showcase your creativity, as you are an accomplished, filmmaker, writer and poet?
Iggy London: So for me, really, it does definitely depend on the actual idea. When I'm in the process of idea creation, I'm looking at - what do I want it to say? What is the message? The message can dictate the medium, the format, the lens, the world. Whether it should be from a very visual storytelling perspective or whether it should be dialogue or whether it should be more specific to a movie or a commercial. There are just different worlds that ideas come from and how I connect them is this, like 'Where do I want them to sit?' What do I want it to say? Fitting everything into that puzzle?
MovieMeter: Regarding Area Boy, Eli comes across as a crushingly shy young man, which left Joshua Cameron without a great degree of dialogue. Is that why we see so many close-ups of his face, as he is forced to act with his eyes?
Iggy London: I think that's what it is, it's really acting with his eyes. I think you've hit the nail on the head. Even when auditioning him and seeing his performance, I was really struck by how powerful he was in saying thigs without actually saying them. He was able to establish an aura in his dialogue and his feelings, all through his eyes. His silent glares and stares. He was able to establish something that was conflicting in his own mindsight. That was really stunning to watch, compared to an actor who always has a viewpoint or who always wants to chat. He really built the idea of an internal mechanism going on inside his head.
MovieMeter: You pack a lot into 20-odd minutes. Are short films something you wilfully seek out or is it simply an issue of budget, things like that? And, do you think full features are in your future?
Iggy London: I think, for me, it's different for different projects. Depending on who is able to play the role and who is able to provide the best performance. Sometimes, you walk on set or sometimes you do auditions and you feel like that person understands the character, that person is in your head, that person is able to perform in the way you need. But, ultimately, they are just doing their job. Other times, there are people who really resonate with and understand the material. I feel like Joshua Cameron wasn't someone who could relate to the material, but he was so enthused. That internal dialogue, when someone has when they are trying to express themselves but they can't.
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MovieMeter: In what way is the movie based on your own experiences?
Iggy London: Yeah, 100%. I feel like Area Boy is a mash-up of different stories, different experiences, different people that have come into my life. I went to uni in the Midlands and I was able to just see a certain type of life. I saw different people that were battling with different sorts of issues and things were just very specific to things like growing up, coming up age, community. I've also experienced this feeling of wanting to connect and perform in a way which allows me to do so. I can relate to these experiences and Area Boy and its idea is just very universal. It teaches you about a lot about the experiences we go through as young people. Wanting to fit in, not wanting to branch out, but the cost that comes with performing and pretending in this way, in your life.
MovieMeter: Do you have plans to make Area Boy into a feature-length movie?
Iggy London: Area Boy is very much a beautiful portrait of people figuring out who they are and being stereotypes that stop you from being you. I like this idea as a concept and the one thing I really picked up on was this psychological, internal battle that someone has. For me, that's really interesting, to tell a story that has psychological, internal thinking and I want to play with that in a future film. Do I necessarily want to develop Area Boy into a feature? I'm not sure yet. It would be a very different story. Obviously coming-of-age, but something different in its narrative arc. Maybe the same topic and themes, but a different narrative.
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