“My Fair Lady” is that classic tale of class, social mobility, speech and identity; and what could be more relevant to the hodgepodge of London today? Inspired by Joseph’s own experiences (which took him from a council house in West London, to Cambridge University, and back again), we wanted to ask what a story of culturally-assimilative “hustle and flow” would look like in 2020.

The story is set against the backdrop of Hayes and Harlington—a less-than-affluent, multicultural, Heathrow-adjacent, Labour safe seat, with a large immigrant population, that also happens to be one of five London constituencies to vote Leave. It’s a place where a St. George’s flag can be seen flying opposite the West London Somaliland Community; a place where labels are reductive and stereotypes exclusionary, when it’s the people and stories in between these gaps that can make life so beautiful, messy and enthralling. With the long-overdue Crossrail, finally, about to be completed (promising a seamless 20-minute journey from Hayes to Bond Street), it’s also a place that, like Emeka, is on the cusp of an identity crisis of its own, as it faces full-frontal gentrification.

This is a story of acrimony and friendship, estrangement and belonging, heartbreak, aspiration, and selfhood. It’s a story that gives a voice and a face to the gay, working-class born, British-Nigerian millennial, a Black-South Asian queer interracial couple, and a biracial aspiring financial trader and drug dealer. It’s a story in which the characters are a deliciously unexpected, complicated mix of things, who—rebuffing one single definition—are this… and this, and this, and this.

I feel very proud to call “Acrimonious” my first short film, and very much hope you enjoy.