British Asian independent feature film Tell Me About It announced with trailer release
The filmmaker of Tell Me About It campaigns for misrepresented South Asian GenZ people to have better visibility in the media.
Exploring identity and community in an immigrant family, the story follows a segregated family with limited horizons facing a low point in their lives. With the family masking their reality and desperate for sense of belonging, the film was created to help campaign for misrepresented GenZ South Asians in the UK.
The story centres around two British Pakistani teenagers, Amara and Halima who plot a fun adventure from Bradford to London, but their circumstances take a dire turn. Amara is kidnapped in a case of mistaken identity with Halima; the daughter of an acclaimed politician whose future plans to tackle drug crime in the city challenged the top goon in town. During this drastic and confusing coincidence, both Amara and the kidnapper are about to find themselves in inexplicable situations, confronting their own unconscious demons which reflects the heart of this drama.
Whilst this layered story shines a spotlight on modern South Asian family dynamics, it explores the prevalence of identity crisis in immigrant communities today. With the intention of moving away from simple box ticking, the characters in the film are presented as multidimensional people with unique and unconventional relationships. As such, this film seeks to provide a true presentation of British Asian filmmaking, culture and identity.
The film was created by producer and writer Suman Hanif (Plates, True Colours, What Next?) and stars Asad Shan (Welcome to London, the most successful British made Hindi language film in the UK). Full bios can be found below.
Ariya Larker (Binny & Baba, Larna) joins influencer and BBC Radio Leeds presenter Ahmed Sher Zaman as the lead cast. With a commitment to working with talent from different backgrounds, the majority of the cast and crew are based across the North of England, including Leeds, Birmingham and Bradford, with Asad based in London.
Suman Hanif, filmmaker, writer and producer, says: “The story follows a ‘brown girl’ who gets kidnapped in a mistaken identity of another ‘brown girl’ who is the daughter of an MP whose plans of tackling drug crime didn’t go well with the top goon in town. In a time of heightened discrimination, and systematic and political exclusion of people without a ‘mainstream’ profile, it is pivotal to tell stories like this. There is nothing worst then feeling invisible and Tell Me About It is a film for the invisible audience, anyone experiencing an identity crisis or who would ‘prefer not to say’ when asked about themselves. We have talked about collective diversity, what we really need right now is a conversation about embracing the diversity of individuals.
In this film we see a Muslim family and community, who are often misrepresented and seen as extreme characters. Their religion is usually what defines them. But we of course know that people are not one dimensional. We all have a lot more to our identity than our faith. Tell Me About It looks to humanise the British Muslim community, we want viewers to connect with the characters and to understand on a deeper level the important things they have to say.
It’s been so long since our screens were graced with something like East is East and Bend it like Beckham that was appreciated by audiences for finding humour and hope within the serious social issues explored such of the theme’s race, immigration, and identity.
Likewise, with the love and support, TMAI has potential to reach its audiences and contribute greatly to the British Asian genre and admired for its interesting spin on prevalent social issues.”
Film posters are available here and stills are here.
The trailer is available here.
