Rocks panel Event Catch-Up

WFTV Q&A: Rocks panel with Director Sarah Gavron, Producers Faye Ward and Ameenah Ayub Allen and Actor Bukky Bakray

Join WFTV for panel discussion with the creative team behind the feature film Rocks.

In this event hosted by Sarah Best, director Sarah Gavron, producers Faye Ward and Ameenah Ayub Allen and actor Bukky Bakray will be offering a behind the scenes insight into the making of this unique production and the collaborative filmmaking process.

The film follows teenager Rocks (Bukky Bakray) who fears that she and her little brother Emmanuel (D’angelou Osei Kissiedu) will be forced apart if anyone finds out they are living alone. With the help of her friends, she evades the authorities and navigates the most defining days of her life.

Rocks is currently showing on Netflix. Watch the trailer here.

SPEAKERS

Sarah Gavron

Director

Sarah has directed both short and feature films. Her first film was This Little Life, later followed by Brick Lane, Village at the End of the World and the widely acclaimed Suffragette. Her latest film is Rocks.

Faye Ward

Producer

Faye Ward, WFTV Envy Producer Award Winner 2019, founded her production company Fable Pictures with backing from Sony Pictures Television in 2016 after the success of the film Suffragette, directed by Sarah Gavron, which Faye produced. Before founding Fable, she was also part of the producing team on series one of the multi-award winning Netflix series The Crown.

Faye runs Fable with her creative partner Hannah Farrell. Fable’s first film Stan & Ollie which was produced by Faye, premiered at the London Film Festival, and went on to receive 3 BAFTA nominations and a Golden Globe nomination.

This was followed in 2019 by Wild Rose, also produced by Faye. This film premiered at Toronto International Film Festival in 2018 and was nominated for 10 BIFAs.

Faye and Fable’s latest production, Rocks is part of her long-standing collaboration with director Sarah Gavron.

Ameenah Ayub Allen

Producer

Ameenah is an independent film producer, Rocks is her debut fiction feature.

Her debut documentary feature, Andrea Luka Zimmerman’s Erase and Forget, premiered at Berlinale and was nominated for Best Original Documentary. She was development producer for Artangel’s BIFA nominated feature Here for Life and executive produced Generation Revolution. She was also heavily involved in realising both Clio Barnard’s The Selfish Giant and Sarah Gavron’s award winning Brick Lane.

Ameenah was shortlisted for an Academy Award and BIFA nominated for her award winning short films. Over the last 18 years her senior production credits include The Arbor, Dark River, Electricity, Self Made and Monsoon. Ameenah is currently co-producing Clio Barnard’s Ali & Ava for Moonspun Films, BBC Films, BFI and Screen Yorkshire.

Bukky Bakray

Actor

Bukky Bakray is an actor, Rocks is her first feature film.

Sarah Best

Head of Development, Drama at Sugar Films

After four years in production, Sarah worked as a junior development exec at Jude Law and Ewan McGregor’s production company, Natural Nylon. She then moved onto work for Simon Fuller at 19 Entertainment in artist and brand management for clients including Annie Lennox and the Pop Idol format globally, before running the UK drama department under Mal Young when he came to 19.

Before joining Sugar Films as Head of Development, Drama under Kwadjo Dajan in 2015, Sarah worked in development for companies and producers including Shed Media, Runaway Fridge Film & Television, Warner Bros, Paul Weiland Film and CinemaNX.