4K Video, 2022
Wayfinder is a feature film set in a pandemic, it follows the Wanderer, a young girl played by Perside Rodrigues, on an intrepid journey across England. Travelling from North to South, she passes through different regions, towns and landscapes, encountering people, stories and situations on her way. Across six chapters, including ‘The North’, ‘The Land of Smoke’ and ‘The Corner-Land’, this epic film builds a dialogue about class and economic exclusion, belonging and displacement, cultural heritage and the meaning of home.
The Wanderer acts as a witness to accounts, conversations, places and histories. Setting out from the ancient paths of Hadrian’s Wall, she explores many environments, beginning her journey in Bowness-on-Solway in Cumbria and winds southwards through contrasting locations; from a housing estate in Wellingborough to E. Pellicci Café in Bethnal Green. The National Gallery on Trafalgar Square deserted at night, to Essex, also known as 'The Kingdom of The East' during the Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy, and eventually reaching the sea at Margate.
The film features retired British athlete Anita Neil MBE OLY, who was the first female Black British Olympian, artist and musician Mataio Austen Dean as The Griot, with voice-overs by Ma Toshie and Russell Tovey among others. In 2023, the film was one of ten longlisted for the BAFTA Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer category.
Wayfinder, commissioned by Turner Contemporary with MK Gallery and Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art