Wayfinder

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 Big Smoke’ and ‘The Kingdom of the East’, 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, the journey begins 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, and the National Gallery deserted at night, eventually reaching the sea at Margate.

The film features retired British athlete Anita Neil, who was the first female Black British Olympian, actor and musician Mataio Austen Dean as the griot, and Perside Rodrigues as the wanderer 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