Bukky Bakray is Shola, AKA Rocks – a force-of-nature 15-year-old east Londoner with a talent for makeup artistry, who returns home from school one day to discover that her depression-prone mother has abandoned her and her young brother Emmanuel, and is left with no choice but to live by her wits.
A vibrant, insightful and deeply empathetic drama about teenage girls forging their identities in a hostile world, Rocks is a genuinely collaborative production, born out of workshops with young people at a range of schools and youth hubs & boasting a terrific ensemble cast that showcases a host of talented newcomers. Written by up-and-coming Nigerian-British playwright/screenwriter Theresa Ikoko with film and TV writer Claire Wilson, and directed by Sarah Gavron (who made 2007’s Brick Lane and 2015’s Suffragette).
Inspired by the film handling of joy, resilience and the spirit of girlhood, Skin Deep will be hosting a workshop at the festival following the screening. The session will be a writing, making and sharing of love letters to your teenage selves and the cities you grew up in.
Skin Deep makes space for Black creatives and creatives of colour to work towards justice through cultural production.