The following interview appeared as an extract in BAFTA's official 2022 Awards brochure, which is now available on Issuu.
BAFTA Breakthrough showcases and supports the next generation of creative talent in film, games and television in the UK, India and the US. They are all exciting prospects at a critical breakthrough moment in their careers. One of the 2021 Breakthrough UK participants, editor Mdhamiri Á Nkemi, tells us his story in his own words.
INTERVIEW: Toby Weidmann
BAFTA/David Vintiner
I grew up outside of film completely. I had no connection to it whatsoever. I watched films, like everyone, but I didn’t know anyone in film. I didn’t really know it was a job even. I never considered it at all. I read a lot, my whole family did. I devoured the children’s section in my local library – by the time I was nine, I had finished reading everything in there. I just really loved storytelling as an artform, all the different types of stories that existed and how you could lose yourself in them.
I had kind of decided that I was going to be an author, that I was going to write stories. My mother works in book editing, so it was a world I understood. That all went off the rails when I turned 12 and my friend got this camera. The trend at the time was for DSLRs, as they had just come out. My friend was using it for photography but I realised it could also do video and I started playing around with it. I did everything myself and bullied my friends and family to be in my very terrible amateur productions. I became obsessed with it in the same way that I had done with books and taught myself every part of the process. I became fascinated with the post-production side, where it all comes together.
You can create the pieces, but it’s not until the editing that the jigsaw puzzle is put together.
I went to college to do a media course. I did this scheme called the BFI Film Academy, which was for 16-19-year-olds who were interested in getting into film. I then went to university [the National Film and Television School] and studied a Bachelor’s in Editing. So. I was fully committed to it right then and there. Editing was the thing I was drawn to most, because I felt like I was good at it and it was also the bit that was most exciting to me. It was where all the pieces came together. You can come up with a good idea and create the pieces, but it’s not until the process of the editing that the jigsaw puzzle is put together. For me, it feels like the film is coming alive.
I’m looking for projects that feel like they haven’t been done before, at least not through a mainstream lens
Editing plays an important role in storytelling. It’s often overlooked. If you don’t work in film, you might think that to make the story they just shoot it and then that’s it. When you’re on the inside, you see first-hand how important that role is. The editor is the one in the cutting room alongside the director building the story and working out what the film is trying to be.
I’m looking for projects that feel like they haven’t been done before, at least not through a mainstream lens. Things that feel fresh and exciting and from voices that haven’t had much chance to tell their stories onscreen before. Regardless of genre, I find myself gravitating towards the kinds of stories that feel original, either through the subject matter or the form. Those stories are becoming easier to find now, with more industry-wide attention being given to encouraging those stories to blossom. As I navigate through my career, I want to find those filmmakers who are trying to make that kind of stuff and fill those spaces.
I enjoy working on many different kinds of film. I’m working on an animation right now, but previously I’ve worked on documentaries and fiction films. I’m trying to navigate towards interesting stories, regardless of genre. I’d like to work on a variety of exciting projects and, hopefully, each one is a scale up from the last. I am also trying to step outside my comfort zone on each project, to make sure each one is a learning process and I’m growing as an editor.
Initially, BAFTA Breakthrough was recommended to me by a friend and colleague, composer Segun Akinola, who was selected for it in 2017. We were working together on a feature when he found out he’d been selected and we were all so excited for him. Chatting to him in the years that followed, it just sounded like a really good opportunity. He’d gotten a lot out of it and made some good connections. It sounded like a smart thing to be involved in. I’m looking forward to finding out who I can meet so I can grow my network, those people in the industry who I definitely wouldn’t have had any chance of connecting to without BAFTA’s help.
It’s amazing to be recognised as a BAFTA Breakthrough.
I didn’t really know much about BAFTA beforehand. It was always this obscure thing in the distance that I’d heard about but didn’t really know. On the BFI Film Academy, as part of the course we did go to BAFTA, as 19-year-olds, and did some masterclasses. That was my first introduction to BAFTA, but it took me a while to discover all the other stuff that they did... It’s amazing to be recognised as a Breakthrough. I’m looking forward to seeing how the year works out.
Mdhamiri’s Breakthrough credit is Life in a Day (2020), a feature-length documentary that showcases what’s happening around the world on one particular day through an array of edited video clips.
Click here for more on Breakthrough. BAFTA Breakthrough is supported by Netflix in the UK, USA and India.
