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Bim Ajadi | Director

Bim Ajadi | Director

Growing up in a boarding school in Yorkshire, Bim would make copies of films on an old Betamax and put subtitles on them for his deaf friends, sometimes editing them in the process. One of his first forays into the film industry was through a course in 3D animation, while he was teaching himself how to edit. Channel 4 offered an opportunity for deaf and disabled artists to get involved in the media and he spent the next 15 years working his way up the professional ladder with the aim of becoming a director.

His latest film, Here/Not Here was the first time that Bim truly saw himself as a director because previously he lacked confidence, exacerbated by people’s treatment of him, including being told to stick to only making films for the deaf community. Here/Not Here was a very personal project and as a fan of music videos and musicals, the idea was to have an experimental mix of the two. Krump, the form of dance in question, VV (visual vernacular) a visual signed poetry, and street football trickery, are a visual language, a way of communicating and works as a bridge between the hearing and the deaf community.

Bim hopes that the BAFTA Breakthrough honour will open up opportunities, and he would love to do a feature or a series that brings deaf stories into the mainstream, speaking to inspirational creatives such as Steve McQueen and Barry Jenkins along the way.