Boyhood through a Sister’s Eyes: Interview with Comfort Adeneye
We interviewed Comfort Adeneye on her latest film A Month of Sundays, a poetic film capturing the beauty of Thamesmead through experimental montage. It premiered at the Light the Way Festival on 4th March at Thamesmead Texas Travelling Cinema
1. Can you tell us about your journey of filming A Month of Sundays and why you chose to focus on boyhood exploration for this film?
The journey of filming A Month of Sundays felt a bit like pregnancy, we had a lot of highs and lows. After a failed first attempt at shooting with a conventional narrative, the second time around we made the bold decision to try an experimental route using 16mm. At the time, it felt daunting because we were running low on money, but I guess it was worth the risk! I am happy I worked with such a great team, Emmanuel (my brother) did an amazing job at directing especially considering it was his first time. James our DOP was very helpful too, especially under such short notice. I am proud to say we all worked together to make it happen.
I’ve focused on boyhood in all of my films in the past, it hasn’t been a conscious decision but more out of curiosity. Growing up, I spent a lot of time with my brother Emmanuel and my cousin Jeffrey, the stories they've shared with me have set a foundation point for some of my stories.
2. The poetic narrative tells the story of migration and reveals the social fabric of Thamesmead. What did you hope to reveal about this remote South-East London Suburb?
Thamesmead is bursting with character, I hoped to reveal how beautiful the area is beyond its architecture. There’s a side to Thamesmead that is beautiful and playful, you never know what sort of people you might bump into here. We had planned to film in a lot more locations but we didn’t have the time or budget for it.
3. In the film you feature the allusive sculptor ‘Mike’, can you tell us more about this mysterious character?
The birth of Mike’s character came to me in a dream. Every morning Emmanuel asks me if I’ve had any dreams the previous night, I don’t dream a lot and If I do I often forget when I wake up. However, this day I had a dream I saw a man under a tree by himself sculpting something that I couldn’t make out. From there I built up Mike’s character to be a British-born Nigerian who went back to Nigeria in his late teens to learn an indigenous carpentry method.
In the film, he has lost his job as a construction worker due to the recession and is dealing with the loss of his twins and his job. Mike is the mysterious man you see around your area but you know nothing about
4. What were your biggest creative inspirations in making this film?
George Washington (2000) by David Gordon Green, Sugar Cane Alley (1983) directed by Euzhan Palcy, and Bullet Boy (2004) directed by Saul Dibb were a few films from my research I drew inspiration from, alongside novels such as The Famished Road by Ben Okri.
During the pre-production stage, musical influences played a big part. I created a public playlist on Spotify titled A Month of Sundays which included songs like J Hus's - Deeper than Rap, Nas's - Life's a Bitch, and Kendrick Lamar's - Mortal Man. I am planning on curating all the research we did during the making of the film to share across my socials. I think it's nice to see people's processes especially because filmmaking is so complex.
5. What advice would you give to other aspiring filmmakers?
I’d say live life, that’s the best way to create stories. This doesn’t necessarily mean living a crazy life, but even listening to other people's stories you never know what could come to you from that.
Thankyou Comfort!
If you’d like to discover more on instagram @_comfortt and on dots, Comfort Adeneye