Pickney | touching a deeper sense of identity

Pickney is a coming-of-age story that combines magical realism and hard emotions while unearthing layers of identity. For Michael Jenkins, it involved turning his vast experience of filmmaking to writing and directing the first drama short of his own. And that meant digging deep into his creative layers for a film that has been connecting with audiences here and abroad.

Nine Nights

Pickney is about a mixed-race teenager from a single-parent household who goes on a journey of self-discovery. He’s troubled by a figure that haunts him in his dreams and prompts him to go to his Nan’s house – the only Black side of his family that he knows. He eventually gets there. Only to stumble on rejection and his nan’s Nine Nights.

“It’s like a traditional funeral – from the outside you might see it as a party. But there are cultural elements to it, which I try to infuse into this film,” explains Michael on a Zoom from Bristol.

Audience award

Writing it, Michael went on a journey himself. And so has Pickney. It was selected for the American Black Film Festival, the biggest Black film festival in America, which is BAFTA and Oscar-qualifying. It’s a festival the British Film Council can help filmmakers to attend, but because of Covid, that wasn’t possible. All the more frustrating because Pickney won the audience award, which Michael wasn’t prepared for, but just goes to reflect the story’s universal connection.

Identity

“I wanted to do something that spoke to people’s sense of place,” says Michael, who mentions the loss people experienced during lockdown. “I wanted to make a story which tried to show the logline of the film – identity is a lot more than just the colour of his skin, it’s deeper than that.”

The film also puts on screen a fusion of Black British culture with modern-day Jamaican Caribbean elements.

Scriptwriting

“I definitely wanted to stay away from doing anything stereotypical,” says Michael. “I like watching crime and thrillers, but too often that’s something that is associated with Black people in general. I want to show a different narrative.” The depth of the scriptwriting process made Michael reflect on what he was doing and why.

“You start off with an idea, but then you go through that writing process, and having a script editor was really eye-opening. I had to go deep into myself to get something that might have resonance with other people,” says Michael, who has written scripts and filmed scripts previously, but this was new.

“I didn’t go to film school. I went through the YouTube university. I started by picking up a camera and learning as I went along, making music videos then moving on to documentaries and charity films. Then doing work at the BBC and art films,” says Michael.

Nuances

“There are loads of different mediums to tell stories and there are new mediums coming around, but I feel the way that you can tell a story through drama, through a film, you can get across so many different nuances that you might not be able to put in a factual documentary.

“I love documentaries, and I love making them, but when it comes to storytelling, it’s just great to be able to have that freedom and have that freedom to build the character you want to create.”

That building of a bigger fictional world is something Michael is ready to step into.

Deeper

“Going through this process and doing this has really made me feel like I want to tell longer stories in a longer format – a feature or a series – something where I could really go deep with characters or flesh things out,” he says.

“Making a short was great and very intense. Having experience of making music videos and documentaries helped inform me how to get emotion from actors. With an actor, you’ve got to give them the space to do what they need to do,” he says, but he describes how there’s space for interpretation and on-set inspiration.

“I let artists be artists,” says Michael. “That’s how I approach it.”

As well as keeping Michael from the Miami festival, Covid also played a part in the production, with delays combined with added costs. But the film was made during one of those windows between lockdowns.

“It was very tight,” says Michael. “Making something in COVID was a crazy experience.” Extras were cut back, bubbles were created.

“It was an issue, but it was an issue for everybody. We want to create the art and I want to keep creatives creating, so it was important to keep it going and get the vision out. It’s been an interesting learning curve, but I think as far as making films, if you can make a film during COVID, you can make one any time.”

But why is it important to make films, and for creatives to create?

Power to change mindsets

“Film is a medium that is a weapon. It’s a weapon that can be used for good or for bad, like any weapon. And it has the power to change people’s mindsets. It has the power to influence the way people think and feel about certain things and give people different perspectives. It’s a powerful tool that can be used to change the world.

“It fuses so many different art forms, it almost can transcend those. I feel like it is the ultimate medium to get people to experience a different world – something that they haven’t experienced before in their day to day and that is amazing. We all dream so we will connect through film.” 

Pickney is at Two Short Nights at the Exeter Phoenix on Friday, February 4.

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