British People: The Uncertain Kingdom

My short film, British People, is out now in Volume 1 of The Uncertain Kingdom anthology on BFIPlayer, iTunes, Amazon Prime, Curzon Home Cinema and Google Play.  

Jennifer Lim as Jane (Still: Edward Lui)

The film was commissioned from over 1100 submissions for The Uncertain Kingdom, a fast-response project of 20 short films, chronicling the UK in 2019 – pre COVID-19, but spookily prefiguring many of the themes and inequalities that have emerged in the pandemic.  

The central characters, however, had lived with me since 2018, when I was commissioned by Chinese Arts Now (CAN) to write a site-specific live audio drama, Citizens of Nowhere?, for première at London’s Southbank Centre, as part of SBC’s China Changing Festival. The premise was that the three actors (Jennifer Lim, Siu Hun Li, and Pik-Sen Lim) mingled with customers in a café, with the audience “eavesdropping” through earphones on their apparently private drama.  

The aim was to explore British Chinese identity in the UK today, and as I am half Chinese (my late father was born in Shanghai, mum was Welsh), I decided to interview a few other people, to canvass opinion and compare experiences. One of my interviewees was actor Siu Hun, on whom I based the character of Jun Chi in the play; his Scots Chinese background, with its many layers of identity, was the inspiration for the Edinburgh roots of the Lo family: Jun, mother Linda, and sister, Jane.

Pik-Sen Lim as Linda & Siu Hun Li as Jun
(Still: Edward Lui)

The play was written quickly in August 2018. At the forefront of my mind at the time was the Brexit vote and Prime Minister Theresa May’s now infamous dismissal of cosmopolitans as “citizens of nowhere”. What did that say to people like me, who were born with multiple identities, who had grown up in a Britain that was “European” or at least part of the EU (with all the opportunities that afforded my generation), and who lived in multi-cultural cities like London? Were we to be censured for embodying diversity and internationalism?

The audio drama, which also played at Duddell's Restaurant in London Bridge in January 2019 and the Edinburgh Fringe that August, told three interwoven stories of the Lo family: actor Jun, frustrated to be typecast in stereotypical “Oriental” roles and planning his wedding to Dutch fiancée Marit; sister Jane, a successful businesswoman, announcing her intention to stand for selection as a Tory by-election candidate; and mother Linda, a first generation immigrant, contemplating her future as a retired divorcée.

(Still: Edward Lui)

Chi Thai, producer of British People, came to see the show at Duddell’s, and asked me if there might be the germ of a idea for a short film that we could submit to The Uncertain Kingdom, as she was keen to see some representation for British East Asian artists in that project. Time was tight – she approached me on a Thursday and the pitch had to be in on Sunday! – but we managed to put a package together. The next hurdle was a first draft script (again written in just a few days), and finally an interview with the Executive Producers, John Jencks, Georgia Goggin, and Isabel Freer. Director Lab Ky Mo was the third member of our team, and we were delighted to be commissioned in April 2019. It was then down to me to get the script into shape by the shoot in August.  

Obviously, it’s not possible to condense a 45’ audio drama into a film of 15 minutes or less. We had to find one central narrative that allowed us to explore the key themes. By then, the Brexit situation had moved on; nationalist ideas, bound up with English exceptionalism and WW2 nostalgia, had become even more ingrained in British politics, crystallising division between Leavers and Remainers.

I decided to focus on the journey of aspirational Jane, on the evening of her local Conservative Association hustings to be selected as the party’s by-election candidate.  Little did we know that we would be facing another General Election within months that would change the political landscape still further! 

A lighter moment on set...

The character of Jane had in part been inspired by the story of Alan Mak, Conservative MP for Havant in Hampshire, who was at the time of writing the only MP of Chinese heritage and asserted on his election that he was “not here to represent the British Chinese community” - which seemed to me an interesting provocation for drama… 

There’s a perception that BAME voters lean more naturally toward socialism (as does Jane’s brother, Jun), but Conservative values of self-sufficiency and entrepreneurialism can be very appealing to first- and second-generation immigrants, ambitious to carve a place for themselves and their families from humble beginnings. This is the dichotomy we examine, through the conflict between Jane and Jun.  

Along the way, we considered the form of the film, and whether we could make it more intrinsically visual and further removed from the play; but ultimately we decided to embrace its dialogue-based origins, which had won us the commission. Across the 20 films in The Uncertain Kingdom anthology, there is a huge range of style and form, encompassing both documentary and fiction. Our film had been pitched as a tightly structured debate of ideas and family loyalties, centred on the characters and performance; to unpick that would be to go in search of a different film…

Since we wrapped shooting last summer, Sarah Owen has been elected Labour MP for Luton North - the first British Chinese woman MP. However, politicians of South Asian heritage have become notably more visible in the Conservative Party, with Cabinet posts for Priti Patel, Sajid Javid, Rishi Sunak, Suella Braverman, and Alok Sharma – all of whom have espoused a hard right agenda (arguably a precondition of their advancement in a Vote Leave government).

It would be easy for those who disagree with this political stance to question the motives of BAME figures who seem to be pulling up the drawbridge behind them, but these beliefs, as much as the contrary, can be sincerely held, and I wanted to explore the psychology and personal landscape behind them. 

Immediately after we shot the film, the actors resumed their roles in the play, when that transferred to the Edinburgh Fringe – quite a challenge for them to keep the different versions in their heads! 

Now we’re all in lockdown in our respective homes, wondering how we can resume work as creatives, when social distancing is the antithesis of performing and film-making. The planned cinema release of The Uncertain Kingdom, including première at BFI Southbank, has had to be cancelled, due to the pandemic; and the origins of COVID-19 have thrown an unfortunate spotlight on East Asians that has given some people an excuse for prejudice and hate crime. The issues in our film are more pertinent than ever. 

The wrap in August 2019

(Want to know more? Listen to a Vimeo cast and crew discussion with director Lab Ky Mo, Jennifer Lim, Siu Hun Li, and me, and a Q&A with Executive Producer, Georgia Goggin on YouTube...)