My Dream of the BIG Screen!
Amir, Good Chance’s brilliant Production and Marketing Assistant, tells all about his experience working with Academy Award Winning Slick Films and Studio Good Luck on Largo, a brand new short film about a young refugee.
Hello, the best family in the world. Amir here! In September 2023, I was part of an amazing team filming a short film called Largo. I am so excited to share all this beautiful time and experience with you all.
Before I tell you more about my role in this film I want to share some information about Largo. Largo is the story of a ten-year-old Syrian refugee living in the UK without his parents, who tries to build a boat and sail home to find them.
Written and directed by Max Moore and Salvatore Scarpa, Largo will go to film festivals this year before touring schools around the UK to educate young people with human stories of people seeking sanctuary.
Good Chance worked with Academy Award Winning Slick Films and Studio Good Luck to create an apprenticeship scheme for filmmakers and creatives from the refugee community to break into the UK film industry. An extension of the Stage Door programme, Largo is the pilot project of the Behind the Scenes scheme and the first step in creating a legacy that continues beyond this production into film and TV.
While filming was just 5 days… it was an unforgettable highlight of my 2023! I joined Largo as a camera trainee with the brilliant DOP team, alongside two other Behind the Scenes assistants - Comfort (who joined the Art Department) and Alem (who joined the Camera and Script Departments) - in Seaford, UK.
Since I joined Good Chance I have achieved and made many beautiful moments in my life and being part of Largo was another beautiful experience in the cinema world. Especially meeting famous actors I’ve only ever seen on TV!
I learned lots of new things from all those professional teams - camera setup, lighting and how to work on a professional UK film set.
And most importantly, I learned that it is not important how big your boat is. It is important to follow your dream and make yourself that strong to get inside the ocean, same as Musa.
If I want to choose one of the beautiful moments in shooting, I would like to choose the last day, where Musa was found by his parents near the sea. In that last moment everyone was at the same time so excited and so emotional. I can’t wait to see the screening. Next stop… the BIG SCREEN!
Over 5,000 children have recently arrived in the UK to seek refuge, unaccompanied by a parent or guardian, after fleeing persecution, war, human rights violations, or the effects of climate change. It is young people dreaming of a safer life for themselves and their families.
Largo is a short film about what happens after the moment of arrival and welcome; about the struggle to feel at home after your world has been turned upside down; and about discovering that we have more in common than that which seems to divide us.
Watch this space for news on release date and screenings!
Behind The Scenes has been made possible thanks to the Garrick Charitable Trust.
