Shari Bollers
Click here to see my video piece
I wanted to try my hand at directing my own documentary and decided to focus my idea on homosexuality in the black community, a subject that I felt very passionate about and which I feel not widely discussed within the black community. I was very fortunate to be allowed to undertake the project and to have met and be supported by the people that helped be part of it. I decided on the theme for the documentary not solely because I am a black writer but to learn and disprove certain ideas held by the outer world about the black community. Also to delve into beliefs held by some black groups towards homosexuals. I wanted to find out their views, how prevalent and to what degree homophobia existed. The documentary talks to those involved in the church, the young and their views on the subject. I attended a variety of gay black events and spoke to those involved around the education and positively promoting awareness of homosexuality within the black community, speakers included a young gay poet about his experiences and opinions. The project took about 3 months to write, produce and direct and this was a first hand attempt at producing a documentary which enabled me to develop new skills. Primarily I am writer but I wanted to explore the idea about being different and how this impacted on others within a community. I am able to take these characters and use them as bases for future ideas in my scripts. I would like to try my hands at all forms of scriptwriting but my true desire is writing for theatre. My ideal piece of script would be to write a full length musical. I have completed various works placements with Talawa Theatre, The Royal Shakespeare Company and The Egg Theatre in Bath and a writing course at the Soho Theatre.
