Ahead of the UK Election, Kode Speaks to the Next Generation
Amid a politically charged week leading up to the UK general election on July 4th 2024, Kode and director Peter Franklyn Banks released a poignant new documentary film – ‘A Dream for My Future’, giving voice to the next generation.
The project zooms in on school leavers – a demographic often overlooked or entirely forgotten in social and political discourse. ‘A Dream for My Future’ subverts this narrative. It invites viewers to step into the shoes of teenagers navigating the complexities of the modern world through a series of one on one interviews wrapped up in dream-like cinematography.
Writer and director of the documentary Peter tells me that, initially, the idea for the project came from the simple question of ‘How does it feel to be a young adult stepping out into the current world’, amid political turmoil, rising conflict, climate change and financial pressure. “This generation’s childhood has also been made slightly different through their school years due to covid,” he adds.
“I’m really interested in life’s biggest moments.This is one of them.”
Indeed, the moment is not only big for those leaving school this year, but also for governments and people everywhere. Political discourse is more polarised than ever, and expectations for the future seem fickle at best, for everyone.
But for 16-year-olds in the UK, life’s best and worst moments are encapsulated in one iconic garment – the school leavers shirt. Scribbled with colourful sharpies by their mates, the white uniform shirts are a token of the years past (with the occasional dirty joke, of course), with all their friendship, love and hardship. This is why the leavers shirt became a focal point in the film. “I guess most of us will remember this moment in our lives,” says Peter. “I wondered if we remembered our own hopes and dreams from this time… And if they came true.”
When picking the participants, Peter was looking for kids from different London backgrounds who are specifically finishing state school. Those who don’t necessarily have the luxuries of the top 1%. “Kids who don’t have life handed to them and will have to figure it out for themselves,” he says.
“I think it’s really interesting that 16-year-olds don’t get to vote on the 4th, yet listen to how astute and aware they are. Should they get to vote?,” he asks. “It’s their future after all, right? I do hope to give a different perspective and start a conversation about leaving the world in good shape for the youngsters.”
JinJo casting and their Alexandra Cowburn were the culprit behind the final choice of participants - “a terrific and supportive group of London agents,” says Peter. Understandably, the challenge came from the GCSEs going on parallel to the shoot, but regardless, the team “smashed it.”
Speaking on how he connected with a cast demographic notoriously unwilling to open up to grown-ups, Peter says he aimed to be as relaxed as possible. “I like to have a good chat with everyone before and try to make them as comfortable as possible. Besides one moment where I struggled a bit to connect, mostly everything went pretty good. I hope this shows through the camera to the viewer.”
He says that it’s good practice to always try and reflect with the crew afterwards, on what he could’ve asked differently. Overall, the list of questions that he crafted aimed to get the teens’ perspectives on life as a way of transporting the audience into the generation’s point of view.
“You can hear my voice in there a few times, it’s very conversational. It was important to try and put them at ease, offer an open space free of judgement for them to voice their feelings. I hope they felt comfortable doing so.”
Through the interviews, numerous themes emerged. Peter says that the focus was on friendship, what the kids are leaving behind, what they’re looking forward to, their fears, hopes and dreams.
“It’s important to say that we didn’t engineer their answers to fit our narrative,” he adds. “Everything they said was true to the sentiment of the subject they were talking about. We haven’t put words into their mouths to adapt their meaning for another subject.”
Beyond this, he saw plenty of similarities between their answers. Fear of failure was a point that kept cropping up through the day, which the director says surprised him most. “There seems like there is so much pressure on them, from one source or another.”
Captured on 16mm film – a medium Peter is attuned with due to its truthfulness and the way it forces the creator to meticulously plan before starting the shoot – the documentary is a stunning portrayal of the next generation in the UK. Every detail adds a new layer of authenticity and intimacy, as the kids’ voices narrate what will come to be. The viewers, gearing up to make one of the most important decisions of the century, would perhaps be probed to look back at what their own young self expected of ‘today’.
The message was particularly important for Peter. “I want to make more films like this,” he tells me. “Back to basics. A crew of five driving around, speaking to real people.” While a tough edit at first (due to the sheer amount of good quotes that the team had to cut down), the project was an “incredibly rewarding” one.
Peter leaves us with a quote from the set, by colourist Tim Smith: “The future is bright, if these kids are anything to go by.”
