Sara Taleghani Hauntingly Depicts Cost Of Living Crisis for City of London

Rising star at Untold Studios, Sara Taleghani, today releases ‘Out of Reach’, a poignant spot on the cost of living crisis for the City of London. Commissioned by The Mayor’s Fund for London (MFL), in partnership with Citi Foundation, the film echoes the ordeal faced by young people across the nation who feel that nutritious groceries have spiralled out of reach, leaving some to resort to skipping meals entirely.

In a distorted, dystopian world, ‘Out of Reach’ sees a young woman navigate this current climate of food insecurity, as well as soaring domestic bills. Experimental visuals blur reality and surrealism into one haunting repetition of emptiness, as the lead’s now unaffordable basic needs become a recurrent worsening nightmare eating away at her. 

Each time she returns to the grocery shop, her items become less and less accessible, lived experience becoming indistinguishable from a bad dream. Items cling to the shelves. Products get smaller and more expensive. They take on a disturbing life of their own, physically creeping out of her grasp (achieved using fishing wire and clean up from the VFX team at Untold Studios). Director Sara makes these moments yet more poignant by featuring the items most heavily influenced by inflation - including sanitary pads, which also highlight the lesser known impact the crisis has had on period poverty. 

Spoken word poetry, performed by Rakaya Fetuga, compounds and gives further context to the abstract visuals. Written by Rakaya and Sara, it delves into the details of the protagonist’s mental anguish as she finds herself stuck in a dire repetitive loop, numb, going through the motions, and feeling out of control. 

Sara Taleghani comments: “I wanted to draw from my experiences and how I felt mentally during the peak of the cost of living crisis, when I was out of a job and struggling to keep on top of finances. It’s something everyone’s been affected by to some degree - food insecurity in particular affects a lot of young people, with 6% of households reporting not having eaten for a whole day because of it - and yet we still feel embarrassed to talk about it. So I was very keen to make a piece that raises awareness and that young people can relate to.”

She adds: “It’s particularly meaningful that my directorial debut involves making a film for the Mayor’s Fund for London, as I’m an alumna of its Creativity Works: Content Production programme, which played a crucial role in opening doors for me in the industry.”