Opening Scenes: In Conversation with Against The Grain Visuals, Maker of ‘Blackstar, Until The End’
I sat down with Filmmaker Against The Grain Visuals, to discuss his latest independent documentary ‘Blackstar, until the end.’ A documentary made entirely by him, shot through his eyes, about boxer Joshua ‘Blackstar’ Boateng. We discussed the making of the documentary, his experiences as a filmmaker, and advice to young filmmakers starting out without much support.
What is Blackstar until the end?
It's about my friend Joshua Blackstar, or Joshua Boateng, his professional boxing name is Black Star, he's an Italian professional boxer who's been living in London for 4-5 years. He came to London, essentially, to pursue a professional boxing career in the UK. He left the Italian amateur boxing and professional boxing scene as it was not as progressive as it is in the UK; they don't generate as many champions, and they also don't have as many Black athletes. They're still a little bit racist - he felt like he never necessarily had racism in his life, but definitely in the sport, like they didn't want him to be there. So he left to pursue his dream. He inspired me because he came to London and had his British license refused twice. It's quite intense. He went through a lot.
What are you covering in the film?
The documentary is essentially set over the first half of this year where we go back to Naples for two of Josh's fights. The plan was to still train and have the resources of his British boxing - he has sponsors here, his trainers are here and he’d go out there and still fight to become an Italian champion 1st.
I guess we explored why he came back here, the hardships of that, and how hard it is to just be a young fighter before your first title. You have to sell tickets, you have to get sponsors, you have to raise money. You're not necessarily being paid a lot. It's a hard thing to do.
Why did you name the film Blackstar, until the end?
The whole point about it being called until the end is that you can't have the quick mentality. You're literally in it for life. If you want to be the best, you have to keep going no matter what happens. There’s no quick route, only work until the end.
What did you learn whilst filming?
I realised the film is essentially about setbacks and adversity because I think that's what boxing is, but also that's what creativity is. It's almost like there was a movie behind the movie happening the whole time. Everything I was doing was all a bit crazy. I've not made a movie in five years and I didn't have all the best equipment. I've been told to focus on the good things that have happened since, where it's going, and how it turned out rather than focus on how hard it was to get there. The making of the film was a story in itself.
Did you feel it was important to release this film to the youth who have so many barriers that stop them from entering difficult industries like boxing? What was the impact you were hoping for?
It just felt like the right thing to do. I did it because I related to Josh and thought so many others would too. I also moved to London three years ago and slowly became in sync with Josh.
But it's not my dream. The more time we spent together I realised that it was never about me. It's about sharing his story. He's a special person with a special story. The people are going to relate to that and it can inspire people, but it is more than that. it just felt like the right thing to do and I feel that those moments are really rare in life, when you ride a wave of creativity.
Is filmmaking something you’ve always done?
I’ve probably made about 50 music videos. It's the first film I've done alone; a full product by myself. I directed and I edited it all by myself. I've co-directed a couple of shorts in the past. I've been guided back into documentary filmmaking. That's what I always wanted to do - a feature. The dream is to be a feature filmmaker. I don't think I class this one as a feature properly.
Was it hard getting it out there? Has the film found its place in London?
The last fight we filmed was in June. In the first week of September, we'd already booked a private screening, which we sold out. I booked a cinema with 110 seats and I was taught that before you finish your project, book in a screening. That motivates you to meet the deadline. Having a deadline as a motivator, made it easier. At the screening, we did a Q and A after and people cried, and people asked a lot of questions. It was really emotional. It was very intense. And everyone was saying that we created some kind of movement.
Was there ever a point where you felt that the film wasn’t going to work out?
Honestly, it was more at the beginning of the project. I had an old camera that wasn't very up-to-date. I was very aware that I was falling behind the times. Technology now makes everything super easy, like films can be made very easily. And it broke. It just kept breaking and eventually died. I didn't have the money for the equipment that I knew should get used. The equipment situation was difficult. I had to crowdfund a microphone because sound is the most important thing in a documentary. If you don't have good sound, you don’t have a good film. I essentially worked for a year for free because I did this with no budget and I created a real movie. That's what I realised. So I'm not in a rush to put it on any streaming platform for free or anything like that, because it wouldn’t hold the power of the movie. I want it to be screened at some festivals over the next few years and see if it gets nominated for any awards. I did this with no money. Imagine what I could do with a real budget.
Do you feel like social media is affecting long-form content like movies such as this?
I get a bit frustrated with the terminology based around social media. I feel like filmmakers are pushed into a box of calling themselves as a content creator. You forget who you are. You're not a content creator, you're a filmmaker. When you're creating content, you're creating content for an area that is not where film is. Social media might affect how I put together the trailer. It will affect how I cook together clips and what scenes I take out of it, like how they will be short and fast-paced. I still have a year's worth of promo content to take from the movie, so I’m not rushing anything.
When you first told Joshua that you had this idea to make a documentary about him, what was his initial reaction? Obviously, for a lot of emerging athletes, no one ever makes documentaries about them.
I think especially because he's a little bit younger than me and I don't think everyone understands what a documentary is, he didn't fully understand what it would be. He was excited to see what my point of view on his work was. Sometimes you've got documentaries where there's someone in front of the camera interviewing the subject. That's a style, that is not dead, but it's very hard to do. I don't show a single talking head in the documentary- it's a bit of a cop-out. Joshua thought it would be like that.
Do the viewers watch it through an anonymous narrative lens or are we following Joshua's journey around as if we're with him?
I'm very influenced by traditional cinema and framing, so the way I like to cut things together is more stylistic than an interview. Most documentaries now are made up of archived footage. It's as many real-life moments of him as I could film. He talks about his backstory and experiences. As soon as I got to Italy for the first part, I realised it was something much bigger than I realised. I let it unfold, with organic realistic shots.
What was the experience of filming in a foreign country?
I lived in Barcelona for two years when I was younger, and that's when I co-directed my first project, but I was with a team of 11 people. That was also the first time I'd ever left the country so I went through all that anxiety at a younger age. We stayed with Josh's family in Italy - it was a very personal project. I slept on the floor, I had my equipment ready to go at any time. I was also being really disciplined and only getting everything that I needed. When you're making a documentary, you have to be super switched on to everything that's happening. It was really that intimate and magical. Especially in a different country, it was like a surreal creative experience.
Josh's family are African so they're not like British people, Italians aren't like British people either. The fact that they're Italian and African, gives you this double whammy of love and positivity. I got treated like a family member more than what it's like with my family members. So it was a really intense process for me, making the movie, being in that environment.
What advice do you have for young filmmakers who are just starting out without much support?
You don’t need half of the stuff that you think you need. You don't need to spend anywhere near as much on money as you're being told you should. You are more authentic and the experience is going to be real if you actually tell yourself to work with what you’ve got. You don't need a big team either. If you know you can make a movie on your own simply by being passionate, then it's going to be 100% a lot easier. Focus on being skilled. You can’t always rely on other people. There's going to be a time where you can only really rely on yourself to finish something, and if you can't shoot, and can't collaborate, and can't edit, and can't process sound, and don't understand how to record sound, you're going to get frustrated. Invest in your own skill first. I didn't even use a single transition. There's a line in a famous editing book that says that the best editing and editors are those who edit something in a way where you can't even tell it's been edited.
What is the last thought you want to tell us about your experience making this film?
There’s a moment in life when you realise that you've now walked into someone else's dream, so you need to set yourself aside. You're going to step into someone else's time and you have to realise that you're not the focus anymore. It's like when someone loses to someone better than them. You just step aside and let them be the focus. The closer I got to Josh, I realised that I was becoming part of someone else's dream. When I was working with him and for him, like doing the pictures and the promo videos, I realised I was doing for him what I always wanted someone to do for me, but there was never anyone there to do it. You're part of someone else's vision and dream - it's not necessarily just about yourself and I think that's why I did keep myself out of the movie. That was a big insight for me. All this work was for others, I didn’t need to satisfy or glorify myself with this. The film changed how I viewed my purpose as a filmmaker: spreading the message so others could come out better.
Against the Grain Visualscan be found on instgram here, and the official Blackstar; Until The End Instagram can be found here.
Edited by Humaira Valera, Co-film & TV editor
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