Elle UK - 04.2020

Uncovering talent

THE FILM SEES THE

ENTIRE CAST MAKE

THEIR ON-SCREEN

ACTING DEBUT

Words: Becky Burgum.

58

Elle UPFRONT

This month, Marie Kondo’s new bookJoy At Worktackles our chaotic w elf (and everyone else)

from the mess with a startlingobjet d’artinstead – the ultimate power desk move.

Inspiration...DESK PEACOC

‘We never even said action,’ director Sarah Gavron

says on shooting her cast of school kids in the most

talked-about film of the month, Rocks (out 24 April). ‘We

kept rolling two cameras endlessly and ended up with

15O hours of footage to work through.’ Scouted from

her Hackney secondary school, lead Bukky Bakray

plays a girl in Year 11 (Rocks)

tasked with looking after her

lovable little brother Emmanuel

(D’Angelou Osei Kissiedu) after

their troubled mother abandons

them. On the run from social

workers, Rocks tries to prevent

her brother from being taken

into foster care, living off money

she makes from working as a

make-up artist after school.

Filmed on estates in east

London, with every actor

making their screen debut,Rocksis a tender exploration

of the resilient spirit of girlhood and the transformative

power of female friendships, with all the rawness of

Larry Clarke’sKids. ‘It was the noisiest set we ever

worked on,’ says Gavron. The crew was deliberately

made up of 75% women, as the team wanted the

cast to look behind the scenes and believe that one

day they could become the camera operator, the

writer or the director. ‘Everything was a conversation.

We included the girls wherever possible,’ says Gavron.

Even the score is an amalgamation of the girls’ playlists,

including dancehall, afrobeats and plenty of Rihanna.

Taking the lead

BUKKY BAKRAY (LEFT) PLAYS

THE FILM’S PROTAGONIST

SHOLA – KNOWN AS

‘ROCKS’ TO HER FRIENDS

Pen pot, £25,

QUAILatLIBERTY

LONDON

ELLE.COM/UK April 2O2O

A CONTEMPORARY TALE OF GIRLHOOD IS EXPLORED

IN DAZZLING NEW BRITISH FILM ROCKS

Welcome to...

THE NEW SISTERHOOD

Sculpture,

£27, ABIGAIL

AHERN

workspaces. We say, distractyourse

k

KS

Plant pot, £36,

MATILDA GOAD

Sweet

dispenser,

£870, ALESSI

Lamp, £169,

MADE STUDIO