Destiny Ekaragha

Destiny Ekaragha is a British film director. She is only the third British black woman, following Ngozi Onwurah and Amma Asante, to have directed a feature-length film that was given cinema distribution in the UK. Quotes I’ve always loved film, it was my escape when I was a kid. However, I thought filmmaking was something you could do only in Hollywood and for a little girl in Deptford, South East London, that may as well have been on Mars. However, that changed when I got work experience on a film set as a runner. That’s when I knew that a film set was the only place I wanted to be. I loved the energy, I loved the process. I loved watching the director work with the actors from afar. I wanted to be where they were. I wanted to be amongst the action. I studied Film and Communications at The London Metropolitan University. It was more of a theory based degree but I loved discovering all the new (and old) films that I was introduced to. That helped broaden my horizons. Around that time, I wrote a short film script called The Park. A couple of years later, I got a job as a PA for a director called Ngozi Onwurah. I went to the TriBeCa Film Festival with her in New York and met filmmakers that were around my age; directors and producers that were in their early 20s. I was amazed. I thought that you had to be much older to be a producer or a director, I had no idea that I could be those things in my 20s. I developed my voice by writing. My first couple of shorts were films that I wrote. I’d encourage new filmmakers to write their first short films. Even if you’re bad at it, it’s good for you to know what is in your own head in those beginning stages. And the only way to see that is by writing it down. At first, there wasn’t any really. I got turned down a lot but that’s part of the game. You’ll always face rejection, that’s a massive part of the job. The biggest setback happened when I was trying to make Gone Too Far, my first feature. Trying to get a film made with a majority black cast was difficult as many in the industry deemed it risky. That was a lot to take but myself and the writer, Bola Agbaje, saw it through. We stuck to our guns as we knew the story that we wanted to tell. Sometimes people will tell you to change your vision in order to satisfy theirs. We weren’t willing to do that. Eventually someone saw what it was that we were trying to do and they took us on. That someone was the late Chris Collins. He was instrumental in the making of the film and is sorely missed. Destiny Ekaragha When I heard I was only the third British black female director to release a feature-length film, I felt happy, and then I felt sad. I’m very proud of my success, but the film industry has been around for nearly 100 years. It just isn’t right that only two other black women have had this opportunity. Thankfully, it feels like things are changing – I might only be the third, but I won’t be the last. Lenny Henry approached me to direct his film. He’d seen my work, and said he wanted to interview me immediately – which would have been great, had I not just got on a flight to Nigeria! He wasn’t put off though, and interviewed me on the phone. Thankfully, I made him laugh 'You can’t make films for anybody else. You have to make them for yourself. I got to where I am today either because my ideas corresponded with other people’s, or because I was persistent. And I’m very lucky to have worked with incredible crews and producers who trust me.' "Women At The Top Awards: Meet Destiny Ekaragha, The Film Revolutionary" External links 3277531 Category:Film directors from the United Kingdom Category:Living people Category:Women from the United Kingdom