Award-winning filmmaker Frank Berry celebrated the Tribeca Festival premiere of his third film ‘Aisha.’
The drama follows Aisha, a young Nigerian woman seeking asylum in Ireland. Alone and floundering in the maze of bureaucracy and social services, all the while refusing to sacrifice her dignity to meet the demands of the authorities, Aisha finds an ally and friend in Connor — a man with a troubled past who works at her residence home. The film sees Aisha and Connor struggle to maintain their tender friendship amidst Aisha’s dire predicament and her fleeting options.
“My work focusses on social issues in Ireland,” writer and director Frank Berry shared. “Generally I find that my last film leads me to the next subject.”
Seeing as Berry’s last film was about Ireland’s prison system, through research for that movie, he was able to learn that the same department runs both Ireland’s prison system and Ireland’s immigration system. This discovery sparked an interest in Berry that marked the initial inspiration for Aisha.
Letitia Wright stars as Aisha and delivers an incredible performance from start to finish.
“Letitia was incredible, absolutely incredible to work with,” Berry said. “She’s an amazing actor, she’s an artist, really.”
The Knockturnal got the chance to speak with Frank Berry and the film’s producers.
Image credit: Tribeca and Aisha.