Care

Inmate Ali reluctantly agrees to look after a ‘wifer’ with dementia, forging an unlikely bond that leads him to question who is deserving of care.

Fiction

Team

Stef O’Driscoll, Director

Stef O’Driscoll is a critically acclaimed and award-winning theatre director. Stef centres contemporary stories with a socio-political heart directing new writing with some of the UK’s exceptional writers. Stef has held roles like Interim Artistic Director at The Gate, Artistic Director of nabokov, Associate Director at Paines Plough and Lyric Hammersmith. Stef creates stories across multiple art forms including theatre, music, raves, spoken word and now film. Accolades include With a Little Bit of Luck by Sabrina Mahfouz being the first radio play to be broadcast on BBC 1Xtra winning Best Radio production at the BBC Radio and Music Awards 2019. Stef has directed plays with criminal justice organisations Clean Break and Synergy, where she is currently an Associate Artist. Theatre directing credits include: Brassic Fm (Zia Ahmed, Gate Theatre), The Flood (Vickie Donoghue, Queens Theatre Hornchurch), Love Reign (Shereen Jasmin Phillips, Young Vic), A History of Water in the Middle East (Sabrina Mahfouz, Royal Court Theatre), Inside This Box (Yamin Joseph, Clean Break); Lit (Sophie Ellerby, Nottingham Playhouse/Hightide), For Paines Plough: and Hopelessly Devoted (Kae Tempest), On The Other Hand We’re Happy (Daf James), Island Town (Simon Longman), Sticks and Stones (Vinay Patel). Care will be her debut film.

Sophie Ellerby, Writer

Sophie Ellerby is a playwright and screenwriter. Her career began as an actor at fifteen, starring in This is England (Shane Meadows). Her debut play Lit was co-produced in 2019 by HighTide and Nottingham Playhouse, Lit is currently being adapted for television by Griffin Pictures, with support from the BFI. She has several projects in development for both stage and screen - including an original series co-written with Pete Jackson for Miramax. The Guardian cited her as one of the 2023 stage sensations to look out for. Her debut short film The Walk starring Adeel Akhtar was just nominated for Best Short at the BFI London Film Festival.

Hannah Tookey, Producer

Hannah is an independent producer working across film, audio, and digital arts to tell stories about urgent social, political, and environmental issues. A Churchill Fellow for the arts and social justice, she is developing her skills as an impact producer with a grant from Arts Council England. Her documentary Pointe Black premiered on Nowness and screened at Oscar and BAFTA qualifying festivals including Galway Film Fleadh, Short Shorts Film Festival, Interfilm Festival, Norwich Film Festival, and more. Other producing credits include short documentary ill, actually, which was funded by the BFI and BBC, premiered on BBC4, and was nominated for Underwire Festival’s Best Producer award; and BFI and Film London supported Wargames, which was awarded a Vimeo Staff Pick. Arts Council England and the BBC commissioned Hannah to create audio play Two by Two which premiered on BBC Radio 4 Extra and won the Deacon Award for Young Producer at the UK International Radio Drama Festival. With a background in other creative mediums, Hannah has produced sold-out and critically-acclaimed theatre productions, national and international tours, and co-produced with leading UK charities and cultural institutions including Amnesty International, the British Council, Shoreditch Town Hall, Birmingham REP, and Royal Borough Gardens Kew.

Lindsay Fraser, Producer

Lindsay is an award-winning producer making bold and diverse work. With a focus on social change, she strives to shine a light on untold stories from perspectives that have been previously neglected. Lindsay produced the BFI NETWORK & BAFTA-Rocliffe winning short film Liverpool Ferry by Lee Armstrong, starring Saoirse-Monica Jackson, and was Associate Producer for the BFI NETWORK funded Goodbye Python by Frankie Fox, which was nominated for Best British Short at the Iris Prize and selected for BFI Flare 2024. Lindsay’s first short Touch by Nima Rashed won the renowned Virgin Media Shorts in 2013, and her short films have been screened at many BAFTA-Qualifying film festivals including; London Short Film Festival, Encounters Film Festival, Norwich Film Festival, Foyle Film Festival, Iris Prize, BFI Flare and Leeds International Film Festival. Lindsay was awarded a bursary from video and animation company Doodledo to make her latest short Wolf at the Door by Ricky Allen, which is about to start its festival circuit. Originally from a theatre-making background, Lindsay has produced award-winning new writing to critical acclaim across the UK, Edinburgh Fringe, London Fringe, London West End and Internationally.