John Boyega’s collaboration with Converse will reach its culmination next week, as his Create Next Film Project, a mentoring programme supporting rising Black creatives, now has a premiere date.
Wth the help of Converse, the actor has been providing support to five rising London filmmakers: Ade Femzo, Kaylen Francis, Kemi Anna Adeeko, Lorraine Khamali and Ibrahim Muhammad. The filmmakers, whose only brief was the phrase ‘create next’ will all show their five minute films on April 12 in London.
Over the last six months, they have been funded, guided and nurtured by Boyega and creatives from Converse’s network.
The Create Next Film Project is an offshoot of the Converse All Stars programme, a self-described grassroots community that started more actively supporting creatives in 2020.
According to Boyega, he reached out to Converse himself, seeing a chance to boost the fortunes of other young Black creatives by giving them opportunities he’d liked to have had while breaking into the industry.
“I wish I’d had this whole process to be honest,” he said in an interview with Vogue about the project. Boyega is Camberwell-born, grew up in Peckham and studied acting in Hackney. The actor appeared in films like Attack the Block and Half of a Yellow Sun as well as series like Becoming Human before his breakout role in Star Wars: The Force Awakens in 2015.
In an interview with The Face, he expanded on his motivations: “What the Create Next Film Project does is target the issue of access. It’s creating an educational bridge of opportunity for young creatives, to be able to hone their skills, and to have a creative identity.”
Although five minutes might seem like a short window for making a big impact, Boyega thinks it’s the perfect amount of time for the young filmmakers to show their potential.
“The challenges of that style of filmmaking… that’s the kind of heat and pressure you need to get that creative diamond out of you,” he said to The Face.
As part of the collaboration, you can find the young filmmakers advertising Converse trainers, and they also feature in an inspirational one-minute film clip for the brand.
The Converse All Stars programme was launched to build an ecosystem of support – including all important funding – for rising artists. Previously celebrities including Issa Rae, Lay Zhang, Tobe Nwigwe, Jefferson Hack, Virgil Abloh and Samuel Ross have all worked with Converse as part of the initiative.
“We know there’s massive inequalities in access to careers within creativity,” said Converse CMO Jesse Stollak. “If we create new pipelines of experience, we can open an engine for youth opportunity.” The Converse initiative’s biggest single move so far has been a $1 million booster programme called All Star Captains, which aimed to support 13 All Stars in their future ventures.
What is next for Boyega and his Create Next Film Club isn’t known yet, but the actor has said that this is only the beginning of the collaboration. It certainly looks promising with both the actor and the brand seriously ambitious in their goals to make a difference.
