The Letter: A Short Film

In 1945, a young Gambian woman treks across her country to translate a letter written in English, one that tells the fate of her fiance fighting for the British thousands of miles away in Burma.

The Letter will be a short film that tells the unknown stories of the ordinary Gambian who were affected greatly by history's deadliest conflict, World War Two. This film is based on the novel Dabbali Gi by Gambian author Baaba Sillah.

The Story:

It is 1945, in the British Crown Colony and Protectorate of the Gambia. In a remote village parents are handed a letter informing them of the fate of their son Junkun, currently fighting for the British overseas in Burma. Yet the letter is written in English, a language neither the parents nor anyone they know can read.

Their son is pledged to marry Raamata, a headstrong young woman who loves Junkun deeply. Against the parents' wishes she resolves to take the letter and travel for three days, alone, to a colonial schoolhouse where there is a teacher who can translate the letter. To get there, she must battle hostile terrain and the human tensions engrained in her country.

Whilst this will be a stand-alone short film, this will also be a proof-of-concept for a wider feature project. Both short and feature are to look at Second World War stories from a radically different lens from what has been typical in cinema. Black Africans are rarely the centre of these tales, and neither is the colonial context in which the war was fought. The Letter seeks to explore these conflicts and tragedies, these profound cultural clashes, and on a human level let Raamata discover what has happened to Junkun, a soldier forced to fight a war 7000 miles away against a people he has never heard of, for a cause he has no relation to.

This film is an exciting British/Gambian co-production that seeks to bring to light the shared history .between the two countries. Whilst the majority of the team are Gambians, the Director, Writer and Director of Photography are experienced, UK-based filmmakers. This production will provide a valuable professional development opportunity for the local cast and crew, helping to establish the film industry in The Gambia. One of the main aims of this project is to ensure that Gambian filmmakers have the capacity to tell their stories, creating films that can reach an international audience.

This project is part-funded, and we are currently seeking the additional funding needed to shoot the film in The Gambia in May/June 2023. We would be very grateful for any support you are able to offer.

The team:

Baaba Sillah (Story): I am a Gambian social scientist resident both in Norway and in The Gambia. I was educated in The Gambia, Britain and in Norway in the fields of psychology, education, management and

Global studies. I have worked as a consultant in various fields, especially in Management training and training for development in Africa. Additionally, I have taught at all levels of education. in Gambia, in Britain, and most recently in Norway where my teaching has taken the form of mentoring and support for individual students d fledgling immigrant organisations. Teaching and writing are my life’s mission.

My entrée into writing was confined initially to freelance writing for a local newspaper, The ‘Nation’, in The Gambia. This was in the eighties during which time, I wrote for the ‘West Africa Weekly magazine as a freelance essayist. I lost my sight soon thereafter in the early mid-nineties and thus some of my occupational mobility and flexibility. Yet, in spite of this unpredictable misfortune, my writing career blossomed in quantum leaps. Over the past twenty years, I have written and published a trilogy, based on the events of Gambia’s social and political history from the 1880’s to date. These include Dabbali Gi, on which The Letter is based.

Additionally, I have published an anthology of poems and another stand alone historical novel.

I write articles intermittently for both the ‘Foroyaa and the ‘Point newspapers in the Gambia and I have plans to adapt all my novels for the screen. This way, I will continue to do my part as a citizen of the world.

James Skinner (Director): I’m a London-based filmmaker. It was whilst studying Youth and Community Development at university that I developed a passion for filmmaking. This led to an MA in Media Practice for Development and Social Change, through which I specialised in documentary production.

Since moving to London in 2017, I have turned my attention to directing narrative short films. Micro-short drama Fabulous was the winner of DepicT! (at Encounters Film Festival 2020) and was screened at

Raindance Film Festival. My film Newbie is currently on the international festival circuit and has been selected by the BAFTA- Qualifying Carmarthen Bay Film Festival.

Alongside my independent filmmaking, I work in a secondary school, training the pupils in film production and I also deliver youth filmmaking workshops for charities.

Christopher Marchant (Writer): I am a working journalist with a long-held interest in a career as a screenwriter. I first met James in 2015, whilst studying Film at the University of Sussex. It was here that we collaborated on our first short film together, Jasmine, a psychological thriller.

Over the next few years, I built my career as a journalist whilst also developing my screenwriting with several feature screenplays, including a risqué university-set comedy, a WW3 drama and a biopic of Marilyn Monroe.

I got back in touch with James after seeing his excellent short The Last Kick, and soon we were looking to work together again. This led to our entry into the London 48-Hour Film Competition (2021), a short drama named Swansong. Myself and James were nominated for best screenwriter and director respectively, and the film was awarded second place overall.

We are enjoying working together again on The Letter and are looking forward to future collaborations.

Currency Conversion:

We have had to set up this crowdfunding using Nowegian Krones, so have provided some currency conversions for the Gambian Dalasi and British Pound here (correct on 1/5/23):

200kr = D1116 / £14.91

500kr = D2790 / £37.27

1000kr = D5579 / £74.53

5000kr = D27897 / £372.65

10000kr = D55795 / £745.34