Film // Beyond the Heat

Creative Leads // Written & Directed by Nataliya Kharina, Music by Nick Jones & Thomas Sergeant

Theme // Climate Change, Lockdown, Isolation

Partners // The Yellow, Mahogany Carnival Arts (Costumes), Wembley Park

Funding // Arts Council, Young Brent Foundation

Performance Venue // Live & Online

The world is at boiling point, the heat is unbearable. The adults are carrying on carelessly, the young people know this is wrong. In the centre of the chaotic city there is a garden that has seen it all before. The bees are buzzing louder and the birds are falling off the branches - the world is out of balance, humanity is due a shake up. The crisis hits its peak and the young people enter the garden - a serene city within a city. They begin to unlearn everything they know to be true. Just as it looks like they can leave they revert back to old habits - the world heats up again. They are lured into a reservoir where all signals are lost and they are forced to face things without distraction. Where it all leads, who knows. But it has to be better than this, surely?

2021 was the first year the Brent Youth Theatre program delivered across four disciplines: Dance, Acting, Singing & Song Writing, and Backstage Craft. Beyond the Heat was developed with each group playing a vital part in the production; from costume design to sound effects, script writing to choreography. Originally written as a play, we ensured the project could work during the pandemic by adapting it into a film instead. The product is a testament to the resilience and versatility of these incredible young people.