I went to see Arakan Creative's new film Freesia this evening. I still don't really know how to properly communicate how I felt while watching it.

The production is really brilliant. I recognised so many of the locations as it is filmed locally and I even recognised some of my lovely constituents who appear in the film. 

But let's be honest although the acting is great and it's a really well done film, the subject that it is highlighting is actually quite horrific. I will try not to give any spoilers away but basically it's 3 separate stories intertwined which highlight different aspects of Islamophobia.

To be honest this is what I found so difficult. I genuinely do not care what colour a persons skin is or what languages they speak or what religion they follow. I care that we are all human and have so much to learn from one another and to share with one another. It hurts to see and be confronted with such ignorance, hate, bigotry and persecution of one group of people by another group of people.

However, there is hope.

There's a beautiful scene in the film which I think will stay with me for a long time, where a white lady at a bus stop strikes up a conversation with a young Muslim girl. It's really beautiful and I hope that we can all have a lot more conversations like the "bus stop" conversation where we just chat and get on with being nice humans. 

When you see Freesia advertised on general release or at any festivals etc - I highly recommend you take the time to see this incredible piece of work.

Freesia

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