Fruit of the Wise Man

Producer

UNIVERSITY OF THE CREATIVE ARTS (2019)

Fruit of the Wise Man is an educational short documentary following 3 expert perspectives on Panama Disease, (a deadly strain of fungus causing’ Fusarium Wilt’), a disease that wipes out banana crops and has much larger and catastrophic repercussions than the loss of a single fruit. With conversations revolving around genetic modification, reliance on one of the world’s largest food exports and the moral complexity of the situation globally. This educational piece is narrated by actor Ralph Ineson (The Green Knight, The Witch, Game of Thrones).

Producing this piece was my introduction to the wonderfully complex world of filming permissions across multiple councils and London Boroughs that each played by a different set of rules. Paperwork upon paperwork, risk assessment after risk assessment, if nothing else, this film taught me a lot regarding where the boundaries between London Boroughs begin and end.

Another aspect of this that I remember being extremely valuable as a filmmaker, was the conversation around target audience. Aesthetically we wanted a punchy and unique look that really captured the attention of a younger audience and it was in this process that we decided to take a more educational, school like, approach. While we go fairly in depth regarding the content of the documentary, we tailored it towards students around the age of 12-16. This fundamentally changed our shooting approach, as students we were taught and surrounded by filmmakers who wanted to make the next Scorsese or Fincher but I am very proud of us for taking a less pretentious route and stuck to our initial pitch. Learning how to accommodate different audiences and demographics is an exceptionally important skill in todays media landscape and this project was a highly enjoyable and important step in my filmmaking career.