Nickel Boys (2024)

Screening as part of From Page To Screen, Bridport’s Film Festival

Adapted from Colson Whitehead’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, the film follows two young Black boys at a segregated reform school in the 1960s. Elwood’s (Ethan Herisse) dreams of going to college are shattered when he is unjustly arrested and sentenced to Nickel Academy, a brutal reformatory in Florida. Clinging to his optimistic worldview, Elwood strikes up a friendship with a fellow teen who dispenses fundamental tips or survival. It’s a story of friendship in the face of racism, injustice, abuse and even murder. 

Highly praised for the virtuosity of the sound design and cinematography, director RaMell Ross made the radical stylistic decision to allow viewers to see the plot unfold directly through the eyes of the two protagonists by shooting the film using a point of view shooting style. On release the film garnered many awards and nominations, including both Oscar and BAFTA nominations for Best Film, Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay. 

Dir. RaMell Ross, USA 2024, 140 mins. With Ethan Herisse, Brandon Wilson, Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor.

Certificate 12A

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