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Ruby Barker burst onto the scene, and onto our screens, with a starring role in Netflix sensation Bridgerton. And thanks to this limelight being shone on the young actress, it helps give attention to other projects of hers, and impressive, worthwhile ones at that. For Barker is the lead role in the powerful family drama How to Stop a Recurring Dream, and it’s an impressive display. We had the pleasure of speaking to the actress as she talks about her time shooting the film, and collaborating with director Ed Morris and on-screen sister Lily-Rose Aslandogdu. She also comments on the film’s “unconventional”, yet more authentic family dynamic, and how much Bridgerton has helped her career. She also tells us what it has been like shooting to fame in the middle of a lockdown, and we ask a couple of questions at the end, obviously, about Bridgerton season two…...

Here is a vision of domestic hell. Paul (Jamie Michie) and Michelle’s (Miranda Nolan) marriage is all but broken, as is their relationship with daughters Kelly (Lily-Rose Aslandogdu), a recalcitrant 12-year-old, and Yakira (Ruby Barker), a young adult whose biological mother, Paul’s first wife, died of cancer. We’re given only hints as to how they fell into this nadir, but the damage seems beyond repair.

Their every exchange is crippled by snide remarks and petty disagreements. We see this when Paul sits the family down and announces that he will be moving out. Despite his calm, measured tone, Paul’s attempt at consensus is derailed by passive aggression from Michelle, churlish outbursts from Kelly, and hysterical bemusement from Yakira. It’s a skillful moment in which director Ed Morris builds a crescendo of anxiety, giving you an authentic snapshot of total, miserable dysfunction.

Suffocated by this malaise,...

The Buff founder and chairman talks inspiration, new talent, and curators.

Emmanuel Anyiam-Osigwe is chairman of the British Urban Film Festival (Buff), which he founded in 2005. He reveals who inspires his viewing choices, following the talent he first noticed at the festival and why it is a great time to be a Black creative.

My editorial nose comes from Menelik Shabazz, who was one of the first prominent Black British filmmakers. I worked for him at the [now-online] Black Filmmaker Magazine (Bfm), which he started in the late 1990s. I’m guided by my wife [writer/director Clare Anyiam-Osigwe], who has a lot more time than I do!