Rob Munday
An insightful and intimate exploration of the life of ex-Metropolitan police officer Gamal ‘G’ Turawa, Cherish Oteka’s BAFTA-nominated short doc, The Black Cop, blends talking-head interviews, archival footage and dramatic reconstructions to tell a tale of systemic racism from two opposing sides. Describing Turawa as “villain, victim and hero”, Oteka’s 25-minute film immerses you in the past, present and future of this one individual, while also expanding its scope to tackle race, sexuality, policing and foster care.
“The film is ultimately about self-hatred”
“I joined because I wanted to be white”, the opening line of The Black Cop does so much in terms of setting the scene for what’s to come in the rest of Oteka’s powerful film. From that one sentence, we learn a lot about Turawa and it’s only 30-seconds later, after seeing him on-screen for the first time, his admission of having “to hurt people to get here” means we’re already hooked. Like in any story, the opening of a short is essential to set expectations and immediately grip your audience, especially when viewing it online (where there are millions of other videos to watch). For The Black Cop, at 25-mins in length, it needed to start strong to ensure viewers stick around and as its ex-police officer stares directly into the lens and asks – “how can I forgive myself?” – I’m left to wonder how can you possibly not want to know more?
Talking to the director about their filmmaking approach, Oteka admits to being drawn to stories of “identity, discrimination and institutional bias”, before expanding that Turawa’s stood out due to being told “through the lens of someone who sits on all sides of the conversation”. Eager to highlight that “Gamal isn’t simply someone that we can discard as a horrible person, he is someone who acted out of pain, as we all have”, Oteka’s film finds common ground through recognisable emotions. “The film is ultimately about self-hatred” the director reveals. “That is universal and I want audiences to use this film as an opportunity to meditate on their own self-hate, where it came from and how they can transform it”.
“This story is so unique and is a real exploration of one persons’ defining memories set against the backdrop of pivotal moments in British history” – Oteka on the origins of The Black Cop
I’m often drawn to the self-reflective power of filmmaking and it’s one of the big attractions of The Black Cop. There are times where a 20+minute duration feels excessive in the world of short films, but it feels perfect for Oteka’s. This is a piece where pacing is vital, you need that run-time to firstly fit in all of Turawa’s riveting life story, but secondly to process it and reflect upon your own experiences. The pauses and silence here feels as important as the parts where Turawa is speaking and key moments – like where we see him looking at a picture of his younger self, face painted white by his colleagues who deemed him “the wrong colour for the job” – just wouldn’t be as powerful with this space to reflect on them.
A producer and director with a string of impressive credits to their name, Oteka has been selected for a series of talent schemes including Sheffield DocFest’s Doc Next and The Grierson Trust’s Doc Lab. With The Black Cop in the running for the British Short Film award at this year’s BAFTA’s, along with fellow S/W pick Stuffed, we’ll have our fingers crossed for Oteka when the prizes are announced on March 13th.