Following its UK premiere and festival screenings around the world, British-Gambian Writer, Director and actor Cherno Jagne’s acclaimed 17 minute short film THE BACKWAY is released today on leading global shorts platform Omeleto.
Written-by, Directed-by, produced-by and starring Cherno, alongside BAFTA-nominee and fellow-British-Gambian Babou Ceesay (Wolfe, Damilola: Our Loved Boy, Guerilla), THE BACKWAY tells the human story of a young economic migrant, Mo (Momodou), who is forced by his father to take the illegal migration route out of the Gambia (colloquially referred to as the ‘Backway’) to the UK in the hope that this will improve his, and more importantly, his family’s life back home. The short focuses on how Mo must come to terms with the impact that his deportation from the UK and subsequent arrival back in the Gambia, 2 years later, will now have on himself and his family, who risked everything they had in the hope that this would prove to be a worthwhile investment.
THE BACKWAY marks Cherno’s directorial, writing and producing debut. With a background as a Meisner trained actor for 4 years and after volunteering at several refugee camps across Europe, he landed a role in the 2018 Award-winning West End play, The Jungle, directed by Stephen Daldry and Justin Martin. His experience of working within the humanitarian sector and performing in The Jungle, inspired him to write, produce and direct his own film about the human cost of migration in his homeland of The Gambia, looking at the often untold story of the shame inflicted on migrants, once they return home, by the society of which they were once a part. The film was shot on-location in The Gambia with an almost entirely local crew.
The film has been included in the official selections of the following festivals around the world: Santa Fe International Film Festival; Show Me Shorts, New Zealand; Urbanworld Film Festival, New York; TRT World Humanitarian Film Festival, Istanbul (shortlisted for BEST SHORT FILM); Toronto Nollywood International Film Festival, Canada (shortlisted for BEST SHORT FILM); Africa International Film Festival, Nigeria (shortlisted for BEST SHORT FILM); I Will Tell International Film Festival, UK (winner of Best Actor in a DRAMA SHORT); Northeast International Film Festival, UK; CinemAfrica, Sweden. Additionally, Cherno was recently longlisted for the Best British Director Award and Best Production Design, at the upcoming British Short Film Awards.
Alongside his film work, Cherno Jagne is the first person of colour to run a Barristers chambers in the UK. Beginning his career at Human Rights chambers Doughty Street, and working alongside the likes of renowned practitioners including Sir Keir Starmer, Amal Clooney and Jennifer Robinson, he currently holds the position of COO at Cloisters Chambers.