Dumas Haddad Sparks Important Conversations With Short Film 'Fathers'

Dumas Haddad is an exceptionally talented director and photographer from London with a catalog of work illustrating his interests in many disciplines such as fashion, where he first broke onto the scene, music, and society as a whole. his work usually captures his locations and subjects in an authentic manner, and therefore creating a sense of drama and engagement through framing and visual tempo. His desire to reframe contemporary culture represents a rising generation of filmmakers. This passion of his allows him to touch on subjects that resonate with him as an individual, therefore bringing a new perspective to the craft in terms of narrative. Also, Haddad's unique vision is something that we see as highly refreshing and aesthetically satisfying.

All of these elements of his work are present in his piece 'Fathers' released earlier this year. A sophisticated visual perspective is something that Fathers have an abundance of, not only in the filmic concept but even through the narration of the documentary-style production. Narrated by talented poet Sophia Thakur, Fathers is a new representation of young black fathers, the daily struggles of fatherhood and exactly what fatherhood means to some. Not only does this film highlight the beauty in fatherhood but also the frustration and misunderstanding of fatherhood as it pertains to black males specifically. Through this film, Haddad reveals how the tug of war between familial responsibilities and artistic ambition drove his desire to create this insightful look into the emotional and spiritual lives of young black fathers.

This project was born out of passion ambition and a skilled team of individuals allowing the project the correct patience to execute as intended. Haddad the director, DP Olan Collardy, producer Ade Adesina and recording artist Azekel were all key players in the final outcome which took approximately 6 months to complete, beginning in November 2018. 'Fathers' was shot over 3 key shoot days and greatly inspired by artist Azekel's album titled 'Our Father'. The album had very similar themes to what can be found in the film, therefore some key lyrics and instrumentations were selected in line with what Haddad felt worked with the initial treatment. Many of the scenes in the film were shot with a great deal of intent given the time and budget constraints of the project, these constraints later became a blessing in disguise as the team were able to go through the editing process with a fine-tune comb, therefore harnessing the structure and flow of the project to their liking.

Dumas Haddad also stated the equipment used for the project by stating:

"Fathers was shot on the Digital Bolex for the forest scenes with Azekel, the interior scenes with the fathers on the Blackmagic URSA Mini Pro 4.6k (using the s16 mode to match the Bolex sensor) and the Red Scarlet for the black and white scenes (as we’d previously identified how well this older sensor performs in monochrome)."

Watch the beautiful and enchanting film below here