Supernatural short film ‘Your Day Is Tomorrow’ takes on YouTube - Enjoys good release with 11k views in 48 hours
Published:Friday | February 28, 2020 | 12:10 AMKimberley Small/Staff Reporter
For the latest addition to the short film library, local film-makers get supernatural. Written and produced by Sosiessia Nixon, and directed by Rickroy Williams, Your Day Is Tomorrow follows a plot laced with extortion, the unspoken plight facing street kids across the island, women in power, and anchored by a promising homeless youth with the gift of foresight to see murders before they happen. Your Day Is Tomorrow was released on YouTube on Sunday. Forty-eight hours later, the film counted over 11,000 views.
The film stars Emmanuel Nunes-Chavez as young, premonative Miguel, YouTube personality Kevin2wokrayzee (Kevin Swaby) as Sergeant Miles, Delroy Johnson as Pressure T, and Nixon herself, stepping into the role of the director of child protection and family services. Views are impressive enough, but the comments are even more so.
Though developed with elements like police officers, extortionists, and a few bloody scenes – a violence-laden troupe that Jamaican viewers and film-makers have been tired of – Your Day Is Tomorrow’s mystical element was enough for commenters to request a sequel, or even a series. One fan went as far as starting an online petition to extend Miguel’s story. “That is an overwhelming experience. People want to see more! Nobody from the team started that petition. It just showed up out of nowhere. But the storyline is open,” Nixon told The Gleaner.
The writer assured that many directions can come out of the story, either as a feature-length work or a series. “There’s a backstory to Miguel, and Sergeant Miles has his own demons that we have yet to explore,” she shared.
Women in Power
Nixon’s writing and production of Your Day Is Tomorrow was deliberate in two particular ways. Instead of framing street kids as nuisances, the film positions them as targets, and instead of the menace taking form as a threatening man, Your Day Is Tomorrow puts women in positions of power. “I fought for that in the production. As the producer, I had to put down my foot. It’s not only males that are dons, you have corrupt women in high positions, and you have good female cops,” she defended.
Nixon also wanted to shed light on street kids’ realities. She said: “I’m a mentor to a lot of kids, and even though I’ve been mentoring some for years, I didn’t know that they didn’t live with parental guidance or live with legal guardian whatsoever. It took me years to find out that these kids actually don’t live anywhere.”
Fans can see YouTuber Kevin Swaby shed his comedic persona for a serious one in a brand new short film. “Hopefully other filmmakers see it and start going out of the box. There are so many genres of film we can take on in Jamaica. You nuh haffi guh di normal route of badman, gun, drugs. That’s not all we’re known for. We can definitely do other things,” he said.
Now that he has this role under his belt, and a petition out there fighting for more, Swaby hopes to take his acting to another level. “The main goal right now is if we can get to Hollywood, or get our own Jamaican cinema thing going. I’d be very happy with that. There’s a lot of landscape in Jamaica, and people, and a lot of stories to be told. But I believe we’ll do very well if we get a chance to get some nice funding behind it and put it on the big screen,” he said.