Spectrum Synopsis

Spectrum is a psychological Drama that focuses on the Parallel journeys of it’s two protagonists.  Joshua Chambers, an artist on the rise is preparing for an art exhibition, when he is suddenly confronted by three police officers, who arrest him for an allegation of sexual assault. Shocked and confused by this accusation, Joshua recalls the events of the night during his stay at the police station and realises that the accuser has set him up. Now Joshua must fight to prove his innocence, before he is convicted of a crime he did not commit.  Attending a party she wasn't supposed to, behind her mother’s back, Mariah Carson, gets heavily  intoxicated, abandoned by her older sister Chelsea and becomes a victim of a sexual assault by an unknown figure. Fearing that  no one would believe what happened to her, Mariah closes herself off from everyone around her but begins reimagining the traumatic event repeatedly. When Mariah attempts to resolve the situation with her sister Chelsea, her religious zealot mother, Linda, discovers what happened and drags Mariah to the police station to report the incident and seek justice for happened to Mariah.
 

Introducing the production team 

Jonell Rowe: Writer, Director and Co-Producer

Jonell Rowe is a London and Bristol-based independent writer, director and editor who first ventured into the arts through studying drama and fine art, at The BRIT School of performing arts. After graduating in 2011 with both a BTEC National and extended diploma in drama, Jonell went on to complete writers' course at the Lyric Hammersmith Theatre in 2012 and along with other creatives, founded the production company "Lionstooth films". His style of work focuses on emotions spiralling out of control, affecting an individual's actions, which in turn affects the world around them. Jonell has gone on to write and direct 16 short films that have been recognised by industry professionals and won awards such as Best narrative short film at the Hollywood Sun film awards in October 2017.
 

Director's statement 

I want to create a film, which sheds a light on the failures of the criminal justice system and highlight how victims of false allegations of sexual assault and victims who have experienced sexual violence have been repeatedly failed by the system, while their perpetrators have been allowed to go free without consequence. This miscarriage of justice, has continued to negatively impact the lives of these respective victims from the opposite ends of the spectrum, resulting in the wrongful imprisonment, convictions and the loss of lives for those who are falsely accused of one of the most monstrous crimes. In contrast, victims of sexual assault, have become too afraid to speak out on their horrific experiences and live in a constant state of Fear of disbelief, of unjustified blame, of retribution, of re-traumatisation. It was from coming across and reading up on numerous real-life events, surrounding both victims' traumatising experiences, that sparked the idea for Spectrum.

In the narrative of Spectrum, I will examine the two-sided experiences of both victims, with the aim of spreading awareness of their respective injustice occurring. The miscarriage of justice cannot continue, and it is time that a change is made for the better.

Nadia Sajir: Creative Producer 

Nadia is a second-generation Moroccan immigrant who has worked in TV production since 2015. She has experience developing initial ideas into treatments and pitching for funding. Nadia is passionate about using her lived experiences to help amplify the voices of underrepresented groups and champion their stories. Some of her recent credits include EastEnders, Doctor Who, BBC Funny Festival Live, Celebrity Juice, multiple UKTV comedy series and The Great British Dig. She is currently working on the Channel 4 series Made in Chelsea.

Alongside her creative work, Nadia is an advocate for foster care leavers. She founded Care Creatives, a network for Care Leavers and people who are Estranged from their family that want to pursue a career in Film and TV. Care Creatives is officially supported by the Care Leavers Covenant and partnered with talent managers at BBC, Netflix, ITV and more. Nadia created the network to remove all barriers to access for these two underrepresented groups in the industry. She is incredibly passionate about advocating for everyone to have equal opportunities.

Moses Ssebandeke: Co-Producer 

Moses Ssebandeke is a Writer/Director and Producer His Film “Patient 4318” was screened on National television as well as being screened in Hollywood LA in 2015 at the African American Film market. In 2017 Moses Ssebandeke's script Mary's Room was shortlisted by Creative England to be a part of the Shortflix program Moses has written and directed many award-winning short films. That has been screened on the BBC. He also wrote and directed a BBC Africa/art interactive drama starring Brit award winner Stormzy. Moses recently graduated with a postgraduate diploma in Writing and producing from the BAFTA-winning National Film and Television School. in 2018 Moses won the screen skills short film award for his short film "Reflection" This film was screened at BFI (The British Film Institute) His other short film "distance" was screened in Budapest and won the "Channel 4 values award". Moses’ Graduation Film “Insta Grim” Won the best African Diaspora film at the 23rd African Film awards.

Statement

"I wanted to come onboard as a producer because I wanted to help give a voice to the voiceless. We've had a history of people being victims of injustice and I feel this film sheds light on that disparity"

Sam Mina: Executive Producer 

Samuel Mina is an actor and Executive producer, who studied at the BRIT School for performing Arts. He has won multiple awards acting upon the stage and is broadening his experience within the film industry, both on and off screen. 

Statement

“I wanted to get involved in this existing project as I feel that the subject matter, although a tough and sensitive one, needs to be told for others to feel their story is also being told and heard”.

Jenny Cvetoshenko: Casting Director 

Jenny Cvetoshenko is an actress and writer based in London. She has appeared in various short and feature productions and has recently filmed ‘Brown Sugar’ which she has co-written. As well as playing Chelsea, Jenny is the Casting Director for Spectrum.

Statement

‘I was so keen to get involved in this project because this topic is very important. Too many people experience sexual assault and unfortunately, there are also a lot of false accusations which doesn’t get talked about enough. It’s very important to continuously raise awareness and understand both sides and how it affects the victims. 

Mazlum Gul: Supervising Producer

Mazlum is an Actor, Producer and Festival Director. Over the years, Mazlum has worked on a wide range of Short Films, copperater videos, music videos and large scale Feature films at the Pinewood Studios, as well as being a Festival Director of the London city film awards and Edinburgh Independent film awards.

Statement

"When I was approached to collaborate on “Spectrum” I was very quick to voice the importance of the matter. “Sexual assault, unfortunately, is much more common than we think it is, and most of us either are a victim or know of someone or have heard of someone that has suffered sexual assault.” Sexual assault also has another side to it, there are many innocent people that are falsely accused of such horrible crimes whose lives are affected at such a level that their entire lives are deeply impacted. I believe that to get as close to the truth we have to bring awareness of victims on both sides of the crime. Spectrum is a project that definitely shines lights on the truth and pain of both sexual assault victims and the falsely accused".

Mood boards 

COVID-19 health and safety 

To ensure the health and safety of both cast and crew is carried out throughout the production a Covid-19 Marshall and supervisor will be consulted and the production itself will work to adhere to the Covid-19 guidelines for film and television productions that the government and the British Film Commission have laid out.