18 - Making it in the film industry: Cornelius Walker

Earlier this month, The Soulstice Collective sat down with Cornelius Walker, a British-Nigerian filmmaker, to hear about his life and discuss some of his recent work. 

Cornelius’ story is like no other. Ranging being kicked out of university because Student Loan didn’t release his funds, to calling ITV to ask for a job, to being Oscar nominated – his life to date could be its own film. In many ways, it is his diversity in experience and culture that forms so much of his ability to make such incredible films. And as always, to understand his work, context is key. 

Born in London but, having moved to Canada early with his family, it was the Sean Penn film Into the Wild that became his early inspiration for pursuing a life in filmmaking and made him realise he needs to move back to London. “I was reading every film script I could find, learning about every filmmaker – anything I could get my hands on.”

He moved back to the UK and enrolled at Film School in London before encountering a situation that can only be described as any student’s nightmare – Student Loans Company, unexplainably, would not release the funds to pay for his fees. The university pushed the situation as far as they could for him, but eventually had no choice but to lock him out. “I remember having to sneak in just to use the facilities and learn,” he recounts to us. Eventually, the university had to kick him out – a situation that was compounded by bailiffs turning up at his house to collect his unpaid debt – at which point his funds were released and it was all too late.

Cornelius is incredibly philosophical about an otherwise incredibly traumatic phase of his life. “Ultimately, it is God’s plan and I am happy now” he says to us, the humility reverberating through our zoom call. 

After university ended abruptly, he got himself a job as a technical assistant at the 2012 Olympics and from there, things started to improve. Next came a role at ITV, followed by starting his own production company with friends and securing clients such as Google and Red Bull. 

Eventually, he started to make his own films and form his own network, which culminated in him running into Misan Harriman at an event who decided to take him under his wing. “He’s like that uncle you always wanted” said Cornelius, clearly grateful for the wisdom Misan is able to impart to him.

The original reason Soulstice wanted to talk to Cornelius was to discuss some of his recent work, of which the first we discussed was Father of Man.

Father of Man

Father of Man depicts the relationship between a black father and son and the tension between enduring love and wanting acceptance that often accompanies it. For Cornelius, there was a huge amount of his own experience in the film.

“Hurt people hurt people,” he remarks to us – a somber reflection of what Alex’s father represents being a middle-aged black man in the UK. He is part of a generation of black men who came to the UK wanting a better life. Instead, they were faced with institutional racism, the UK immigration system and an uphill battle to make something of their life – all in a system simply not equipped to support them. “The result is a generation of men who have never talked about their emotions” says Cornelius. This rubs off on the relationship with their children because the only option left is to give your children better than what they had.

Add into this that black role models in the public sphere in the UK’s arts ecosystem have only started to arrive in the last decade; young black children had nobody else to look up to but their own fathers and so idolising them is simply unavoidable. We are blessed in 2021, mental health support is becoming more prevalent for UK society, normalising people talking about experiences of their life. But perhaps for our parents’ generation, it is a generation too late.

10 Stops Away

At the other end of the spectrum is 10 Stops Away, which depicts a group of young black boys being confronted with a black man who attempts to mug them on the bus on route home.

Cornelius is quick to point out that as much as humour is the central theme through the film, it is an attempt to show the good and the bad of street culture in London. “Ultimately, sometimes you need to listen to your instinct – this is what the boys could have done in getting off the bus immediately” he says. The use of interior monologue also helps capture the absurdity that many people go through when committing crime. “Man’s gunna have to get mad” remarks the mugger on the bus, the humour in the situation coming from realising how silly it can be.

Women Will

Women Will differs from the other pieces discussed because, alongside it being a documentary as opposed to a film, its focus is the African community in Africa as opposed to the diaspora in the UK. It is no secret that the African continent’s creative culture is one of the most vibrant globally. The question is whether this currency and talent is getting the visibility and recognition it deserves.  The piece has a different feel through the music, colours and cultural clothing, but perhaps the most enjoyable part of the film was the women featured / interviewed clearly being a reflection of a new generation. It is perhaps no surprise that the big tech firms were the first to recognise this. Nigeria alone has a population of 200m and to these firms, this is 200m people to give technology skills to. 

Black Sheep

Black Sheep is Cornelius’ Oscar-nominated work and winner of numerous awards, including the International Documentary Association Best Short Film and the 2018 Aesthetica Film Festival best documentary, best screenplay and best of festival. He described it as his ‘This Is England’ in terms of what he was trying to depict, and the similarities are clear – perhaps most so in the use of music to illustrate vulnerability. Citing Barry Jenkins and Edgar Wright as two leaders in the field of music in film, he feels he still has a long way to go to get to where they are. Nonetheless, the critically-acclaimed Black Sheep certainly shows he is heading in the right direction.

As if he hasn’t achieved enough, Cornelius has several large projects on the horizon. He is currently working on a short film dealing with the topic of grief, whilst also trying to transition towards TV more to balance out his short film experience. “I just want to stay busy” he says to us – his drive to stay motivated clear. 

We finish by looking at the next generation and young talent currently rising in the UK. It is no secret how hard the film industry is to break into, so we ask Cornelius what advice he might have for those looking to do so. “Nobody is an expert,” he tells us, pointing out that one’s ability to generate ideas does not have to depend on films you’ve made to date - anyone has the ability to do that. 

It was a real pleasure to talk to Cornelius and discuss his work. There is little doubt he is going to achieve more greatness as his career goes on and it was a privilege to put a spotlight on his work to date.