Honeytrap is a hard-hitting film from an upcoming local director being shown at the Ritzy as part of London Film Festival. It’s set in Brixton and portrays the disastrous consequences of a teenage girl’s struggle for acceptance.
This Brixton film was made on a shoestring budget by locally-based director Rebecca Johnson. It’s her first feature-length piece. Her short film Top Girl gained international recognition in 2010, winning several awards including Best Screenplay at the BFI Black Filmmakers Festival. She was consequently awarded development funding by the BFI to write a new film, which became Honeytrap.
The film centres around 15-year-old Layla, played by Skins actress Jessica Sula, who has moved to Brixton from Trinidad to live with her estranged mother. As she struggles to adjust to the new social hierarchy, she falls for local gang leader Troy. In a bid for his acceptance she agrees to lure a lovestruck admirer into a trap so Troy can murder him. Based on the infamous ‘honeytrap’ killing of Shakilus Townsend in 2008 in Thornton Heath, Honeytrap explores the hypermasculine gang world from a girl’s perspective.
I asked Rebecca why she wanted to make this film. “Top Girl was about girls in a man’s world,” she said, “I wanted to expand on that theme, and I started thinking about the role of girls in gang culture.” Having worked with young people in London for the last 12 years, Rebecca understands that those involved in gang violence are just as vulnerable and confused as any other adolescents.
“Even if it’s not necessarily easy to empathise with young people who are doing bad things, if we don’t try to understand nothing’s going to change,” says Rebecca, “I think telling stories is a good way of drawing people into understanding without preaching – which this film is certainly not doing trying to do.”
Rebecca is also concerned that girls are generally underrepresented in film culture. Honeytrap is very much focused on Layla’s experience, and she appears in every single scene. “The ‘honeytrap girl’ is a trope that you see often in films, not just urban films,” she says, “but I’ve never seen a story told from her perspective.”
Initially planning to shoot a factual account of the 2008 ‘honeytrap’ murder, she quickly chose to create her own story to give her more freedom to explore the different characters involved. “I wanted to humanise everybody,” explains Rebecca, “these kids are not psychopaths, they are salvageable. It’s about understanding how someone you can actually relate to very strongly can become involved in an act of horrific violence.”
Honeytrap looks at London gang culture through fresh eyes, attempting to break down assumptions and stereotypes. Rebecca wants to take her audience on a journey into Layla’s world. Why did she choose such a compromised character as her protagonist? “I wanted to make a film where it’s hard to identify with the lead character, someone you might find despicable, but which ultimately succeeded in making you identify with her,” she explains.
The film was made on a very tight budget, with Rebecca and her team using whatever resources they had to get it made. As well as relying on the support of local businesses and cafes during shooting, Honeytrap was partially crowd-funded through the site Indiegogo. “People went out of their way to help us, and for that I’m very grateful,” says Rebecca.
In addition to having Honeytrap selected for the London Film Festival and shown at the Ritzy, Rebecca has been nominated for Best British Newcomer by the BFI. She’s delighted, and tells me proudly that Honeytrap was made for less than half the budget of any film by her fellow nominees. “It’s the only independent film too – we’re the little underdog, punching above our weight!”
Tickets for the Ritzy Film Festival screening sold out in half a day, so readers will have to wait until the film’s release early next year. Stay up to date on Honeytrap’s Facebook page.
How did the mother of the victim feel about u making the film from the girls point of view ????? And I hope u have not had to much symphony with this girl !