Following the launch of his film Process on Apple Music, Sampha spoke to Matt Wilkinson about the film by Kahlil Joseph in an exclusive interview which will air on Beats 1.
On how he felt on day 1 filming in Morden
Sampha: Probably when I went into Morden Park around 6am with these huge trainers and about 20-30 people and it was all around a swimming pool I used to go to all the time. That was pretty weird. It was kind of hard to compute what was going on. So I kinda just went with the flow, took a deep breath and sort of gone on with the day but it was pretty crazy. Then going around Morden Train Station with these huge cameras and a whole team of people shooting. It was pretty weird but that being said everyone was kind of local, the people just walking past just like ‘I need to go on and have dinner’.
On bumping into anyone in his hometown during the making
Sampha: A couple of old friends and then he was like ‘Why Morden?’ I’m like ‘You live here too! Why not!’
On planning the idea and concept for the film
Sampha: Yeah I guess the idea is always the hardest part. Khalil (Joseph), through conversation, had an idea of creating an omniverse where time and space lap over each other in terms of my grandparents time and my time and for it not to feel like it was set in one particular period. It wasn’t too hard to do but it was just coming up with that initial idea and then keeping things relatively with the fashion and set design and stuff.
On the set design
I guess they mostly kind of hired numerous people to help with the set design and sort of clothing. This guy called Abraham Kamara who lives in London but Sierra Leone born and he got to go back to Sierra Leone after not going for a long time. It was sort of just a collaboration between those people and I kind of got more involved during and near the time of shooting.
On storyboarding the film
We did to a degree and a lot of the narrative gets told or created in the edit. Khalil loves to film and take a look at the unexpected and go into a space and something else might make focus that wasn’t expected. He goes for whatever looks best. Setting up the environments to go film in but then after that its just a little bit of trial and error.
On the significance of the bandstand in Morden and the Globe Theatre in Sierra Leone
I guess the bandstand in Morden is just a place I used to go to when I was younger and sort of just loiter and hang around and The Globe cinema is the cinema my parents would go to and cousins and family in Sierra Leone and it just looks, it just looks like a lovely place even though its sort of dilapidated but it came across so well on film.
How he got his grandmother to do the voice over on the film
It wasn’t necessary getting her on board but I just asked if she was comfortable to be filmed and it wasn't anything obviously pre-written it was just kind of Khalil going to my grandmas place and filming her, maybe asking her a couple of questions. She’s in her late 80s.
How his family in London and Sierra Leone felt about the project
My brothers were really supportive in terms of me sharing some of the narratives that I’ve kind of shared in the film. They also got interviewed and in Sierra Leone the people were happy that something like that was being shot in Sierra Leone. I was happy I really wanted to show Sierra Leone in sort of its beauty or like in its extravagance.
How he dealt with the scale of the project
At times I was pinching myself a little bit because I was like ‘I can’t believe that this is sort of—happening’.
On how the idea come about
It was through Young Thug’s guys and I guess he knows like Larry Jackson over at Apple and actually I remember having a conversation with the guys a few years ago about me wanting to express these different sides of my identity and having a bit of an identity crisis in terms of connecting to the part of me that has grown up in England then my family coming from Sierra Leone. So I think the seed was sown a little while back but in terms of this but yeah it was a conversation between Young Thug and Apple and them thinking of a director to sort of help.
On working with Kahlil Joseph
It’s been really good. He’s so down to earth and made me feel very much at home and he really is just like an interesting guy. Asking me sort of questions that have kind of thrown me a bit he has a very unique way of viewing the world. I was a fan of his work before we actually met. We just met downtown and were having drinks and stuff and he has a very unique visual language. There’s no script but there’s definitely a narrative and there’s definitely the feeling I guess somewhat similar to how I write as well, lyrically or like in the production, I sort of set a scene and you might have to listen a little more or decode the metaphors to kind of fill your own picture. I definitely feel the visuals and the music kinda marry in that way.
On his goals with the project
The narratives are all quite simple in terms of like sharing how powerful love can be and sort of where that can take you in your life, the love of my grandparents and how that transcends into their love for me. My parents and my love for my mother and family so that bond.
On whether the film and album fit together
I guess they fit in some ways but they are definitely separate too I feel like visually the film definitely mirrors or kind of adds to the sonics. There’s a lot that was done that has really worked for me in terms of expressing sound in a visual way.
