{"id":335245,"date":"2026-02-13T11:17:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-13T11:17:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/335245\/"},"modified":"2026-02-13T11:17:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-13T11:17:11","slug":"animol-first-look-at-berlinale-title-directed-by-ashley-walters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/335245\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Animol:\u2019 First Look At Berlinale Title Directed By Ashley Walters\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tEXCLUSIVE:<\/strong> We\u2019ve got your first official look at Animol<\/a>, the Berlinale<\/a> feature directed by Ashley Walters<\/a> (Adolescence) in his debut as a director.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tAnimol will screen in the Perspectives section at this year\u2019s Berlinale. Walters has directed the film from a screenplay by Nick Love (The Football Factory).\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tThe film\u2019s official synopsis reads: Behind the walls of a young offender institution, Troy (Tut Nyuot) is thrust into a brutal world of gangs, loyalty, and violence. From the moment he arrives, he is tested. Paired with a volatile cellmate, Troy is forced to deal with daily threats and power struggles. An unspoken bond with a fellow inmate offers solace in the oppressive environment, but their growing connection becomes a dangerous vulnerability.<\/p>\n

\n\tAs Troy\u2019s welfare officer, Claypole tries to reconnect him with his estranged mother, Troy is increasingly caught up in the institution\u2019s brutal hierarchy and is eventually forced to make impossible choices. And when violence erupts, Troy finds himself isolated and confronting his deepest fears. In this unforgiving world, where survival means betrayal and trust can be weaponised, Troy must navigate a path between the person he once was and the one he is in danger of becoming.<\/p>\n

\n\tStarring in the film are Tut Nyuot, Vladyslav Baliuk, Sekou Diaby, and Ryan Dean alongside Sharon Duncan-Brewster and Stephen Graham. Bankside is handling sales on the film.\u00a0Producers on the film are Love, Joy Gharoro-Akpojotor, and Tom Hawkins. Tasha Back served as the DoP. <\/p>\n

\n\tIn a statement, Walters \u2014 an acting and music veteran \u2014 said stepping behind the camera for the first time \u201cfelt both inevitable and deeply personal.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI wanted my first feature to confront the experiences that shaped me\u2014growing up as a young Black man in London, trying to understand manhood without positive male role models, and feeling out of place in a system that labels boys before it protects them,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cAbove all, I didn\u2019t want another film defined only by despair. Animol searches for humour, tenderness, and hope, because even in the darkest places humanity survives\u2014and I\u2019m proud to share that spirit with audiences at the Berlinale.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tAnimol was developed by Film4 in collaboration with Joi Productions. Sky is collaborating with Film4 for the first time as co-financiers on the project, with the BFI also financing.<\/p>\n

\n\tCheck out the clip above.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"EXCLUSIVE: We\u2019ve got your first official look at Animol, the Berlinale feature directed by Ashley Walters (Adolescence) in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":335246,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[263],"tags":[159738,159739,25123,158171,151126,18,117,19,17,327],"class_list":["post-335245","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-animol","tag-ashley-walters","tag-berlin","tag-berlinale","tag-efm","tag-eire","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-movies"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116063046466215081","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/335245","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=335245"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/335245\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/335246"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=335245"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=335245"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=335245"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}