Misan Harriman (‘The After’ director): ‘It’s okay not to be okay’ [Exclusive Video Interview]
“The After” — currently streaming on Netflix– is the debut film from acclaimed photographer and activist Misan Harriman. The short film about the impacts of grief and trauma has been shortlisted for Best Live Action Short at the 96th Academy Awards. But for Harriman– the first black man to shoot the cover of British Vogue— all of the attention for his first effort as a filmmaker is a bit overwhelming. “Whatever accolades I’ve got, I’m still figuring shit out and I’m still scared,” he says. “And maybe it’s in that place of self-doubt that you can carve the best version of your creative self.” Watch more of our exclusive video chat with Harriman above.
In “The After,” David Oyelowo stars as Dayo, a husband and father whose life is destroyed after his wife and child die during a violent attack. Dayo retreats from life, leaving his corporate career and taking a job as a rideshare driver. Throughout the film, we see Dayo unable to move past his grief and despair.
Harriman says that his attraction to the project stemmed from his own mental health struggles which were exacerbated by both the Covid-19 pandemic and the killing of George Floyd. “A lot of people were unpacking a lot of trauma that we didn’t even know was living inside of us,” he explains. “So I thought that if I’m going to the moving image, I need to make something that will accompany all of us in understanding that it’s okay not to be okay.”
In working with Oyelowo, who is also a producer on the film, Harriman knew he was in good hands. “It felt like we knew each other long before we ever met,” he says. “We knew that if we did this waltz of creativity together that it could possibly be lightning in a bottle.”
Harriman hopes that the film’s depiction of grief provides audiences with a sense of hope. “If you watch this film, it’s really to say that if you’re in a dark place, we will let know there’s a door and we hope one day you’ll find it,” he says. “It’s a journey. It’s about how you build yourself back up brick by brick, and hopefully that will lead people into a place of light.”
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