Working together with young Londoners, director Stella Scott set out to examine the mindset of the young generation in post-Brexit Britain. Commissioned by Dazed, Reverie is a film and photography series capturing the dreams and aspirations of young people. Coming from a youth worker background, she wanted to approach her subject with sensitivity and respect.

Stella: 'The themes of dreams and aspirations came from the young people the creative producer Joanna Vieira and I were working with. This series started with me wanting to collaborate with young people with a certain kind of character and edge; one that often comes from having to carve out a world in order to survive. I had no idea going into it what they’d want to talk about: what drove them, what held them back, how they felt about society and their place within it. The conversations were long and the material was infinite so we had to focus it on one thing and they were keen for it to be something positive. They hated associations with the word ‘struggle’, they wanted to focus on the possibility of sculpting a future undefined by the past- the word ‘dreams’ was the best way of capturing that.'

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Kids often grow up fast, and with a clear vision of what success looks like. There’s a powerful sense of autonomy - a mix of imagination and trust that gets young people through difficult situations.

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The theme of dream weaves through the poetic visual language of the film, aided by the lens of DOP Sarah Cunningham. Scott adds:

'There is a scene on Beckton Alps- an abandoned dry ski slope in East London from which you can look back at the city- where I asked Kay what the word dreams means to him; “It’s everything, it’s synonymous with humanity. Dreams of men and women, the world is built on dreams.”'

Going through the youth groups she used to work with and approaching many other youth community centres, Scott photographed and interviewed anyone who was interested in being involved on location or at studios and youth centres across London. The film is made up of over fifty voices; the script is a collection of a lot of different thoughts and ideas. Those that are featured in the film are simply kids that turned up at the right place in the right time.

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