EXCLUSIVE: We’ve got your first official look at Animol, the Berlinale feature directed by Ashley Walters (Adolescence) in his debut as a director.
Animol will screen in the Perspectives section at this year’s Berlinale. Walters has directed the film from a screenplay by Nick Love (The Football Factory).
The film’s 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.
As Troy’s welfare officer, Claypole tries to reconnect him with his estranged mother, Troy is increasingly caught up in the institution’s 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.
Starring 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. Producers on the film are Love, Joy Gharoro-Akpojotor, and Tom Hawkins. Tasha Back served as the DoP.
In a statement, Walters — an acting and music veteran — said stepping behind the camera for the first time “felt both inevitable and deeply personal.”
“I wanted my first feature to confront the experiences that shaped me—growing 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,” he said.
“Above all, I didn’t want another film defined only by despair. Animol searches for humour, tenderness, and hope, because even in the darkest places humanity survives—and I’m proud to share that spirit with audiences at the Berlinale.”
Check out the clip above.