AKILLA'S ESCAPE
Feature Film
Dir: Charles Officer Prod: Charles Officer, Jake Yanowski, Canesugar Filmworks/Prospero Pictures
Starring Saul Williams, Thamela Mpumlwana, Donisha Prendergast, Vic Mensa, Bruce Ramsay
Winner, Achievement in Cinematography, Canadian Screen Awards 2021
Premiered TIFF 2020, theatrical release 2021 (Vertical Entertainment)
In a crime-noir about the urban child-soldier, Akilla Brown captures a fifteen-year-old Jamaican boy in the aftermath of an armed robbery.
Over one gruelling night, Akilla confronts a cycle of generational violence he thought he escaped.
"The film boasts a unifying visual schematic captured by Maya Bankovic’s poetic cinematography."
- Michael Rechtshaffen reviews AKILLA'S ESCAPE, LOS ANGELES TIMES
"Maya Bankovic’s sharply stylized cinematography is a consistent asset, painting in reds across the spectrum from neon to dried blood, and often confining characters in tight cells of shadow."
- Guy Lodge, VARIETY
"The genre film also boasts Officer’s magic realist touches, hypnotic cinematography from Maya Bankovic and supporting performances from rapper Vic Mensa and Bob Marley’s granddaughter Donisha Rita Claire Prendergast.
- Radheyan Simonpillai, NOW MAGAZINE
"Maya Bankovic csc on AKILLA'S ESCAPE"
- cover story by Fanen Chiahamen, December 2020, CANADIAN CINEMATOGRAPHER MAGAZINE, Interview
"Akilla's Escape Crafts a Riveting, Hypnotic Neo-Noir Requiem for Those Trapped In Vicious Cycles."
- Isaac Feldberg, PASTE MAGAZINE
"A slick and mesmerizing tale of crime, responsibility and what happens when the sins of one generation get passed down to another, director Charles Officer’s new thriller is an outstanding work...told from an unfamiliar perspective, and with intense beauty."
- Barry Hertz , THE GLOBE & MAIL