The UK filmmaker Jay Stephen’s mother, Aju, had known her future husband for just seven hours before they were married in an arranged ceremony in India in 1987. At 22 years old, her life’s path seemed laid out without her input. Soon, she was pursuing the ‘great British dream’ in London, caught between identities as she adopted a Westernised look and tried to hide her accent. Her three daughters became the ‘three legs of a tripod’ used to stabilise the wobbly foundation of her marriage.
In the short film Brown Brit, each of these three ‘legs’ celebrates their mother’s love, sacrifice and, later, her brave decision to make her own path. For the work, Stephen and her filmmaking partner Ralph Briscoe, who together form The Romantix, repurposed 12 years of family VHS footage to tell Aju’s story. In the rich fabric of the work, these pixelated, colourful scenes function as powerful signifiers of private moments in time and place, while evoking the haziness of memory.
The images are paired with a lyrical essay by Stephen’s sister, Ashica Stephen, which conjures turmeric-stained hands and pashminas tied over Levi’s jeans as it describes Aju’s stifling life – and her ultimate decision to break free of it. The third sister, Deepica Stephen, provides an emotive voiceover and depicts Aju in the newly shot scenes that close out the film. An accomplished work of personal filmmaking, the piece is both a loving tribute to one mother’s strength and a powerful testament to the ripple effect of a parent’s choices across generations.