Khevyn Ibrahim recently graduated from London South Bank University and now works freelance. He specialises mostly in short films and documentaries but also does music videos on occasion. His latest project, Nuraiyah, is a thoughtful, joyous insight into the mind of his seven-year-old niece – and has rightly so been selected for the 2018 shortlist of the DepicT short film competition. Watch the film here.

Khevyn says that Nuraiyah wasn’t the first idea that came to mind when he heard about the DepicT competition. At first he wanted to do something about the way people live in London, but with time constraints at hand, he decided to do something closer to home instead, asking his niece if she wanted to make a film. The energetic seven-year-old was more than keen. While the film is personal to Khevyn, he acknowledges that the film helped to engage his niece’s creative side also. In his own words, he tells us that “children have a totally different view point on life than us adults do, people tend to think that children don’t really know anything but that’s not the case, we just have to ask them the right questions and not take them for fools”.

Khevyn also feels that his niece “now has a motivational video for her future self to look back on if she’s ever going through hard times”. He further mentions how difficult it can be for people in general to access their inner child, so perhaps the film not only offers something for the future Nuraiyah, but also for the adult viewer struggling to access the more exuberant version of themselves locked away. Nuraiyah’s energy in the video is incredibly infectious and serves as a wonderful reminder of how stimulating and self-reflective life can be. Perhaps we can learn a lot more from children and young people than we currently believe.

Stay up to date with Khevyn’s creative mind and future projects on Instagram: @the.visual.aid