MĖXED
DIRECTED BY LISSI SIMPSON
UNITED KINGDOM // 2021
15 MINS
The mixed race ethnic group is the fastest growing, yet least represented. This is a collective biracial female journey, via poetry & dance, about learning to love the 'frizz' and abandon well-embedded stigmas placed on natural, afro-hair types.
Refelective Encounters
“Lissi Simpson’s Mexed opens with a quote from Malcolm X which questions how people of colour were taught to hate themselves by society. It’s a powerful starting point for a short film which reflects on the description of Lissi’s hair as ‘frizzy’ and its racist undertones.
Presented as a triptych of three short segments, Mexed questions the way her hair is seen by others and herself. She moves from a rocky landscape to the luscious forest with a rhythmic dance and rap which serves as a channel through which Lissi explores her identity. Her questions are the same asked by generations of people of colour, combining the arts of dance, music, and video to craft a beautiful and unique self-portrait.
Mexed invites us to reflect on the words we use, questioning the beauty standards imposed on women by white society, and learn to appreciate the diversity of our bodies. The portmanteau of the title also proposes the creation of new terms, and the reclamation of those used against people as a form of empowerment. The personal expression and confidence Lissi shows in this film is an inspiration to others who feel judged by society for the way they look.”
— Lillian Crawford
Filmmaker Q&A
A Q&A with filmmakers from the This Is Me programme at Encounters Film Festival 2021.
Filmmakers - Ruicheng Liang (Man Up In Lockdown), Lissi Simpson (Mexed), Eilidh Nicoll (Silvering), Arlo O'Callaghan - director and Camy Jaimes - cinematographer (Owen), Laura Jayne Tunbridge (Dragged Up) and Jack Pulford (Silver and Gold).
Hosted by Ren Scateni, Encounters Head of Programme.
Director’s Statement
Written, directed and spoken by myself, Mėxed began as my emotional and introspective response, as a biracial woman, to the Black Lives Matter movement of 2020.
Likewise, with the limited capacities of 2020 in regards to filming during the COVID-19 pandemic, I decided to challenge myself as a filmmaker - in how I can create emotion and depth, through one speaker and one performer.
I’m incredibly proud of this film, a spoken word, dance film, examining microaggressions and the biracial femme identity through examining afro-hair terminology and stigmas.
Filmmaker Bio
Lissi Simpson is a Jamaican-British writer and director from Lewisham, South London. Her work focuses on promoting inclusive spaces for marginalised groups to find & express their sense of “self”. Not limited by genre, Simpson has worked on comedies, rom-coms, spoken word and thrillers.
A recent example, Mėxed, uses spoken word, natural allegory and dance to comment on micro-aggressions placed within afro-hair terminology by Western media. She has a Distinction MA in Media Production TV Drama from the University of Salford and a First Class Honours BA in Design from Goldsmiths, University of London.
In 2020, Simpson was selected to join the Edinburgh TV Festival Network. Her work has been longlisted by BBC Studios, screened at Raindance Festival in 2020, as well as the BFI Waterloo IMAX.
Since 2021, she has been working as a Trainee Script Editor, backed by Sky Studios. Simpson intends to continue bringing untold stories with real, authentic characters into the mainstream.