WORK
CV of Selected Work
and the stench of flowers fills the air
December 2024
AND THE STENCH OF FLOWERS FILLS THE AIR, a new play by Maria Messias Mendes, developed with support from Arts Council England and produced by Carmen Collective.
AND THE STENCH OF FLOWERS FILLS THE AIR is a piece of political theatre that tackles how social inequality is tearing London’s communities apart. As cost of living worsens, racism rises and gentrification makes housing unstable, loss of life ripples through our city.
This was an R&D sharing
Team
Writer Maria Messias Mendes
Director malakaï sargeant
Creative Producer Ella Dale
Dramaturg Sam Rees
Composer Tigere
Performers Leon Day, Sana El-Wakili, Kabira Imona, Ruby Kearney, Clint Mwaka, David Woolcott
Lighter Shades of Blue
Short Film, 2024
Two Strangers Help Each Other Through A Storm
This comedic drama follows Anya and Mint as they first meet in a haphazard way en route to an exhibition. Absorbed in her music, Anya is nearly hit by a bus, when Mint intervenes. At the gallery, surrounded by art snobs, they avoid each other but eventually end up stuck. They will have to find a way to each other each.
'Lighter Shade of Blue' playfully explores the intricate tapestry of human connections and the blurred boundaries between reality and perception.
CREDITS
Director Maria Messias Mendes
Writer Maria Messias Mendes
Producer Maria Messias Mendes
Co-Producer Emma Zadow
Executive Producers Thomas Mullen, Annie Mullen,
Ana Messias
"Anya" Afia Abusham
"Mint" Paul Adeyefa
"Bruce" Ikky Kabir
"Peacock Lady" Rachelle Grubb
"Flatulent Guy" Ed Watchman
Director of Photography Petar Gigov
Editor Petar Gigov
Colourist Diogo Miranda
Composition Tigere
Vocalist/ Lyricist Maddie Ashman
1st AD Lydia Frost
2nd AD Oscar Fouda
Sound Tigere
Sound Recordist Gary Gonzalez Perez
1st Camera Assistant Oscar Fouda
Hair and Makeup Lujine El Husseini
Production Assistant Theodore Jesson
Art Giulia Rose, Idil, Aydinli, Nataliia
Zvirkova, Maria Messias Mendes
Stroking Bumblebees
15th July 2023 - Hotbed Festival, Cambridge Junction
A train station platform. Childhood friends Zana and Tai meet again after a long, unexplained silence. They’d once had a strong bond with the natural world, conversing with it as a friend. But life’s struggles have broken that. Stroking Bumblebees explores how loneliness and connection intersect with our relationship to the environment.
Chris Cellier
LEANNE
Short Film, 2023
‘I have always known. It’s just part of the everyday for me. Don‘t get me wrong. I don‘t think about it all the time or even every day. I just know. It‘s at the back of my mind, I suppose.’
Health is something we take for granted when we’re young. But what if we hear a clock ticking from the moment we take our first breath? Leanne was born with Cystic Fibrosis. But that does not mean that is all her life is.
CREDITS
Director Anne Giroux
Writer Maria Messias Mendes
Producer Anne Giroux
Director of Photography Gabrielle Bergeron-Leduc
Editor Anne Giroux
Sound (postproduction) Tigere
Music Tigere
Starring
Anne Giroux as Leanne
Ayham Abou Ammar as Friend
SOLIFUGE
8th-12th November 2022
You are civilian: now. But what if you have never been one before? As you try to navigate this now unrecognisable world that abandoned you, your past intercuts your present. What if you could write a letter about your experiences? A letter to someone who understands? Someone who shares the same scar you do? But what if you caused their wounds?
Solifuge thinks about the lived realities of being a veteran once you are back home. Trying to understand your experiences and how to move on, this play explores what it means to be haunted by your past and how you deal with that. We follow Corporal Simons as he writes a letter to a child he saw in Iraq. But in the end, the question remains: will anyone ever read this letter?
CREDITS
Writer & Director – Maria Messias Mendes
Producer – Sara Sioufi
Assistant Director – Theodore Jesson
Stage Manager – Ariel de la Garza
Technical Director – Yasi Zhu
Publicist – Isabella Ren
Kevin Simons – Isaac Allen
Angela Simons – Olivia Twiss
The Iraqi Girl – Su Tuncer
Robert Holt – Jude Ashcroft
Benjamin Williams – Yoel Mulugheta
James O’Donovan – Matilda Black
Dave Collinson – Dan Ward
Mum – Su Tuncer
Dr. Constantin – Sara Sioufi
Employee – Su Tuncer
A MONTH
Short Film, 2022
Nightlight
Half the time I lifted my eyes to the inky sheets above
The orb reflecting rays
Mirrored in the black hole surrounded by iris
It encircled, pushed and pulled
Unattainable
Unreliable changeable
Two-timing witness
Crescent fading torch
Celestial dream
Tomorrownight yesternight tonight
Delight now listless gleaming
Unregistered
Light shrouded from me
CREDITS
Director and Writer Maria Messias Mendes
Producer Patrick Bayele
Director of Photography Christian Dametto
Editor Francesco Quario
Sound (postproduction) Tigere
Music Tigere
Starring
Louis Searle as Daniel
Annabel Hammond as Cynthia
