Rocks (film)

Rocks
Promotional poster
Directed bySarah Gavron
Written by
Produced by
  • Ameenah Ayub Allen
  • Faye Ward
Starring
CinematographyHélène Louvart
Edited byMaya Maffioli
Music byEmilie Levienaise-Farrouch
Production
companies
Distributed byAltitude
Release dates
  • 5 September 2019 (2019-09-05) (TIFF)
  • 18 September 2020 (2020-09-18) (United Kingdom)
Running time
93 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
Budget$3.9 million[1]
Box office$598,859[2]

Rocks is a 2019 British coming-of-age drama film directed by Sarah Gavron. The film stars Bukky Bakray as Olushola, nicknamed "Rocks", a Black British teenage girl living in Hackney, London, whose single mother abandons her and her younger brother Emmanuel (D’angelou Osei Kissiedu), forcing them to try to avoid being taken into social services.[3]

Rocks premiered at the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival[4] and was released in the United Kingdom on 18 September 2020. The film received acclaim from critics, and was nominated for seven awards at the 74th British Academy Film Awards, including Outstanding British Film and Best Actress in a Leading Role for Bakray, making her one of the youngest nominees for the award. Nineteen-year-old Bukky Bakray also received BAFTA Rising Star Award, becoming the youngest winner in the category.

  1. ^ Tom Grater, "Sarah Gavron on her new part-improvised film about London schoolgirls". Screen Daily, 10 February 2019.
  2. ^ "Rocks (2020)". Box Office Mojo. IMDb. Retrieved 10 March 2021.
  3. ^ Wendy Ide, "'Rocks': Toronto Review". Screen Daily, 5 September 2019.
  4. ^ Stewart Clarke, "First Look at Sarah Gavron’s Toronto-Bound ‘Rocks’". Variety, 4 September 2019.