Shielders

Being shut inside a house for six months while a newsfeed of unfair, unequal and uncontrolled events filters through is enough to make anyone feel out of touch with planet Earth. But the three Glaswegian teenagers in Matilda Ibini’s Shielders are interested in a version of life that stretches far outside the borders of Scotland and the current tumult of global affairs.

Made entirely from video-call footage, the 25-minute long film directed by Debbie Hannan starts with Shahbaz (Michael Ahomka-Lindsay), Trice (Danielle Fiamanya) and Zira (Laura Lovemore) meeting virtually for their regular surveillance of the night sky. Earthly chitchat invades the conversation: Trice relays a grating interaction with her racist boss, and the Scottish-born girls insult Shahbaz with assumptions about his Ghanaian heritage and the cold climate.

At times, the footage is a little disjointed, which makes the otherwise easy rapport between the characters slightly stilted. But the piece becomes more engaging the longer it goes on. The shy, gentle Shahbaz needs the daily video calls and visions of a world outside this one more than his two friends do. They start returning to ‘real life’, while he must keep shielding thanks to a medical condition, which is mentioned but not overly dwelt on.

Drawing inspiration from vintage sci-fi and Afrofuturism, Ibini’s story is an amusing but poignant reminder of the power of the mind to provide an alternative to lived reality. Or, as Hamlet said: “There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.”