Meet the winner of Soho House Shorts 2024

Soho House Shorts, our annual film competition in partnership with Campari, returned in February after a two-year hiatus. Designed to highlight and champion up-and-coming talent in the industry, the competition saw 400 screenwriters, storytellers and filmmakers submitting five-minute scripts centred around the concept of two people meeting at a bar and drinking a classic Campari Negroni, based around the elements of life that transform the ordinary into the extraordinary – just as Campari transforms a Negroni.
 
Twelve entries were shortlisted, with three finalists chosen by a judging panel of industry experts, including Andrew Haigh, Guneet Monga, Fred Tsui, Andrea De Sica, Deborah Faraone Mennella, David Dorrell, Susy Laude, Mireille van Helm, Aneil Karia and Nicky Bentham, alongside Campari’s global director, Cristina Ferro. Each finalist was taken to the Cannes Film Festival, as well as given €15,000 to create their film inside a Soho House bar. 

This year, we’re excited to announce that Justin Smith Uzomba is the winner with his film Keeping Up A Parent, Sis. It follows two strangers who encounter one another at a bar, leading to some unexpected discoveries that prove you really can’t judge a book by its cover. Many of the characters in Uzomba’s work are based on people he met during his time as a musician, a career he spent over 10 years in, and the jazz score was composed by a friend from that time, too. 
 
You’ll be able to catch Uzomba’s film in our Soho House screening rooms across the globe now. In anticipation of the upcoming release, read on to hear more from the winner himself. 
 
What should people know about Keeping Up A Parent, Sis?
‘It’s a commentary on the way people perceive each other. For example, if someone hears of a certain profession or even a name, they might think of a certain sex. The film digs into this perception.’
 

How did you get into screenwriting? 
‘I always had an interest in film. As a child, my dad collected points for buying petrol that could be exchanged for free VHS tapes; some of my earliest memories are of him bringing home films like The Bodyguard and Dances with Wolves, as well as Steven Seagal movies; that was my entry into the film world.’
 
Tell us about your creative inspirations.
‘I love filmmakers like Spike Lee, Todd Haynes, Steven Soderbergh and Gina Prince-Bythewood who directed Love & Basketball. I’m also inspired by depictions of strong female characters, because I grew up with four sisters. In fact, I wouldn’t be making films if it wasn’t for my older sister. I always wanted to be like her; she put me on to rap, she put me on to films. She put me on to culture, essentially.’ 
 
Has your background in the music industry influenced you as a filmmaker?
‘I worked as an MC for about 10 years, which conceptually, is a kind of storytelling. I pride myself on writing a good punchline, which I’ve applied to my screenwriting. I try to infuse a lyrical quality, a natural rhythm into the words I write. There’s witticisms, but sometimes sentences finish abruptly; people don’t always have a languid style of conversation.’

What drew you to the Soho House Shorts competition?
‘I first entered in 2021 and got onto the shortlist. I didn’t win, but found out that Barry Jenkins liked my script. That put fire in my belly. I thought, OK, people that I admire, people that I respect like my stuff.
 
‘We’ve made two projects as part of Soho House competitions now, which wouldn’t have been possible otherwise. Through Soho House I’ve had access to lectures with British filmmaking royalty like Helen Fielding. That’s been priceless experience as I’ve been learning to make films.’

The brief asked you to centre your script around the ordinary transforming into the extraordinary – just as Campari transforms a Negroni. How did you interpret this?

‘In Keeping Up A Parent, Sis, two perfect strangers strike up a conversation. These two characters are seemingly ordinary to one another, but it’s the addition of a third character who appears at the end that adds a touch of the extraordinary to the whole affair. In a similar way, this is what happens when you add Campari to gin and vermouth to create a Negroni.’

Visit our screenings page for our full film schedule across the Houses