Growing Up

Director: Leslie Dektor

Documentary

2019

54 minutes

Rating: 18+

FILM SYNOPSIS

Zeen? follows Chad, a pretentious white Jamaican filmmaker determined to create what he believes will be a sophisticated social drama titled Brothers in Babylon. Surrounded by a chaotic and underprepared Caribbean cast and crew, Chad attempts to maintain artistic control as the production steadily unravels around him. As filming progresses, tensions emerge between artistic ambition and cultural understanding. Chad’s self-important approach to filmmaking clashes with the realities of the production environment, exposing questions about authenticity, privilege, and the way Caribbean stories are represented on screen. The crew’s interactions gradually reveal deeper frustrations related to ego, identity, and creative ownership, turning the filmmaking process itself into a source of comedy and conflict.

Through satire and exaggerated situations, Zeen? critiques both independent film culture and performative intellectualism while celebrating the humor, unpredictability, and resilience found within Caribbean creative communities. The film uses comedy not only for entertainment but also as a lens through which issues of race, cultural identity, and artistic credibility can be examined.

About the Filmmaker- Leslie Dektor

Excerpt From Creativity Magazine:

“More than any other commercial director, the South African born Leslie Dektor has defined the zeitgeist. His trademarks are realism, moving cameras, heavily adapted scripts, unorthodox working methods and characters off the street - techniques that, through heavy imitation, have quickly faded into commercial conformity. His aim has always been to portray the human condition.

After taking his directing techniques to its jagged edge, dragging a host of imitators behind him, Leslie Dektor has come full circle, back to the lyricism of his early years in the US - a return to painting the picture. Painting moments is a subject Dektor nows a lot about. It displays his Dektor’s painterly talent for landscapes and lighting. His work is are full of such sweet nothings. He is a man who has a very personal vision. He loves people and he loves life and the small things in life. He sees a lot of sadness, happiness, and bitter-sweetness. He tries to give it all a message of dignity. “

— Ann Cooper