Films don’t get more personal than Cicada, an emotional story drawn from the life experiences of its two lead actors Matt Fifer and Sheldon D Brown. As well as playing the lead, Fifer is the film’s co-writer and co-director, while co-star Brown also shared writing duties for a love story that continuously crosses the boundaries between documentary and drama.
More personally, it sees the two actors drawing on their own experiences and re-enacting them in some of the film’s most moving scenes. Fifer plays Ben, resolutely single and only interested in casual one-night stands until he meets Sam (Brown). As they grow closer, they gradually discover they share pasts that have affected them deeply, and the only way forward for them, both as individuals and as a couple, is to face what happened and bring it out into the open …..
In the exclusive interview below, Brown talks about the initial approach from Fifer to appear in the film – the original text message can still be seen on his Instagram page – and how a drive-by shooting, which left him with serious injuries, came to be a significant part of the narrative. He also talks about why it was imperative that he wrote the script for that section of the film. Fifer reflects on combining acting with his roles behind the camera on the film and how the actor in him reacts to his own direction. And the two describe their reactions to their Spirit Awards nomination for their debut screenplay.
Cicada is released in cinemas and on digital on 21 January 2022.
