Inspired by the words of the late Nelson Mandela, and the song ‘Capture Land’ by Jamaican artist Chronixx, Nabil Elderkin’s Captureland is a measured tale of charismatic Rastafarian Tocky and his dreams of a pilgrimage to the holy land. Adopting a leisurely Rastafari-esque pace to proceedings, Elderkin’s short is a poetic thriller that centres around one man’s desire to leave behind his wayward past and pursue the purpose he feels his life needs.

“I am not a saint, unless you think of a saint as a sinner who keeps on trying.” – Nelson Mandala

If the name Nabil Elderkin looks somewhat familiar to you, then you probably recognise it from his high-profile music video work for the likes of Kanye West, Bon Iver and Frank Ocean (you can visit his Vimeo page if you want to check out his music videos). Captureland is a completely different beast to his promo work however, this isn’t a project about attention-grabbing visuals, this is a slow-paced mediative piece more about ideals and theology than thrills and spills. Speaking to the director about Captureland, the filmmaker revealed how his evolving approach to music videos really helped shape his process when it came to working with a more traditional narrative format. “I have tried in the last couple of years to really push my music videos”, Elderkin says, “so they are more like short films, rather than the traditional hard cutting/beat driven videos. This helped me with the style and approach, but even this was much more challenging as the dialogue is something I really had to spend time with. As I wanted to ensure I kept the authenticity with the Jamaican and more specifically Rastafarian culture, all the time painting a picture that is respectful. It was a great experience and I was very fortunate to have a great small crew and talent that gave me so much.”

“Carry we go home, Carry we go home. And bring we gone a east. Cause man a rasta man. And rasta nuh live pon no capture land.” – Chronixx

Created as part of the ‘Power of Words’ series, an initiative that looks to inspire filmmakers to use the legacy of influential figures (in this case Nelson Mandela) as inspiration for their narratives, Elderkin also looked to another, less famous, wordsmith for inspiration. Adopting the story contained in a song by Reggae musician Chronixx, also titled ‘Capture Land’, into the basis of his narrative although the combination of these influences seems a little odd at first, on-screen they come together to form a very unique short film. “I was on a trip to Jamaica for another project and I was introduced to the song”, Elderkin admits when quizzed about the Chronixx influence, “A friend of mine Philip ‘Winta’ James who was the producer of the song and album that ‘Capture Land’ was on. He played it for me to see my interest in doing a music video. In about 30 mins I came up with a rough idea for a music video and then it clicked that this was the base idea I wanted to make for the ‘Power of Words’ series. The words in the song painted the picture of a journey for Rastafari’s journey back to Africa. I then wanted to paint the days leading to the departure in which you see Tocky and others seemingly doing shady deeds which then reveal in the end there true intent.”

Currently preparing to shoot his first feature Gully in July, Elderkin describes it as a “very special script that I am I excited to bring to life” – you can keep up with Elderkin’s work over on Vimeo or Twitter.