Too Young For Love

With statistics for teenage homelessness, pregnancies and adoption of their children, escalating at alarming rates, I was intrigued to show characters facing these situations and how they would deal with these emotional, physical and emotional calamities.
Having left home at 15, I fell pregnant aged 16 and I had my child at 17. The father was 4 years older and therefore technically, this was statutory rape, but we were in love and as far as we were concerned, the world misunderstood the true essence and depths of our relationship.
Due to being 21, the father of my child was able to get a council flat, but I had always wondered what may have happened if we were both 15, or indeed, if I had been alone and forced to take another path? What if two 15-year-olds had done nothing wrong, but fall in love with each other? What if, in having their own baby, they were faced with insurmountable dilemmas which pushed them to make various life changing decisions? How would they survive? What would the consequences of their actions be? Does love really conquer all regardless of age, wealth and health.
The backdrop is the residential suburb of Acton, West London where elegant terraced Edwardian and Victorian houses line paved streets away from the built-up tower blocks in the nearby South Acton Estate, a concrete jungle. ‘Too Young For Love’ explores the effects of broken hearts and dreams in two in two well behaved Black characters from middle-class families, who want nothing, but to be together and the lengths they pursue to maintain their unity.
My aim is to exacerbate any complacency with regard to teen love, pull on the heart strings of the viewer, start or continue deep dialogues with all watch the drama which will honestly reflect the raw realities of life on the streets.
‘Too Young For Love’ culminates with the baby the love bird create being left by the mother in a telephone box for another to raise. The short film is the prequel to ‘United Kingdom Reparations’, a feature which starts with that baby being found and follows that child’s life as she matures and becomes a barrister. She finds her father now living in Nigeria. Together they trace and unravel a family history embroiled in the ravages of the slave trade and she champions a petition for reparation for descendants of African and Caribbean slaves living in the UK.

Chrystal Rose