Review Fix Exclusive Queens World Film Festival Coverage: Inside ‘Uniform’

Review Fix chats with director Ellie Foumbi, who lets us know all about the film and what to expect from it at this year’s festival.

Review Fix: What was the inspiration for your film?

Ellie Foumbi: The film is an adaptation of Jeffrey James Keyes’ one-act play of the same name. When we shot this, it was a few months after Angelina Jolie’s daughter, Shiloh, announced that she wanted to be referred to by a masculine pronoun. We felt the timing was ripe to tackle gender identity in children. There was a debate at the time about whether kids should be allowed to experiment at a young age. We decided to dramatize that debate within a lesbian couple mainly to show that they are no different from any other couple.

Review Fix: What did you learn about yourself while making?

Foumbi: It was a very challenging production and many things went wrong at the last minute but I was surprised in my ability to improvise on the fly. Some of that footage was better than the stuff we planned.

Review Fix: What was the most challenging part of making it?

Foumbi: The most challenging part for me was having a strong-willed producer and a co-director to agree with. We had many challenging moments when we all wanted to go in different directions. Coming to a consensus was hard but we learned to be patient with each other and were able to find the right balance for the film.

Review Fix: How do you want it to be remembered?

Foumbi: I want the film to be remembered as a family film because that’s what it is. It about parents who are struggling to raise their son and, like in many families, don’t always agree on what the best way to deal with a perceived problem/challenge.

Review Fix: How does it feel to be a part of the festival?

Foumbi: It feels amazing! This is our NY premiere so it means a lot to us to be able to screen the film for our family and friends and also to be part of such a well-respected festival.

Review Fix: What’s next?

Foumbi: I just shot a new film with my African family because I was very affected by Trump’s comments about Africa. I wanted to make a film about African immigrants in NY. We are now in post-production and excited to share the film with the world when it’s ready.

Review Fix: Anything else you’d like to add?

Foumbi: I’m so grateful for the opportunity to be part of this festival and to meet amazing peers whose work I may not have been aware of otherwise. It’s been a wonderful experience so far and look forward to submitting other films!

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 14230 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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