We recently connected with Justina Biosah and have shared our conversation below.

Justina, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

Definitely ‘Phoenix Rising’ the short film i directed that was shown at the Cannes film festival on May 22nd 2024. This project was a beautiful collaboration with my sister to highlight sickle cell. Growing up with a sister who has sickle cell and an uncle who had it has made me a big advocate for the invisible illness. After my first short film project, ‘living with sickle cell’ where we had actors portray people with sickle cell, we wanted to take a different approach for this project, by having real sickle cell warriors tell their real stories. We chose my sister, a fashion designer, Barbara Biosah, a model, Patrish Zea and a content creator, Aisatu Bedford King, to share their stories of how creativity helped them in dealing with sickle cell. Sadly a few months after filming the project, Aisatu, lost her battle with sickle cell and passed away at just 25 years old. Something that has been so hard for the team to get our heads around. We then dedicated the short film to her, which made it all the more meaningful. And having the project show at the Palais at the Cannes film festival with the ‘Black women Cannes’ team was just incredible. The film although because of Aisatu’s sad passing is very difficult to watch, but it is also lovely to see her in her creative space doing what she loved. That will always mean so much to all of us.

Justina, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Well my name is Justina, i’m a creative. I used to say i was an actress, but i do so much more than just act. I sing, i write music, i write scripts, i direct, i produce and i host. So ‘creative’ is definitely the best way to describe myself. I love everything about performing and actually started with dance when i was in school, then i went into music and singing and acting followed. I thought that would be it, then i had the urge to tell and creative stories, that’s when i began to write. Starting my production company has been the best way to get my stories out there. I love both being in front of the camera and behind it, whether that’s as an actor, singer, director or host.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

I don’t like to take no for an answer, especially when i know that a project i worked on deserves to be seen. A great example is ‘Phoenix Rising’ i first submitted to the official selection at the Cannes film festival, when i was told it was not selected, i was not having it. It was the most meaningful project and the story needed to be shared. And not just for Aisatu, but for all sickle cell warriors. This invisible illness is something that needs to be highlighted, talked about and acknowledged. A lot of people don’t know about sickle cell because it affects mostly black people, it is known as a ‘black disease’. And i wasn’t going to have the Cannes film festival or anyone else for that matter, tell me i couldn’t show this project, especially because it was so meaningful and created so beautifully and even more so to that fact that we wanted to honour Aisatu. So i contacted all the other Cannes film festival short film competitions that were taking place until we got a yes. And i am so thankful for Yolonda Brinkley the creator of ‘Diversity Cannes, who showcased the film at the Palais theatre on May 22nd 2024 with the ‘Black women in Cannes’ team. I think i even impressed myself with the resilience i showed.

Any resources you can share with us that might be helpful to other creatives?

Growing up in London, we have all these theatre schools where the UK basically select all their talent from. I remember asking my mum if i could go but we couldn’t afford it. I remember reading up on a few UK actors who had attended those theatre schools and heard about how they got scholarships to participate. I thought, if only me and my family knew that they had scholarships for families that couldn’t afford the tuition, that would have been a great path. But honestly i believe it wasn’t meant to be. I believe the path you are on is you’re own journey and your story.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://officialjustina.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/officialjustina/

Image Credits

Designer & Stylist: DUMEBI Fashion Barbara Biosah
Photographer: Genevieve Stephens
Makeup Artist: Olivia Rowland