It’s never too late to dream, at least according to the “Boho” gospel.
Presented in the Cannes series, the show follows Kima, her sister Nawal, and friend Alex as they overcome social pressures. Kima’s family insists he should eventually settle down. Instead, she rediscovers her love of dance.
“I’m also a big dreamer, and now I’m even more of a dreamer,” says creator Abby Boutkabout. Director Olympia Alert agrees: “When life gets serious, we tend to forget our dreams or push them to the side. But this show really, really encourages dreams, especially when it comes to women,” she says.
“Not all women want the same things. Not all women want a stable job, a home, and three children.” Kima thinks, “When I was little, what did I want? Oh yeah, I loved dancing.” It opens up a new world for her. ”
The show, sold internationally by Banijay Rights and currently available on Streamz, doesn’t shy away from tough topics. But things still get interesting.
“You can talk about serious things with a little bit of laughter and lightheartedness, and that’s what I do with my friends in real life. I wanted to write something heartfelt,” Boutkabout told Variety.
Alert further added, “When something bad happens, you can make it into a joke. Kima gets fired and has nothing to do with her mother. I think everyone has experienced something like that. The way the actresses portray it makes it really tangible. It’s like you’re right there with them.”
Starring Celine Ayari, Ikram Awlad, and Miss Angel. Initially, one of the main characters was planned to be white.
“We asked ourselves, ‘Do we really need that?’ The appeal of this show is that there are three friends, and that’s it. We’re not focusing on their differences. We’re focusing on who they are,” says Helen Purkey, producer of jonnydepony.
Boutkabout says: “I watch a lot of movies and TV, but I’ve never seen a main character who looks like me, talks like me, or has the same family problems.”
“There are so many of us who don’t recognize ourselves in the fiction that is created. Riz Ahmed gave a great speech about why it’s important that our stories are also written by us. At the end of the day, it’s a question of how we are perceived. Are we seen as human beings or are we seen as less than white characters?”
She also wanted to celebrate Kima’s “imperfect” female characters.
“I’m an ageless person. I’m in my 40s and I’m the dirtiest person I know. I love dirty women. I adore them,” she laughs.
“I’m also the daughter of immigrants, and my parents still look at us a certain way. They came to this country, so we have to do better. We have to be perfect. For our parents, and for this country we came from, we still see us as just passing through.”
“By the time you’re 30, you need a home, you need a relationship, you need children. That’s the image we’re fed every day, and that’s why seeing real women on screen still feels revolutionary. Kima collapsed violently, then went to the kitchen to make herself a sandwich,” the alert states.
“Boho” is all about the “female gaze,” Purkey insists. And for a long time, Kima feels unseen.
“We call her a dreamer, but ‘delusional’ is another way to describe her. What kind of person in their 30s says, ‘I think I’m going to start dancing again?’ I was a little delusional, too, when I was 38 and quit a good job to become a screenwriter,” Bootkabout recalls.
Initially, the show was much darker, influenced by the ongoing pandemic and the transition to booty-kabout motherhood. But this made the message “too obvious.”
“The producers said, ‘Why don’t you write something funny?'” I realized that humor was the counterbalance I needed, also to counteract all these negative feelings. Since then, I’ve been having the best time of my life. ”
Helen Purkey added: “I’m a firm believer that ‘a spoonful of sugar makes medicine better.'” This show says a lot, but hardly feels it. It’s fun and, as Olympia says, like a warm blanket in difficult times. We all need a warm blanket. ”
While the industry continues to lament the end of television’s golden age, she insists that “in Europe we should lead the way, that’s for sure.”
“Things are moving and changing, but in Flanders and Belgium we have never been known for doing what is expected of us. If we keep our creative voice and really know what we are making, we will find an audience.”
This approach is most evident in the dystopian series Arcadia and The Big Funck Up.
“We’re trying to fight against this narrowing of creative boundaries. ‘Old white’ is back, that’s true, but ‘Boho’ shows that things can still be done differently.”
