Ashley Walters' Directorial Debut "Animol": Prayers Off-Camera, a Youth Prison On-Screen

Before shooting, Ashley Walters would pray together with Stephen Graham. This wasn't a scene in the film—it actually happened on set. What the two discussed was the "impostor syndrome" shared by people from working-class backgrounds. This detail speaks more to what "Animol" means to Walters than any plot synopsis ever could.

This marks Walters' feature directorial debut, with a script penned by Nick Love, who previously wrote "Goodbye Charlie Bright" and "Marching Powder." The story follows protagonist Troy, played by Tut Nyuot, a teen who's just entered a young offenders' institution and immediately gets thrown into a world tangled with gangs, loyalty, and violence. The official synopsis describes how Troy is tested from the moment he walks through the door, paired with an emotionally volatile cellmate, and forced to navigate threats and power struggles every single day. Meanwhile, a wordless bond that gradually forms between him and another inmate becomes both a rare comfort behind bars and a potentially fatal weakness.

The film also stars Vladyslav Baliuk as Krystian, Sekou Diaby as Dion, and Sharon Duncan-Brewster as Joy, while Stephen Graham plays welfare worker Claypole. According to the BFI London Film Festival's synopsis, soon after entering prison, Troy gets pulled into the orbits of two people who will determine his fate—Dion, who rules the yard, and the sharp-tongued Krystiyan. Whether these two relationships will help him survive or push him toward destruction is described by the festival as the film's core tension.

"Animol" will premiere at the BFI London Film Festival on October 11, with a full wide release following on October 30.

"Sometimes I feel like I don't deserve this"

In an interview with NME last year, Walters said "Animol" was "the hardest thing" he's ever done. He revealed that during filming, he and Graham would talk about this feeling almost every day: "Sometimes I feel like I shouldn't be here. Sometimes I feel like I'm not good enough, that I don't deserve what I have now. It's a struggle a lot of people go through, but for me it's doubled, because I'm Black."

He went on to say that he often walks into rooms that are almost entirely white, feeling unwelcome or like people are waiting for him to fail. "I use that feeling as fuel. It hasn't broken me yet."

Moving from acting in "Top Boy" to sitting in the director's chair, Walters is tackling subject matter that's familiar territory from his past roles—gangs, violence, and how young people survive under intense pressure. But this conversation about prayer and self-doubt gives the film an added layer of real weight beyond the screen.