With LARGO, the filmmakers, Salvatore Scarpa and Max Burgoyne-Moore, take a necessary approach to the refugee crisis, telling the story entirely through the eyes of a child. By centring the narrative on Musa, a young boy confronting trauma and displacement. The decision to adopt a child’s perspective was not only a creative choice but also an ethical one, reminding us that even if we think we share nothing in common with refugees, we all understand what it means to be young, scared, and longing for safety.

Instead of focusing on arrival and assimilation, LARGO explores Musa’s desperate attempt to return “home” – to a place that no longer exists. This powerful reframing cuts through the rhetoric of “go back to where you came from” and forces us to consider the misplaced anger that too often drives hostility towards refugees. In doing so, the film translates the vast, often overwhelming weight of the crisis into something intimate and emotionally tangible, allowing Musa’s journey to speak on behalf of countless unheard stories.

Through Zack Elsokari’s moving debut performance, Rick Joaquim’s sensitive cinematography, and a careful balance of silence, sound, and symbolism, LARGO captures the dislocation, strength, and fragile hope at the heart of Musa’s world. At a time when refugees are still treated as statistics or scapegoats, works like LARGO remind us of the human stakes – and why cinema is such a vital tool for empathy. These are the kinds of stories that shift perception, open dialogue, and, perhaps, begin to change hearts.

Ahead of the film’s screening at the HollyShorts Film Festival in the US, we sat down with both directors to discuss the film in depth.

View of the Arts: You chose to tell this story entirely through a child’s perspective. What were the creative and ethical considerations that came with inhabiting the inner world of a boy like Musa, especially when dealing with trauma and displacement?

We’ve been continually disappointed by the hostile, misguided, or simply disinterested reactions people in our communities are having towards refugees. We wanted to tell a story that might inspire some empathy and remind people of the human beings behind the fear-mongering headlines and dehumanising statistics of “the refugee crisis”. 

That’s why the film is from a child’s POV. It’s an experience everyone can relate to. Even if you feel like you have nothing in common with refugees, you know what it’s like to be a child and homesick or scared. All the creative decisions were about putting the audience in the shoes of a child who feels unwelcome in the sort of British town we grew up in.

The most important decision we had to make was casting the lead role of Musa. We considered casting a child who is a refugee themselves, but we soon realised we didn’t have the resources on a low-budget short film to ensure they would be safe and comfortable in the scenes that could be triggering, especially the scenes at sea or with racist bullying. Thankfully, we found Zack Elsokari, an extraordinary first-time actor. He’s very mature and thoughtful for his age, which is exactly how we’d envisioned the character, and he really cares about the subject matter. He did more research for his role than any actor we’ve ever worked with.

VOA: LARGO not only depicts displacement but also embodies it. How did you approach the challenge of translating the vast, often unfathomable weight of the refugee crisis into something intimate and emotionally tangible through one child’s journey?

It comes down to being as specific as possible. It’s impossible to amalgamate or summarise all the true stories of child refugees and do any of them justice. Musa’s story is fictional and unique; it’s almost magical realism, but that gave us the freedom to make every aspect of it symbolic. One of the key themes we aimed to weave throughout was the cultural dislocation Musa feels in the UK.

VOA: There’s a heartbreaking paradox in Musa’s mission: he is trying to return to a home that no longer exists, to return to look for his parents. What drew you to this idea of “return” as a narrative engine, and how did you shape that sense of impossible longing?

It all started with this xenophobic catchphrase that, unfortunately, you often hear in the UK directed at refugees and immigrants: “Go back to where you came from.” But it seems obvious to us that anyone who uproots and risks their lives in search of safety or freedom would rather have that safety and freedom in their homeland. They would’ve stayed there if they could. LARGO is the story of a homesick and lonely child who takes that offensive suggestion literally.

Other phrases you hear often are: “We have to look after our own first,” and “It’s not our fault they chose to come here.” It’s understandable why some people feel that way; the UK has had over a decade of economic austerity and governments that scapegoat immigrants and refugees, but the anger is misplaced. By inverting the story so that it’s about Musa escaping, not arriving, it forces the characters and audience to reconsider their responsibility in the refugee crisis.

VOA: Visually, the film is also well structured. The British coastline is both beautiful and indifferent. How did your collaboration with cinematographer Rick Joaquim help you externalise Musa’s inner world?

Our DOP, Rick Joaquim, is a genius, and we can’t imagine doing another big project without him. Together, we came up with a visual language and set of “rules” that would help put the audience in Musa’s shoes. One of them was that the camera was always at Musa’s eye level. Another was contrasting visual clutter in close-ups, which makes Musa feel overwhelmed and caged by the British setting, with the sparse and epic wide shots that give him a glimpse of freedom.

Our production designer, Joana Dias, was also essential to achieving this visual language. She found ways to make all the gritty and mundane parts of the very British setting feel alien, scary, and exciting as they would seem to be in Musa’s eyes.

The other secret ingredient to externalising Musa’s inner world was the music, especially Musa’s theme, which was composed by Stuart Hancock and played on the Oud by Rihab Azar. It really evokes the homesickness and loneliness Musa feels, almost like it’s a folk song he faintly remembers from home. It still brings a tear to our eyes whenever we hear it.

VOA: Zack Elsokari’s performance as Musa is breathtaking in its honesty. How did you work with him to access such a raw vulnerability while protecting his emotional well-being during production?

This is Zack’s debut film, but he’s such a smart kid and very emotionally intelligent, so we were confident in him as soon as we first saw his audition tape. We also had his mother, Houda Echoufani, a very talented performer herself, on set to help keep him in the right headspace for the complex emotional scenes. 

One of the things that we figured out early on was that Zack had his own interpretation of how the film ended, what happened to Musa’s parents, and how Musa and Grace’s lives would go on after the events of the film. His ideas were very optimistic compared to our own more cynical views. But this was really the key to his performance, because that undercurrent of hope is what we wanted Musa to feel. His unwavering conviction that everything would eventually work out for the best was the perfect juxtaposition to the feeling of hopelessness that comes from the adult characters and the audience.

VOA: There’s a sense of silence and space in the film – the kind children often inhabit when they’re processing trauma. How did sound design and pacing help you evoke the psychological terrain Musa moves through?

It’s so difficult to find or make space for those pauses in a short film. Keeping the runtime down is important, but those pauses are essential to giving the story a depth of feeling. The audience needs time to reflect. We found it requires a careful combination of editing, sound design, and music.

We also cut as much dialogue as possible when we were writing the script. Musa has had to grow old before his time and bury his feelings and trauma to survive. The little moments of silence you get from him when he reacts to other characters also help the audience to project their own feelings into him and therefore feel more invested in his journey.

VOA: Many films about refugees focus on the journey to a new country. LARGO inverts that structure. Why was it important for you to tell the story of a child who wants to go back – who is driven not by escape but by return?

We’ve sort of answered that already, but the idea of return, not escape, is important. For the audience to feel like they’re with Musa on this journey, they need to understand his motivations completely; they need to want him to go even though they know rationally it’s dangerous and doomed to fail. So it couldn’t just be the push of xenophobia or the pull of homesickness that makes him go; it needs to be both. Then (spoiler warning) there’s the lies and betrayal that give the decision to leave some urgency.

VOA: The adult characters – played by Tamsin Greig, Ammar Haj Ahmad, and Kevin McNally – are orbiting presences. How did you conceive their roles concerning Musa, and what did you want their presence to communicate about how adults relate to children in crisis? 

The adult characters represent the current state of the UK and differing reactions to refugees like Musa. Angus represents the hostility, and Grace the welcoming. Hakim is more complicated; he’s a sort of foreshadowing of how Musa could eventually assimilate, but in a way that sacrifices part of his identity, which is something that he shouldn’t have to do. They all have a part to play in why Musa leaves, but also eventually in trying to rescue him. Hopefully, the people in the audience who identify with Angus find themselves glad that he has a change of heart, and the people who identify with Grace find themselves realising that they might not be doing enough.

VOA: After LARGO, where do you go next? Are you drawn to continue exploring stories of displacement, or are you interested in shifting creative direction for your next project?

We’re very grateful for the attention LARGO has received from festivals so far, and we hope that continues to help the film, the cast and crew, and the subject matter get the attention we think they deserve.

Beyond that, we’ve got a few projects on the go. A lot of them are exploring similar themes of cultural dislocation. We’re developing an anthology TV series about the various immigrant communities that co-exist in London and the experience of living in such a multicultural city. Each episode features a writer/director and a lead actor with a connection to one of those communities. We’re also writing what we hope will be our debut feature. It’s a combination of our own experiences and family histories, set between the UK and Italy, also about dislocation and grief as LARGO is, but a lot more comedic and romantic.

If there’s a chance to expand LARGO into a feature, we’d take it in a heartbeat. There are so many ideas we had to cut or compress when we were writing and editing the short, and we’d love to work with the team again.

Written and interviewed by Maggie Gogler

Featured image courtesy of Salvatore Scarpa and Max Burgoyne-Moore

_{View of the Arts is an online publication dedicated to films, music, and the arts, with a strong focus on the Asian entertainment industry. With rich content already available to our readers, we aim to expand our reach and grow alongside our audience by delving deeper into emerging platforms such as K-pop and Asian music more broadly. At the same time, we remain committed to exploring the vibrant and ever-evolving global landscape of film, music, and the arts, celebrating the immense talent and creativity that define these industries worldwide.}