Henry Blake spent 11 years as a youth worker, mentoring students during school hours while working with other artists on ideas for making films. He discovered that in this role, intended as a side earner, he “was really good at working with really tough, complex cases”.
For years, he kept his two worlds separate. “I was developing as a filmmaker and I was interested in rolling the dice on a few other projects that were very different in tone and style,” he says. “But I knew at some stage I was going to have to bring those worlds together.” The result is County Lines, a moody account of a withdrawn, chronically bullied 14-year-old boy who is spotted and groomed by the local drug dealer.
Source: ‘You’re from Middle Earth!’: The Kiwi director who won the trust of drug mules