Troi Lee, also known as DJ Chinaman, and filmmaker Caroline Williamson are recipients of the Netflix Documentary Talent Fund for their upcoming documentary Turn Up The Bass, which will tell the story of Troi’s 20-year career as a deaf DJ and pioneer of the deaf rave scene.
The pair were one of the five filmmaking teams who will receive funding and professional support to make a short documentary on the theme of “Connection,” as part of the second year of the Netflix Documentary Talent Fund.
What is the Netflix Documentary Talent Fund?
The Netflix Documentary Talent Fund (NDTF) was created to break down barriers to access for emerging filmmakers. The initiative also provides them with a foundation of knowledge as well as hands-on training in all aspects of the industry to allow them to flourish in their careers.
Each team will be empowered to produce a short documentary between 8 to 12 minutes long with a budget of £30,000 that will be released on Netflix’s YouTube channel in the New Year.
As part of the process, they will now undergo boot camp training from specialists at Netflix who will coach and host workshops covering all aspects of production including legal, creative, HR, production and finance.
The judges for this year included Julia Nottingham (Founder and CEO, Dorothy Street Pictures), Orlando Von Einsiedel (Oscar and BIFA winning Director, The White Helmets, Evelyn and Founder of Grain Media), Jenny Popplewell (Director, American Murder: The Family Next Door) and Kate Townsend (VP Documentary Features, Netflix).
The recipients of the inaugural year of the fund saw great success with their films. Love Languages, a film by Jason Osborne and Precious Mahaga, was long-listed for Best British Short Film byBAFTA this year.
The application process
Entries were open from 16th January to 16th February 2023. For the first round, applicants were required to submit a logline (one sentence); a short synopsis and a creative statement about their documentary idea.
Following a rigorous application process and thousands of applications, a shortlist of twelve filmmaking teams were invited to Netflix’s UK HQ to pitch in front of a panel of industry experts.
The final documentaries will be launched in early 2024 and will be showcased at an event attended by industry figures to help our talent expand their networks and advance their careers.
The other successful recipients and their projects are:
- Anna Snowball & Abolfazl Talooni – Iranian Yellow Pages, Iranians in London, trapped between two cultures, search for connection by placing weird and wonderful adverts in the Iranian Yellow Pages.
- Anna Rodgers & Zlata Filipovic – Two Mothers, An unusual bond compels an Irish mother of twins to travel to war-torn Ukraine to rescue the woman who carried her babies.
- Logan Rea & Krishna Istha – First Trimester follows a transgender performance artist as he interviews hundreds of potential sperm donors who live on stage in a quest to find the perfect connection, one that will enable him and his partner to start their family.
- Olivia Smart – Black People Can’t Swim, Drowning isn’t an option as three people tackle their biggest fear.
Turn Up The Bass – deaf DJ Troi Lee puts on his 20th-anniversary show
Turn Up The Bass is an inspirational story of DJ Chinaman, who pioneered the deaf rave scene by connecting the deaf community with music. As the first deaf artist to perform at Glastonbury Festival, he has changed the lives of many young deaf people.
In the documentary, we follow Troi as he puts on his 20th-anniversary show in Rich Mix, East London, this October – celebrating 20 years of ‘deaf rave’ and showcasing his protégées of deaf and disabled breakdancers, MCs and sign rappers. But pulling it off and communicating his vision for the heaviest bass and deepest vibrations – won’t be easy.
Troi Lee – the deaf DJ behind the decks
Following the announcement of the winners, we got to speak to Troi Lee about his career in the music industry as a deaf DJ and his feelings about producing this documentary.
We first asked Troi about his level of hearing loss and how he manages to communicate: “I was born deaf – my umbilical cord was wrapped around my neck in the womb but my identical twin was born hearing. I have five siblings and I’m the only deaf person in my family so I relied a lot on lip reading growing up.
I can speak and also communicate with all my deaf friends using BSL. I actually wear an analogue hearing aid in one ear, which is my DJ ear and a digital hearing aid in the other ear. I find the digital hearing aid distorts music in some way.”
There has been a misconception that deaf people cannot and do not like music because they can’t hear but Troi is living proof anyone can love music:
“I was born and grew up in a diverse, multicultural community in Hackney, East London. The music scene there really influenced me. My twin brother was a rock drummer and my cousins were DJs and MCs, so I was constantly surrounded by music.
For me, I FEEL the music even though I can’t hear it in as much detail as them, it’s the bass and the vibrations that I connect to.”
Troi is also the founder of Deaf Rave, an organisation that creates ways for deaf people to attend music events and a platform for other talented deaf musicians and performers. Troi told us more about Deaf Rave and the amazing work it does:
“Deaf Rave came about because I felt there weren’t enough spaces and events for deaf people to enjoy and access music. We have the bass LOUD and BSL performers on stage. I set up Deaf Rave so my community could share their talent and create their own music.
Over the last 20 years, we’ve gone from setting up parties to DJ-ing at huge festivals across Europe and we put on all sorts of events, workshops and performances. Deaf Rave prides itself on nurturing new talent from the deaf community – we’ve discovered deaf MCs, rappers, sign singers and dancers.”
Troi has been performing DJ sets at gigs and festivals across the UK and Europe for the past two decades. He shared his favourite performance of his career so far and what shows he has coming up this summer:
“My first performance at Glastonbury Festival was pretty special! I was the first deaf DJ artist to ever perform there and it was a huge thing for Deaf Rave and my community.”
He added: “My diary is packed as usual! I’m performing at Boomtown Festival and festivals in Croatia and Germany. And my artists are all really busy too – there is so much talent out there and they’re all smashing it.”
We then went on to discuss how the idea of the documentary Turn Up The Bass came about and how Troi came to work with the filmmaker Caroline Williamson.
Troi said: “Caroline approached me about the project but we’ve actually known each other for over a decade. Caroline made a short film about me for a Japanese broadcaster (NHK), quite early in my career, so she knows the journey I’ve been on and had been following it.
She heard about the 20th-anniversary festival in October and wanted to film it, then heard that Netflix was looking for ideas on ‘the theme of connection’ so it was the perfect fit! I know she’s looking for a deaf director for the project so any film or media graduates or up-and-coming deaf documentary makers should get in touch with her.”
Troi continued to share how he felt about winning funding from the Netflix Documentary Talent Fund and his excitement to start filming: “It’s a huge honour and I feel really excited to be representing my community and sharing the story of Deaf Rave. There are so many misconceptions about the deaf community. People don’t believe we can enjoy or make music. I’m excited to debunk some of the myths and show the world just how deaf people party and make music.
I can’t wait to get started on the documentary and Netflix is the perfect partner, they really care about telling stories like this. Representation of deaf and disabled people on screen really matters.”
You can follow Troi Lee on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Caroline Williamson – the filmmaker of Turn Up The Bass
We were also fortunate enough to interview the filmmaker of Turn Up The Bass – Caroline Williamson – about her career and plans for this documentary featuring DJ Chinaman.
Caroline started by telling us a bit about herself and her career background in filmmaking: “I’ve worked in TV for 15 years and been directing documentaries for 10 years. I began working on a BBC Three series and have made films about all sorts of subjects from storm chasers to paramedics.
As Executive Producer of this film, I’m excited about nurturing new talent and hopefully finding a director from the deaf community. That’s why the Netflix Documentary Talent Fund is so great, it really helps incubate new talent.”
Caroline continued to explain what inspired her to pitch a documentary about Troi Lee: “I’ve known Troi for over a decade, I made a short film about him at the start of his career for NHK, Japan’s public broadcaster, and it’s been incredible watching his career progress. He has opened so many doors for people and nurtured so much new talent.”
As this documentary is focusing on deaf and disabled communities, we asked if Caroline has any personal experience of deafness or disability and/or produced other films about disability.
She said: “Yes, as I mentioned I made a film about Troi and Deaf Rave in my 20s. A family friend used to DJ a lot at deaf parties, which is what first inspired the story. My mother-in-law is also partially deaf.”
Caroline went on to tell us what we can expect from the documentary Turn Up The Bass: “The film will tell the story of Troi’s life and legacy. It will show Troi’s incredible journey and his overcoming a lot of barriers to be where he is. We’re also focusing on his 20th-anniversary festival in October, which is a culmination of his career so far, showcasing some extremely talented deaf MCs, sign singers, dancers, DJs and rappers.
She added: “It will be subtitled and there will be lots of interviews in BSL.”
Lastly, Caroline told us how it felt for her to win funding from the Netflix Documentary Talent Fund and her eagerness to begin filming:
“It was a dream come true for Troi and me to get his story on such a major platform. I understand from Troi that the deaf community are often overlooked and underrepresented, so it is fantastic that this film will give the deaf music scene some of the recognition it deserves. We can’t wait to get started!”
Caroline concluded: “We are looking for a deaf director who uses BSL, so hopefully, some of your readers can spread the word or apply! Ideally, we want someone with media or filmmaking experience but they might not have directed their own film before.”
You can find out more about Caroline Williamson and contact her about the director opportunity by visiting her website Galore Productions and following her on Instagram.
You can find further details on the fund can be found at www.netflixdocfund.co.uk. You can also watch previous NDTF films on Netflix’s Still Watching YouTube Channel.