Sunday Dinner challenging stereotypes and positively representing films that younger generations would like to see

Jamaican-British director Monique Needham’s film Sunday Dinner has been crowned the winner of a national film competition with a movie concept that challenges ethnic minority and LGBTQ+ stereotypes.

Ms Needham was announced the winner at the final on March 30 at M&Ms London and has received £25,000 in funding to bring her film concept to life.

Sunday Dinner follows the story of Maya, a young Jamaican-British woman who enlists the help of her grandmother to keep her quirky family in line when her girlfriend comes to dinner.

The M&Ms #FilmsYouWantToSee campaign was created to identify the films that younger generations would like to see made by Hollywood, which challenge stereotypes and positively represent minority groups.

Ms Needham competed alongside three other hopefuls who received funding from M&Ms to create original film trailers based on public Tweets related to the campaign, all receiving £7,500 to make their trailers.

Miss Needham is passionate about broadening the type of stories told about her community.

She has created two short films since 2019, which have been shown and commended at global film festivals.

Miss Needham said: “Being able to make this film means the world to me. It was important to me that people could see themselves, their norm, their day to day in a relatable way that, I think, hasn’t been done before.”

To watch the short film Sunday Diner visit https://www.mms.com/en-gb/films-you-want-to-see

Picture: Sunday Dinner Picture: Taylor Herring M&Ms films you want to see