# Rocks (2019 film)
*Rocks* is a 2019 British coming-of-age drama directed by Sarah Gavron, in which a 15-year-old [East London](https://www.edgepedia.org/east-london) girl, Shola "Rocks" Omotoso, tries to keep herself and her seven-year-old brother out of social services' hands after their mother abruptly leaves them. It was written by Theresa Ikoko and Claire Wilson, produced by Faye Ward and Ameenah Ayub Allen for Fable Pictures, and developed collaboratively with a largely non-professional teenage cast recruited through workshops in East London schools and youth clubs.[1](https://www.sansebastianfestival.com/2019/sections_and_films/official_selection/7/672548/in) • [2](https://www.thefilmcatalogue.com/films/untitled-girls-film-working-title) • [3](https://resource.download.wjec.co.uk/vtc/2021-22/wjec21-22_7-11/pdf/rocks-factsheet.pdf)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Director and writers | Sarah Gavron; screenplay by Theresa Ikoko and Claire Wilson[1](https://www.sansebastianfestival.com/2019/sections_and_films/official_selection/7/672548/in) |
| Production | Fable Pictures; producers Faye Ward and Ameenah Ayub Allen; financiers include the BFI, Film4, and the Wellcome Trust[4](https://filmsandfestivals.britishcouncil.org/projects/rocks) |
| Running time and certificate | 93 minutes; British Board of Film Classification 12A, for infrequent strong language and moderate sex references[5](https://www.bbfc.co.uk/release/rocks-q29sbgvjdglvbjpwwc00oty0mty) |
| Principal cast | Bukky Bakray (Shola "Rocks" Omotoso), Kosar Ali (Sumaya), D'angelou Osei Kissiedu (Emmanuel)[4](https://filmsandfestivals.britishcouncil.org/projects/rocks) |
| Premieres | World premiere at Toronto International Film Festival 2019 (Platform); European premiere at San Sebastián 2019; BFI London Film Festival 2019 Special Presentation[4](https://filmsandfestivals.britishcouncil.org/projects/rocks) |
| Critical reception | 97% on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer from 66 reviews; Metascore of 95 on Metacritic from 15 reviews[6](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/rocks) • [7](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/rocks/) |
| Awards | Best British Independent Film at the British Independent Film Awards; Bukky Bakray won the BAFTA EE Rising Star Award[8](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9067182/awards/) • [9](https://filmdistributorsassociation.com/wp-content/uploads/Yearbook-2022-FINAL-SCREEN-01APRIL.pdf) |
| Box office | $628,654 worldwide; UK release on 18 September 2020 grossed $400,221[10](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt9067182/) |
## Spoilers
### Story
Rocks lives in a London council flat with her mother and her younger brother Emmanuel. She is popular at school, has a close group of friends, and earns money from her skills as a makeup artist, which she shows on her Instagram account. One afternoon she comes home to find her mother gone, leaving some cash and a note that says little more than "I'm sorry".[2](https://www.thefilmcatalogue.com/films/untitled-girls-film-working-title) • [11](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/rocks-sarah-gavron-bukky-bakray-abandoned-11-year-old-london-girl)
Fearing that she and Emmanuel will be taken into care and separated, Rocks hides the situation. Over the following days she shuttles her brother between friends' houses and a cheap hotel, tries to raise money, and dodges the social workers she and her friends call "the social", while her friendship group begins to fracture under the strain. When the authorities finally catch up with the pair, the support she can still turn to is her friends.[2](https://www.thefilmcatalogue.com/films/untitled-girls-film-working-title) • [12](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2020/sep/20/rocks-review-sarah-gavron-bukky-bakray-kosar-ali-d-angelou-osei-kissiedu)
The nickname has a stated origin in the film: Rocks earned it in primary school by defending her friend Sumaya from bullies, because she was "solid as a rock".[13](https://cinema-alhambra.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/rocks-dp.pdf) The friends come from different backgrounds; Sumaya's family is from Somalia, and Rocks is of Jamaican and Nigerian heritage.[13](https://cinema-alhambra.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/rocks-dp.pdf)
## Collaborative production
**Development began with research, not a script.** Gavron and producer Faye Ward pitched for seed development money from Film4 and the BFI to carry out the research that would determine what the film would be.[14](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/features/rocks-bukky-bakray-kosar-ali-theresa-ikoko-claire-wilson-sarah-gavron-anuradha-henriques-cast-crew-collaboration) Ikoko, a theater writer for whom this was a first film screenplay, drew on her own adolescence and on a desire to thank her older sister for the support she gave her growing up.[15](https://www.redbull.com/gb-en/theredbulletin/theresa-ikoko-rocks-film-interview) • [3](https://resource.download.wjec.co.uk/vtc/2021-22/wjec21-22_7-11/pdf/rocks-factsheet.pdf)
The casting and writing process was unusually open. After 1,300 schoolgirls were involved in the initial casting process, a final group of 30 took part in workshops developing ideas, themes, experiences, and possible stories and dialogue, and the main roles were cast from the girls the filmmakers met.[3](https://resource.download.wjec.co.uk/vtc/2021-22/wjec21-22_7-11/pdf/rocks-factsheet.pdf) • [15](https://www.redbull.com/gb-en/theredbulletin/theresa-ikoko-rocks-film-interview) The production also recruited a 75 percent female crew with a large proportion from underrepresented ethnicities, and met the BFI Diversity Standards' third criterion by inviting young people from local schools onto the set and providing internships, training, and first-job opportunities across the crew.[16](https://forfilmssake.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/bfi-diversity-standards-initial-findings-production-june-2016-march-2019-v1.pdf)
Critics connected this method to the film's effect. The Guardian's Mark Kermode described it as a genuinely collaborative production with an impressively authentic edge, and [Sight and Sound](https://www.edgepedia.org/sight-and-sound) noted that the dialogue's slang and rhythm flow as they would in a London school, partly because the friendship on screen mirrors the one that built up between the actors as they workshopped the film.[12](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2020/sep/20/rocks-review-sarah-gavron-bukky-bakray-kosar-ali-d-angelou-osei-kissiedu) • [11](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/rocks-sarah-gavron-bukky-bakray-abandoned-11-year-old-london-girl)
## Style and reception
The film works in a social-realist register. Hélène Louvart's cinematography keeps the camera at the teenagers' eye level, and Gavron bookends the film with phone-shot footage of selfies and social media, but avoids flashy editing in favor of the neo-realist storytelling tradition.[17](https://www.theartsdesk.com/film/rocks-review-impressively-well-crafted-neo-realist-drama) Reviewers repeatedly noted the naturalism: Metacritic's summary of critics highlighted "exuberant naturalism from its non-professional actors" and a standout performance from Kosar Ali as Rocks's best friend.[7](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/rocks/) The Rotten Tomatoes critics consensus calls it "a fresh, funny coming-of-age story rooted in realistic characters".[6](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/rocks)
The film also carries a social dimension that reviewers and scholars have drawn out. Ikoko linked the story to the removal of youth services and school exclusions, saying the protective umbrella that lets children make mistakes had gone for many young people.[18](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/feature/2019-10-10-rocks-interview-with-theresa-ikoko-and-sarah-gavron-feature-story-by-amber-wilkinson) A UCL analysis by Dr Rachel Rosen of the UCL Institute of Education argued against reading the film simply as a girl prematurely shouldering adult responsibilities, framing it instead as a study of care, childhood, and power.[19](https://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/2020/sep/analysis-care-childhood-and-power-film-rocks)
## Release and awards
*Rocks* premiered at the 2019 [Toronto International Film Festival](https://www.edgepedia.org/toronto-international-film-festival) in the Platform section, had its European premiere in [San Sebastián](https://www.edgepedia.org/san-sebastian)'s Official Selection, screened as a Special Presentation at the [BFI London Film Festival](https://www.edgepedia.org/bfi-london-film-festival), and played Busan as its Asian premiere.[4](https://filmsandfestivals.britishcouncil.org/projects/rocks) Its UK theatrical release came on 18 September 2020, delayed relative to the festival run, and it grossed $400,221 in the United Kingdom out of $628,654 worldwide.[10](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt9067182/)
At the British Independent Film Awards, the film won Best British Independent Film, with D'angelou Osei Kissiedu winning Best Supporting Actor.[8](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9067182/awards/) At the 2021 BAFTAs it received seven nominations, including Outstanding British Film, Best Leading Actress for Bukky Bakray, and Best Supporting Actress for Kosar Ali, and Bakray won the EE Rising Star Award.[8](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9067182/awards/) • [9](https://filmdistributorsassociation.com/wp-content/uploads/Yearbook-2022-FINAL-SCREEN-01APRIL.pdf) Earlier festival recognition included the SIGNIS Award at San Sebastián 2019 and the Grand Prize of the Jury in the international competition at Les Arcs 2019.[8](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9067182/awards/)
## References
1. [Rocks, San Sebastián Film Festival 2019 Official Selection](https://www.sansebastianfestival.com/2019/sections_and_films/official_selection/7/672548/in)
2. [Rocks, The Film Catalogue](https://www.thefilmcatalogue.com/films/untitled-girls-film-working-title)
3. [GCSE Film Studies Focus Film Factsheet: Rocks, WJEC](https://resource.download.wjec.co.uk/vtc/2021-22/wjec21-22_7-11/pdf/rocks-factsheet.pdf)
4. [Rocks, British Council UK Films Database](https://filmsandfestivals.britishcouncil.org/projects/rocks)
5. [Rocks, British Board of Film Classification](https://www.bbfc.co.uk/release/rocks-q29sbgvjdglvbjpwwc00oty0mty)
6. [Rocks, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/rocks)
7. [Rocks Reviews, Metacritic](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/rocks/)
8. [Rocks (2019) Awards, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9067182/awards/)
9. [Film Distributors' Association Yearbook 2022](https://filmdistributorsassociation.com/wp-content/uploads/Yearbook-2022-FINAL-SCREEN-01APRIL.pdf)
10. [Rocks (2019), Box Office Mojo](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt9067182/)
11. [Rocks follows a London girl growing up fast and letting go slowly, Sight and Sound](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/rocks-sarah-gavron-bukky-bakray-abandoned-11-year-old-london-girl)
12. [Rocks review, The Guardian (Mark Kermode)](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2020/sep/20/rocks-review-sarah-gavron-bukky-bakray-kosar-ali-d-angelou-osei-kissiedu)
13. [Éléments de correction: Rocks, Cinema Alhambra](https://cinema-alhambra.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/rocks-dp.pdf)
14. [How Rocks gave its young cast license to shine, Sight and Sound](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/features/rocks-bukky-bakray-kosar-ali-theresa-ikoko-claire-wilson-sarah-gavron-anuradha-henriques-cast-crew-collaboration)
15. [Theresa Ikoko: 'Rocks' writer on the film's creation, Red Bull](https://www.redbull.com/gb-en/theredbulletin/theresa-ikoko-rocks-film-interview)
16. [BFI Diversity Standards Initial Findings: Rocks](https://forfilmssake.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/bfi-diversity-standards-initial-findings-production-june-2016-march-2019-v1.pdf)
17. [Rocks review, The Arts Desk](https://www.theartsdesk.com/film/rocks-review-impressively-well-crafted-neo-realist-drama)
18. [Rocks interview with Theresa Ikoko and Sarah Gavron, Eye For Film](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/feature/2019-10-10-rocks-interview-with-theresa-ikoko-and-sarah-gavron-feature-story-by-amber-wilkinson)
19. [Analysis: Care, childhood and power in the film Rocks, UCL News](https://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/2020/sep/analysis-care-childhood-and-power-film-rocks)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Coming-of-age films › Coming-of-age films released 2010 onward*
*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license