Profile
Born in London, and raised in Toronto, Shari Sharpe is a filmmaker of Jamaican descent who brings unapologetic humour to her work. She began her career writing features for TV, paving her way to L.A. Up next: two short films she directed and produced.
In 2020, Shari was the Pilot Winner of the ScreenCraft Comedy Contest and a winner in the UCLA X Writing Competitions. Her certificate in Screenwriting at UCLA Extension complemented a successful academic career, earning a BA at the University of St Andrews, an MSc at the London School of Economics, and an MA at USC Annenberg.
Growing up in the 90s, media fed the idea of women being perfect or striving to be so – looking one of two ways, and getting everything done, from the job to the guy to her nails with just one flick through a magazine. Once older, it dawns: women are flexible, changeable, and of course, they make mistakes.
The origin of this project was in the simple idea that, while there are women who fit in the box of “great expectations”, what about those who grow up realising all-too-harshly they do not?
That’s where MOLE comes in.
Because Mole isn’t that. Mole could never be that. Maybe Mole even wishes those rites of passage were her problems and would happily take them on, because then it’d give her some idea of identity. Of who she is. Of who, or what, she wants to be.
I was drawn to this project because I love troubled women. Not out of pity. Out of relatability.
Especially troubled women who just can’t hack it being anything other than unrepentantly themselves. But, with Mole, there was a twist – something that hooked me. You can’t help but wonder… Is she being herself? Is she discovering? Creating? Forcing it?
Or does she live in the space of reinventing? In a constant cycle to get it right?
A death and rebirth.
Death and rebirth.
Death.
Rebirth.
And if that’s ever felt like you… then, meet Mole. – – – – – thanks to Film Freeway
Opinion
Mole is a film based on reinventing yourself. It captures the essence of what many
young women go through as they navigate their twenties. The story centres around a
woman’s journey to pick up the pieces of her life after a DUI arrest, which becomes her
wake-up call to start making changes.
The film doesn’t show this journey as a simple, straightforward path. Instead, we see the
trials and tribulations as she explores new relationships and a renewed focus on her
career, making her transformation deeply relatable. – – – – – by Chaniya Essome
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