Director's Works
Dragon Boys Tom Ringsby
Tom cut his teeth shooting and living with punk bands in Cape Town, South Africa, before moving to London, UK and embarking on a path back to documentary & portraiture via music videos and co-founding creative house Intergalactic Studios. Tom's work in any medium focuses on variations on the same theme; human beings. Aiming to capture people and communities in an honest and enlightening way by not treating them simply as subjects, but collaborators as well.
I first met Prince, a founding member of the Dragon Boys, as my student at a creative summer-school in Ghana while teaching filmmaking several years ago. We stayed in touch, sharing life events, lessons and philosophies as Prince grew up to be a role model and pillar of his community. He kept sharing videos of him and the Dragon Family training, developing and performing their incredible routines. After years of invitations I finally decided to return to Accra with a Bolex camera and a suitcase full of film, resulting in a three-week creative collaboration with Prince and the Dragon Boys as they welcomed me into their community and offered complete access to their lives. I tried to capture them the way the local kids see them, as superheroes.