Experiencing Interruptions?

Better Days

After a suicide attempt, a filmmaker turns to years of home videos, poetry, and rap verses to construct a lo-fi documentary exploring generational trauma, repression, and distorted memory.

Production Years: 2025-2026
Country of Origin: UK
Length: 59 minutes
Format: Feature
Debut Feature: Yes
Genre(s): Documentary, Music, Experimental
Aspect Ratio: 1.19:1

  • Hamza Pool
    Director
    Jahannam (2021) - Nominee: BSC Short Film Awards 2021, Official Selection: Aarhus Arab Film Festival, Cornwall Film Festival, London Lift-Off Film Fest, South London Film Festival, The People's Film Festival | Magpie (2020) - Winner: EVCOM FOCUS Award 2020
  • Robyn Rainsford
    Producer
    Traces of A Soul (2016) – Nominee: Best Short, Cambridge Film Festival | Cocktale of Love (2023) – Winner: Best Short, Lift-Off First Time Filmmaker Session; Best First Time Director, Kosice International Film Festival | Section 2 (2023) – Winner: Best Ensemble Film, Monaco International Film Festival; Best Drama & Best Music, WILDsound Festival; Nominee: Best Short, Lift-Off Global Network Filmmaker Sessions | Broken Bird (2023) – Official Selection: FrightFest, Trieste Film Festival (2024), ECU Film Festival (2025); Nominee: Emerging Raven Award, Trieste Film Festival (2024) | The Downfall of Tray the Wonderhorse (2024)
  • Sara Cooper
    Executive Producer
    Creative Co-Founder and Executive Producer at Plastic Pictures
  • Victoria Goodall
    Associate Producer
    Head of Production at Buccaneer Media · Former Head of Production at Eleven Film · Line Producer on; Ken Park (2002), The Cottage (2008), The Wedding Guest (2018)
  • Shaheen Schleifer
    Associate Producer
    Founder of The Digital LTD · Post-Production Supervisor on; Blue Jean (2022), Pillion (2025), My Fathers Shadow (2025)
  • Project Type:
    Documentary, Experimental, Feature
  • Genres:
    Documentary, Music, Experimental, Essay Film
  • Runtime:
    59 minutes
  • Completion Date:
    January 16, 2026
  • Country of Origin:
    United Kingdom
  • Country of Filming:
    United Kingdom
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    1.19:1
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Digital Cinema Package:
    Unavailable
Director Biography - Hamza Pool

Hamza is a writer, director, and editor whose work explores the intersection of film, music, and new media. From the outset of his career, his practice has focused on examining the relationship between music and image. This thread runs through all of his work, culminating in Better Days, which brings together his musical instincts, delicate editing style, and a preference for lo-fi yet emotionally rich imagery.

Hamza has also directed projects that share thematic and emotional links with Better Days, including the EVCOM award-winning short Magpie (2020). His follow-up, Jahannam (2021), was selected at multiple festivals.

He is currently developing a narrative-feature adaptation of the book Eighteen, written by author and sociologist Corinna Ferros.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

During university, and for several years after, filmmaking was the centre of my life. That changed when a series of personal and family tragedies altered my path, forcing me to step away.

Better Days emerged from that period of uncertainty and struggle. I didn’t set out to make a polished film. I just needed a way to express and process what I had been going through.

As the project slowly came together, the responses from collaborators and friends made me realise that the feelings behind the film weren’t mine alone. The struggles it explores - self-hate, grief, longing - are one’s we all share. Through that, I’ve realised the film is too important to remain private.

Making Better Days also helped me rediscover the love my family’s always had for me. Through that, I began to rebuild something I had lost for a while: love for myself.