Film Reviews & Movie Analysis

Written and directed by Jasmin Nunes

Navigating life in England a single immigrant mother attempts to bring a taste of Caribbean food and culture home (16mins).

Ackee and Saltfish packs a lot into a short runtime, touching on how assimilation can widen the cultural gap between first and second generation immigrants — while subtly shaming the diaspora for how easily cultural roots can be forgotten.

There’s a warm, grainy texture to the cinematography that gives the film a 80s/90s quality, backdating and almost mythologising the philosophical quandary of what “a better life” quietly costs.

Kids will be kids, but the children in Ackee and Saltfish could just as easily be named Rude and Disrespectful: spitting out food, calling their mum “fam,” dumping their backpacks on the ground. It’s hard to sympathise with their ignorance, though arguably their behaviour is the point — an embodiment of an “England,” absorbed from peers and brought home to further isolate their mother in this grey new world. It’s brutally effective, especially as she is left to gather herself and tend to her ketchup-flavoured wounds.

There’s a bleak acceptance to the film that lingers — a recognisable ache for anyone who has ever felt like they’ve had to silently watch their culture fade away with the next generation.

Curious about Ackee and Saltfish (2025)? You can learn more about the short film here.