Take a break with Dr Orson Nava

Hi there! What is your name and role at Ravensbourne?

Hi, my name is Dr Orson Nava, senior lecturer on the Digital Film BA.

It’s time for a coffee break! What’s your go-to drink or snack?

I don’t tend to snack much between sessions but at lunch time the Ravensbourne cafeteria’s jerk chicken and rice is very enticing. I was a vegetarian for a long time but seem to have completely fallen off the wagon. I’m trying to claw my way back, but that jerk chicken is not helping.

How did you get to where you are now?

I started working as a runner and assistant director for film companies Sankofo, Black Audio Film collective and Non-Aligned Production in the early 1990s. I got my first directing commission making a documentary called ‘The Protector’ for ITV about a bodyguard who worked for an anti-fascist organisation.

After that I did an MA in directing at the Northern Media School and made a short sci-fi drama for Channel Four. That led me into directing jobs at the BBC and making music videos for major record labels.

In recent years, I’ve made a lot of films for university research centres and got my PhD in 2019. I’m just finishing a short drama about the human/artificial intelligence relationship that I shot at Ravensbourne last year as a knowledge exchange project, and I’m developing a six-part drama series with BBC1 that is based on my award-winning political thriller ‘A Viable Candidate’. 

At the moment, I’m also working on setting up a centre for film practice as research at Ravensbourne where filmmakers and academics can collaborate on creative projects.

What do you do in your role at Ravensbourne?

I teach film practice on a number of different modules but have been running my own module on music video production for second years and overseeing the third-year music video final major projects. I have also been co-organising a conference on creative practice and the impact of new technologies such as AI, that is happening on Thursday 27 June.

Any exciting projects on the horizon?

I’m working with a human geographer from the University of Edinburgh on a research project focused on the experiences of migrants traveling to Europe from war zones like Afghanistan. I’m going to be filming at a psychiatric unit in Paris where the mothers of children who have been lost during the journey are being treated for trauma.

In some ways it may be a depressing project to work on, but it’s incredibly important to build empathy with migrants who are being forced to travel vast distances and across borders to escape armed conflict and climate change.

What is something that people may not know about you?

I was the British light continuous kickboxing champion and fought in the world championships in Slovenia in 2001.

How do you like to unwind and destress?

It’s a challenge living in London, as urban living is intrinsically stressful. We are surrounded by people, sensory stimuli, and there is a real lack of nature and open space. I find escaping London and going somewhere I can go and look at the sea relaxing.

What advice would you give to your 18-year-old self?

Try not to stress too much. Things will work out.

I can’t stop listening to… podcasts about alien cover ups.

A book I recently loved is… playwright Arthur Miller's autobiography, ‘Timebends’. I’m reading it at the moment.

People should watch… ‘Sam – A Saxon’ on Disney+.

If I won an all-expenses-paid trip, I’d go to… Barbados as I’m talking to academics there about setting up a research partnership with Ravensbourne University London.