Letitia Wright has admitted there were times when she “wanted to give up” while making her challenging directorial debut.

The Black Panther actress has written, directed and produced the short film Highway to the Moon, which will premiere at the South London Film Festival on Saturday.

The coming-of-age fantasy drama, starring Kenyah Sandy and Lamar Waves, follows the experiences of young Black men whose lives have been abruptly cut short. It was inspired by London’s knife crime crisis and the deaths of Wright’s friend’s brother and the model Harry Uzoka.

Wright took directing and producing courses alongside her acting jobs to prepare for her debut, but nothing could have prepared her for the steep learning curve that comes with stepping behind the camera.

“It had its difficult moments. Some days I wanted to give up, but the boys, honestly, it’s the young boys and this story that just kept me going,” she told The Guardian.

“Overall, it was a great experience, but I was definitely in the trenches,” she joked. “But in the end, I made something that I’m really proud of.”

The 31-year-old was determined to avoid well-worn stereotypes and showing knives on-screen because she wanted to depict the crisis from a different angle.

Speaking of her hopes for the film, Wright added, “I want this to really hit home with our boys when they watch it. It’s like, dang, I’m meant to be here. He’s meant to be here. We’re meant to have a good quality of life.”

Wright previously wrote and produced the 2021 short film Things I Never Told My Father.

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