This film is an intimate portrait of Black hair and identity

Crusts, 2025December 1, 2025BeautyQ+AThis film is an intimate portrait of Black hair and identity

India Sleem’s short film Crusts is a tender coming-of-age story, exploring the small moments that shape us

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Some of the first things I remember ever hearing about my hair were extremely negative. “Your hair is very coarse and rough,” a hairdresser told me when I was eight or nine years old. Her words, flippantly spoken in frustration as she struggled to detangle my hair before braiding, stuck to me like glue. From then on, I understood my hair as something unfavourable, burdensome and bad. Many Black people understand and relate to this, as countless children in the UK and US have been sent home from school and denied their education simply for having braids or afro hair.

“I think it’s important for us to think about how many times someone has said something that has carelessly fallen out of their mouth, but is actually very weighty to you,” film director and photographer India Sleem tells Dazed. Sleem is the director and writer of the short coming-of-age film, Crusts. It follows a young, mixed-race schoolgirl named Paris, who hears a friend she loves and admires speaking negatively about her hair. It is a comment that leads her to believe that she must change herself and her appearance for another person’s gaze.

“[Crusts] became my teacher because I had to come of age again by integrating older versions of myself with the wisdom that I have now,” Sleem explains. “[It has] felt like an opportunity for me to realign with my authenticity… to come back to my true self.” Inspired by the old wives’ tale that claims that eating bread crust makes your hair go curly, Crusts is an exploration of friendship and self-acceptance.

Below, we spoke to Sleem about Crusts, the power of our words and her relationship with her hair today.

Crusts, directed by India Sleem, cinematography by Alexis Zabé, composed by Ouri featuring Compton Kidz ClubCrusts, 2025

Crusts is a visually stunning and emotive short film. Where did the idea for the film come from?

India Sleem: The film came from a paragraph I had written four or five years ago. It [the paragraph] helped me understand a part of life where, looking back, the memory felt dense. So I was trying to understand what that was. This paragraph I started nurturing, then lent itself to visuals, and the story began to show up in shapes, and the visuals that were coming through were of an old wives’ tale I had clung to since childhood, about how eating crusts makes your hair curly. For some reason, I never forgot it because I love this visual so much, and then I started marrying the two and building the story.

As I was nurturing it [the script], I realised the journey it was taking me on was more of a journey inward. For the past four years, it forced me to be as authentic as possible, because the story is about authenticity. When I realised this journey was forcing me to shine light in shadowy places, it felt so cool, because this film essentially became my teacher.

As you’ve mentioned, the film is inspired by the old wives’ tale that claims that eating bread crust makes your hair go curly – what is your relationship with that saying? How was it told to you as a child?

India Sleem: I heard it from various adults because of my hair. They’d be like ‘Oh she must be eating her crusts.’ Or ‘Stop eating so many crusts’ – it depended on whose mouth it was coming from.

Now, I understand my hair as being magic, as is every Black person’s hair. It’s crazy how sacred it is

I love the scene where Paris is getting ready for school and tying her shoelaces beside her dad. You can also see a picture of what I assume is her grandfather in the background. It’s so intimate and sweet. What other films were you inspired by when making Crusts? What was on the mood board?

India Sleem: I’m so glad you noticed that – the picture in the background is of my great-grandfather. The moodboard was a tapestry of a million things. Colour-wise, Ali: Fear Eats the Soul by Rainer Werner Fassbinder. I also love Like Mike and, honestly, some Tracy Beaker. Napoleon Dynamite definitely inspired the film, which wasn’t really intentional. I first watched it as a teenager, then rewatched it recently, and realised I was subconsciously referencing it in Crusts. This film, being my teacher, forced me to look at every part of myself and find the marriage of all the things that inspire me and make my own baby from it. In terms of the pacing, I watched a lot of foreign films without subtitles, and I could find the feeling. So I feel like you should be able to watch Crusts, not speak English, or be from England, and still feel something.

The relationship between Paris and Jade is special, and many young people, especially those socialised as women, can relate to having those really intense relationships with friends, who they can feel jealous of and romantic feelings towards. Jade, who is white, makes Paris, who is mixed-race, feel very insecure about her hair. Could you speak to their relationship and the feelings of inadequacy that young Black and mixed-race people can feel in relationships with white people?

India Sleem: In terms of Paris’ relationship with Jade, it’s an infatuation, for sure. Paris thinks about adjusting herself to suit Jade’s gaze. Sometimes we make up those things in your mind, but obviously, sometimes we don’t. For example, with that old wives’ tale about crusts, if it comes from someone who says you should be eating fewer crusts, then you’re not making it up, and it is a microaggression. But in Jade’s situation, she really loves Paris; she just lacks awareness of what she’s saying.

I think it’s important for us to think about how many times someone has said something that has carelessly fallen out of their mouth, but is actually very weighty to you. That’s easy to recognise, but how many times have you done that and not realised? That’s what happens between Paris and Jade. Jade says something about her hair being too hard to handle, and that carries a lot of weight for Paris.

Crusts, directed by India Sleem, cinematography by Alexis Zabé, composed by Ouri featuring Compton Kidz ClubCrusts, 2025

What has this film taught you about yourself?

India Sleem: I made a coming-of-age film, and the coming-of-age experience happens to you between the ages of nine and 13. But what I’ve come to understand is that this coming-of-age experience is ageless. This project became my teacher because I had to come-of-age again by interrogating older versions of myself with the wisdom that I have now, but also with the acknowledgement that I felt wiser as a baby. The experience of Crusts being my teacher has felt like an opportunity for me to realign with my authenticity. To me, coming-of-age is all about coming back to your true self. I think Paris’ baby brother in the film is a great representation of that – you see the baby being so carefree and eating their crusts without a care for its supposed implications.

Babies are so wise.

India Sleem: Dude, you know everything as a child. Then you spend your whole life forgetting, and then when you become an old person, you start panicking because you start remembering, and then you’re like ‘Oh shit, I should have done this.’ The fear bubble bursts, and then you start seeing clearly again.

Courtesy of India Sleem

Did you struggle with your hair when you were younger? How do you feel about it now?

India Sleem: My hair and I have been on a big journey. I have always expressed whatever style I have or had fully. I shaved my head when I was 15 because I wanted to express something different, and I was getting in a lot of trouble at school for my hair. It was in tandem with me wanting to express masculinity. When I first did it, I understood that I was doing it because I kept getting in trouble at school – but that really wasn’t the whole story. Don’t get me wrong, it was a part of it. I remember the feeling of being sent to the head teacher’s office, with notes written home to my parents complaining about my hair, but I also knew that during that part of my life, I wanted to express the more masculine side of myself.

Now, I understand my hair as being magic, as is every Black person’s hair. It’s crazy how sacred it is, with all these different textures, styles and rituals. Sometimes, I can hear my hair saying that she wants more attention, and I’m like, ‘Dude, I know.’

Crusts, premiered at the 69th BFI London Film Festival.

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