Man hopes to get 'Scouse visa' after making city his adopted home

A man came to Liverpool and made an award winning film with no crew and a tiny budget.

Kai Jolley is a 32 year-old actor, writer and producer based in Toxteth. Kai’s passion for the arts started when he was 11 after taking part in a school talent show back in his native Canada. Originally focusing on music, his focus shifted towards acting and producing.

Kai attended Toronto Film School, before moving to Liverpool because of a relationship. He was soon thriving in a range of roles, from performing to being an usher and working on technology behind the scenes.

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It was these experiences which impressed him about the city’s arts scene. He said: “I really enjoyed just all the theatre that Liverpool had to offer in such a small, for lack of a better description, city.

“To have so many theatres that are doing so incredibly well, considering all things and having so many different kinds of arts and entertainment. It's really brilliant.”

The wealth of opportunities spurred Kai to pursue filmmaking. However, the process of doing so was far from straightforward.

Kai was forced to produce his short film at the height of the covid lockdown and his application for funding was rejected. Nevertheless, he pursued the project wholeheartedly.

He said: “I ended up just using the resources I had available to me at the time, which was literally just my phone and like a little zoom recorder. And because of the lockdown, I didn't really have any crew or anything, so it was literally just myself with my phone and my Zoom recorder, and possibly I think, some help from my partner at the time.”

The film was an innovative romantic comedy, entitled Coming Out. The short movie