‘Shy Radicals’ from Tom Dream, the director behind Gucci’s and Northface’s recent viral hit with Francis Bourgeois, is a portrait of award-winning artist, activist, and author Hamja Ahsan, and the story behind his remarkable book and satirical manifesto Shy Radicals, which calls for all shy, quiet, and introverted people to unify and overthrow Extrovert-Supremacy.

“For too long loud people have dominated media and politics. We’ve been subjected to too many years of unbearable Boris Johnson-style gesturing and bullying behaviour. It’s time for a quieter perspective” says Dream. “In Shy Radicals Hamja Ahsan aims to create a shy utopia, a nation-state for all quiet, introverted and autistic spectrum people, where the national anthem is the sound of a seashell and the national flag is the sign of an ellipsis ‘…’"

“In this documentary, I try to blur the line between reality and fantasy, like the film’s subject Hamja Ahsan does in his work. To give the viewer an insight into Hamja’s imagination, whilst also exploring some of the deeper context, like the years of campaigning for his brother’s release from prison that inspired his unique approach to his artwork.”

“We thought it would be fun to recruit people for the shy resistance as part of the filmmaking process. We had written support from Radiohead giving us permission to use their song ‘Creep’ as our shy anthem, and the film also includes performances from some of my favourite shy artists such as Arlo Parks, Crystal Batsm and Art School Girlfriend."

"As commander-in-chief of the introvert resistance, Hamja is on a never-ending tour to overthrow Extrovert Supremacy. This film is just the beginning.” 

In his book, Hamja Ahsan has not simply created an artwork, he has created a world that blurs the boundaries between creator and creation, between real life and the life of the imagination, between reality and imagined fiction in which he is a leading character. The documentary follows Hamja as he deals with the trauma and despair of his brother’s extradition case, whilst travelling the world inspiring and educating others through creativity and activism.

The film, which has been touring the festival circuit, features Brit Award-winning artist Arlo Parks performing Radiohead’s Creep. The cover, first suggested by Tom for the film, was released by Arlo and includes a video taken from the film. Tom’s frequent collaborator, Art School Girlfriend also performs in the short.