M&M’s FUNd Initiative: Sunday Dinner

An up-and-coming London-based film director has been crowned winner of a national film competition with a movie concept that challenges ethnic minority and LGBTQ+ stereotypes. Winner Monique Needham was granted 25,000 pounds funding from M&M'S to create a short film based on her concept 'Sunday Dinner'. The M&M'S #FilmsYouWantToSee campaign aimed to identify the films that the younger generations would like to see made by Hollywood, which challenge stereotypes and positively represent minority groups. 'Sunday Dinner' follows the story of Maya, a young, athletic, Jamaican-British gay woman, who enlists the help of her grandmother to keep her quirky family in line when her girlfriend comes to dinner. Monique Needham competed alongside three other hopefuls, who received funding from M&M’S to create original film trailers based off public Tweets related to the campaign. All receiving £7,500 to make their trailers. 'Sunday Dinner’ was created following a tweet which called for an openly LGBTQ+ person playing the high school jock proud of their sexuality. Monique Needham is a Jamaican-British writer and director, passionate about broadening the type of stories told about her community. She has created two short films since 2019, which have been shown and commended at global film festivals. Winning director Monique Needham said: “Being able to make this film means the world to me. It was important to me that people could see themselves, their norm, their day to day in a relatable way that, I think, hasn’t been done before. Very grateful for M&Ms for giving me the opportunity to tell my story my way.” The M&M’S #FilmsYouWantToSee 2023 final took place on 30th March at M&M’S London and saw each of the four finalists showcase their trailers followed by an award ceremony and screening of the overall winning film, ‘Sunday Dinner’.