In these uncertain times, there’s never been a more apt opportunity to simultaneously reflect back and look forward. We’ve entered an unprecedented era, and at the same time Wonderland Magazine finds itself celebrating its 15th anniversary – which means a staggering 15 years of iconic celebrity covers, shoots, interviews and features (pre-order the Autumn 2020 issue here).

To make sense of such a time, this film, XV, captures the future generation of Londoners (a coruscating and eclectic cast of 15-year-olds) on their very London doorsteps, while simultaneously showing how the same 15 years that has shaped the narrative of Wonderland has directly impacted the teenagers of the same age. It is a definitive age of identity, change, establishment.

“It has been a fantastic privilege to go around London to meet the the future generation of Londoners outside their own doorstep,” explains director Pietro Birindelli. “I began the XV project with the intent to show visually how the same 15 years of London that had shaped Wonderland reflected on the teenagers of the same age.

“But as I was meeting the teenagers and their families I had the chance to discuss the lockdown and this strange situation we find ourselves in. I felt from every conversation that the few fragile certainties that those teenagers had started believing in, had been pulled from under their feet like carpet.

“We are all sharing the uncertainties, but in my opinion the years between 14 and 16 are the years that we reference all of our lives. They are the years that define our belonging. The years in which we decide who to look up to and what kind of person we are going to be.

“I decided to contact my friend and poet “Zoka the author” to listen to all my thoughts and try to sum it up in a poem that could explain the worries and anxieties of a generation that has just started to speak, but that hasn’t quite got the confidence or the relevance to express itself. I started shooting more and more with the poem in mind and the whole project took on a more complex narrative shape which I felt it was important in a moment when so many people are looking for answers.”

Watch XV below…