7 minute read
Interview: Sarah Gavron
INTERVIEW
Sarah Gavron
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Photo: IMDb
Photo: The Times Photo: IMDb
It has been 5 years since Sarah Gavron’s last film, Suffrage�e, hit our screens, and now she is back with another powerful, gri�y portrayal of womanhood. Rocks has enjoyed fes�val and awards success, and can now be found on Ne�lix. This film is undoubtedly one of the outstanding Bri�sh indie flicks of 2020 and thoroughly deserving of the acclaim it has received, and then some. We talk to Sarah about her process of working with young actors, the importance of the story this film depicts and how 2020 has played out for her and her team.
Interviewed by Jakob Lewis Barnes
Well, 2020 has been a bizarre year to say the least. How would you describe your year?
It has been a year of such highs and lows. So challenging for so many and cinemas were of course hit hard, sadly. We had planned a release of Rocks in the Spring, just as we entered the first lockdown. The young cast suddenly had no film release, no school and no exams, so we started a weekly zoom where we discussed films and life. That is, un�l the devasta�ng death of George Floyd, which hugely impacted on them and their communi�es. Two of the girls in the cast set up a website with useful links and reading around Black Lives Ma�er, from which I learnt a lot!
We were so lucky to reschedule our release of Rocks in September, in a window when the country opened up. And now we are glad people can find it on Ne�lix.
The success of Rocks has been wonderful to see, and we are huge fans at JumpCut. Did you expect this kind of reac�on at all?
You never know how a film will be received – it is always a nail bi�ng �me - but we were delighted by the way audiences responded. It was a debut film for so many of the cast and crea�ve team, so it was wonderful to experience it through their eyes. Most important to us was that young women connected with it – felt seen.
Speaking of success, massive congratula�ons on the BIFA nomina�ons! How important is it to you to get recogni�on in this way from fes�vals and awards?
It hugely helps! Anything that shines a light on a film is valuable and the nomina�ons were a great boost for the first �me actors in the cast and many of the crew. BIFA as an organisa�on is vitally important for independent Bri�sh film - they supported the release with various social media features, as they did for other films. In terms of fes�vals, we were fortunate to screen at some interna�onal fes�vals at the end of last year – both the London Film Fes�val and Toronto, among others. Fes�vals are a great way for filmmakers to meet their audience and gauge the response to a film. The excitement of the young cast travelling to Toronto was something to behold.
What was it about the story behind Rocks that appealed to you and made you want to make this film at this �me?
We began with the idea that we wanted to make a film about girls growing up in today’s world. When I was growing up I didn’t see films that centred the stories of teenage girls. We set out to find the young cast, before coming up with the script – so that we could build the film with these young people. Once we were into the workshop process, Theresa Ikoko, one of our writers, presented a storyline which she felt would work well with the assembled group and our inten�ons for the film. Theresa had been working on the idea for a while, it was what she describes as a love le�er to her sister and other young black and brown women, who have to grow up before they should. We had an amazing session with the young cast in a writers’ room set up, where they fed back to Theresa and her cowriter Claire on the storyline and the film grew from there. From the beginning it was a true collabora�on where so many contributed and where everyone’s voice ma�ered. I also had an associate director working alongside me who was a crea�ve partner throughout.
This film is completely different to your last venture with Suffrage�e this an inten�onal shi� in style and scale?
For some �me, I had wanted to work collabora�vely and on a story about contemporary young women. When promo�ng Suffrage�e, Faye Ward, the producer and I began to think about making something around what it is to be a woman entering adult life today. We knew if it was to feel resonant and truthful, we had to make it with a young team and the girls of the cast themselves. The way it was produced was very much about catering to the story. That entailed finding a lot of first�me actors, and researching in schools. We also assembled a crew that was 75 percent female and young, and from a range of different backgrounds, so that the girls in the cast would feel comfortable. We wanted the crew to be connected with the world of the story and for the young cast to look behind the camera and see role models.
How did you find the jump from working with established actors like Carey Mulligan and Helena Bonham Carter in Suffrage�e, to working with child actors with no real experience this �me around?
It was different! We, the crea�ve team, spent a long �me workshopping with the young cast, so that we knew them well by the �me we started filming and they trusted us. We a�empted to create an atmosphere on set and a way of working that allowed the first-�me actors to be as free as possible. When working with established actors, they are used to the inhibi�ng nature of a film set, but with Rocks we very consciously removed those elements. We filmed in real loca�ons and in chronological order to make it easier to hold on to the through line of the film. We did very long takes and didn’t shout “ac�on”. It was a huge task for the editor, Maya Maffioli, who had to wade through 150 hours of footage.
Bukky Bakray and Kosar Ali in Rocks (2020) Photo: IMDb
Can you tell us a li�le bit about how you actually put this cast together and how you found these raw talents out there?
We worked with a brilliant cas�ng director, Lucy Pardee, who has o�en street-cast young people from different communi�es. Lucy spent some months researching in schools and then we invited a number of young people to workshops. In addi�on Lucy and her cas�ng associate Jessica Straker held open call audi�ons in schools and youth hubs. Through the process of workshopping over many months it became clear who the girls in the film were going to be. There was a natural chemistry between the group who ended up on screen and they all so generously and boldly commi�ed to the process.
I think what really struck me when watching Rocks was the natural, authen�c way the story developed and the almost documentarian lens you captured this in. Was this a deliberate stylis�c and directorial decision for the film to feel this way? Am I right in thinking you went handheld for this?
It was deliberate yes, in order to give them freedom. Some of the shoot was handheld, but largely it wasn’t, actually. Helene Louvart who was the DP had a way of working that is very fluid. Running two cameras helped - Rachel Clark brilliantly operated the second camera. And the ligh�ng worked so that the cast could move freely, too.
What do you hope people learn or take away from your film?
We hope people see the joy and resilience of these young people. We hope more stories come from communi�es like theirs.
