WomenCinemakers, Special Edition, August 2018

HSING YING TSENG

KIRSTEN BURGER

BETSY REDELMAN

CAREY RYAN

MARIE FAGES

BRITTANY SAMSON

MAREESA STERTZ

NARIN SHECH

RITA FERRANDO

MEG SUTTON

VALIA PHYLLIS ZWART

INDEPENDENT

INDEPENDENT WOMEN’S

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Valia Phyllis Zwart

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Valia Phyllis Zwart

Lives and works in Oslo, Norway

Aksel is renowned for his ability to predict the future, and suddenly he gets a vision – the elderly farmer Knut will die in three days. When he tells Knut this, the old man initiates a mission to save the farm from falling into the hands of his annoying brother. Even though he’s going to be six feet under in three days, he’s not going down without a fight.

An interview by Francis L. Quettier and Dora S. Tennant womencinemaker@berlin.com

Hello Valia and welcome to WomenCinemakers: before starting to elaborate about your artistic production we would like to ask you a couple of questions about your background: you started your career in the theatre as a performer, director and producer: how did these experiences direct the trajectory of your artistic research? Could you tell us your biggest influence and how did they affect your work?

I got my start as a performer in small Theatre group in my hometown Athens in Greece and later in London.

Those years in London have been the greatest influence in my life. Not only because I was lucky to be taught by the latest Sam Kogan and the Science of Acting, but also because of the fact that I was watching Theatre in one of the most culturally vibrant cities in the world. I got myself familial with both world classic plays and new writing and got to the habit of chasing great stories and characters. But it wasn’t until I started my training as a director that I learnt that is not just about telling a story but it is the way a story is told that engages emotionally and intellectually the audience. And I was lucky around that period to watch Platonov (Anton Chekhov) from Maly Drama Theatre of St Petersburg at Barbican Theatre. And although I was familiar with the play it was the first time that I watched realism created in a surreal

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world and where the music, set, gymnastics and even a real firework display added up to superb evening of entertainment at the Barbican. However, the highlight of that night were the unforgettable performances that made me defined Art and without denying the importance of stage directing as the process of creating the totality of artistic ideas it became clear that good directing can be seen only through good acting.

I moved slowly into stage and later film producing as a personal need to have the freedom of choice regarding the material and the wholeness of the artistic idea. That gave me the opportunity to work with different creatives on early steps of filmmaking in order to form interesting and truthful stories and characters. The aim has always been to understand ourselves through Art and that I think can be achieved be finding out how characters live and behave as unobserved. It is like watching life through a keyhole.

For this special edition of WomenCinemakers we have selected , a captivating short film that our readers have already started to get to know in the introductory pages of this article. When walking our readers through the genesis of You've made your bed, now lie in it, Could you tell us what did attract you to this particular story?

The original concept of the film is based on a true story from a small rural village in the middle of the harsh landscape of West of Norway. In real life a farmer destroyed his farm so as to not leave anything for his

brothers to inherit. This ultimate goal can be seen as egoistic, narcissistic and selfish. This “negative” drive is the essence of the film and this is what I set out to capture. The character of Knut is embedded with a certain attitude from the Norwegian culture that Norwegians wouldn’t necessary want to be associated with: the importance of ownership above intimate relationships. That is the essence of the story and that is what attracted me in the first place to make “You’ve made your bed, now lie in it”.

A still from You've made your bed, now lie in it

Elegantly shot, features stunning cinematography by Pål Ulvik Rokseth: what were your aesthetic decisions when shooting? In particular, what was your choice about camera and lens?

was shot on Arri Alexa with anamorphic lenses because what we initially were looking for was a cinematic look and feel. By using widescreen cinema standard as a canvas,

allowed us to paint as much information and detail as possible on the screen for the audience to enjoy. This choice was made because in a short you don't have time to tell the characters back-story. Therefore we wanted to add as much visual information about the life of the character and the life on the farm in the visuals.

It is a very negative story if you look at the core of it. And I decided along with Pål, the production designer and the director that we wanted to add fantastic

elements in the visuals. We created a "heightened reality" to create a dynamic visual language. In other words we "sugarcoated the picture" with humor and impressive shots to keep the audience interested throughout. If the story became too dark then it would just leave the audience feeling depressed and angry. And we didn't want to do that.

The worst thing you can do to an audience is to waste their time. They are watching your film to be surprised

and discover new elements about life or themselves. And it is our job to deliver it to them. Therefore we wanted a quick pace and not dwell too much about the fact that this guy has three days to live. Instead we focus on what the characters choices are within the circumstances.

In your film you leave the floor to your characters, finding an effective way to walk the viewers to develop an emotional bridge between their own

A still from You've made your bed, now lie in it

inner spheres and the characters of Aksel and Knuth and Vidar: what was the preparation with actors in terms of rehearsal? In particular, do you like spontaneity or do you prefer to meticulously schedule every details of your shooting process?

This film is based on a true story with some additional fictional elements such as the character of Vidar (the neighbor), the character of Aksel (the psychic) and his vision of Knut’s death.

We shot on location that was close to where this story actually happened, so in terms of rehearsals for actors that was really inspiring because we had a lot of information about surroundings and the background of the main character. So the rehearsal time was really efficient and fruitful.

In terms of casting, Vidar (the neighbor) and Aksel (the psychic) were played by non-actors. Sverre Horge who plays Knut was the only professional actor in this film. When we were casting we wanted to find actors who were as close to the characters in the script. The man who plays Aksel, is in real life the major of the rural town in West of Norway where the story takes place. As a major he already has the respect of the people of the village and he brings a certain authority with him wherever he goes. So does Aksel. He is respected and his words are solid.

With its brilliantly structured storytelling, imparts unparalleled psychological intensity to the narration, to unveil an ever shifting internal struggle. We have particularly appreciated the way your film gives to the viewers the sense they are watching excerpts from real life: would you tell how did you develop the structure of your film in order to achieve such moving authenticity? Moreover, how does everyday life's experience fuel your creative process to address your choices regarding the stories that you tell in your films?

A still from You've made your bed, now lie in it

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A still from You've made your bed, now lie in it

Throughout the writing process of we were trying to find the best way to deliver the bad news to Knut. Who is the person who gives the news to Knut? It took fifteen drafts and countless rejections from the film institutes before we

landed on the choice of Aksel. In the beginning we had a scene at the doctor´s office, and Knut´s son. We played with different kind of choices. We brought Thomas Solli (scriptwriter) into the project to rewrite the script. After couple of more drafts, he came up with the idea of a

psychic to deliver the news. We thought that the supernatural element of a psychic would work well in the village world. We never wanted to look down on the job or role of psychic or ruin creditability but instead create fiction and humor.

In terms of structure there was always a twist at the end. In earlier drafts we had Knut actually dying in an accident in ACT III so the inevitable happened but in a funny unexpected way. But then Thomas gave the twist to the character of Aksel. He was the one who had a

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fault vision. That was fun to contemplate: what if Aksel was wrong, when he has always been right? Our logic was that Vidar, the neighbor, shared the same address so therefore it was easy to deliver the wrong message. We thought that was funny at the time and it was great to see it with an audience and getting laughs. That was a huge relief, because it was a bold choice and we were afraid of offending people who do believe in psychic.

I live in Oslo and we have eight months of winter. That means it is very little sunlight available through those months. The darkness surrounds me on all sides so it is natural that it affects me the way I see things in my work. I think environment effects all filmmakers. You draw inspiration from your surroundings. That is why it is important to travel and experience new environments and cultures. Especially when you are looking to make a film about an environment that is not familiar to you as a filmmaker. I also think the humor always has a dark element to it. In a sense all the best jokes are about human failure and stupidity.

We like the way you created entire scenarios out of psychologically charged moments: what are you hoping will trigger in the audience?

What I was hoping for with this film is to create more empathy in the world.

To stop for a moment and think if what we prioritize in life makes us fulfilled. If ownership is really worth more than the people around you and what the consequences in relationships might be when you only focus on yourself.

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A still from You've made your bed, now lie in it

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It is important to be sensitive about the world around you because this is Knut’s downfall. He doesn't share his problems with anybody, not even with his brother.

He doesn't even want to share his booze with his neighbor, booze that he will never be able to enjoy anymore since he is dying. He has a mentality what is mine is mine and nobody will take it from me and that makes him a very self-centered person which leads to a certain consequences. These thoughts brought us to the title of the film .

Featuring compelling narrative drive Y leaps off the screen for its essential still effective mise-en-scéne: how would you characterize your cinematographic style?

For me cinema is about transporting the audience into a different world. I am a big fan of naturalistic cinema (Dogma movement) but for this story we wanted to transport people into West of Norway and into this village by using a fantastic story. I wanted cinematography to be beautiful because we as filmmakers choose what we want the audience to see. But mixing it with realistic elements, meaning that the beauty of it lies in the character and the story and not so much the nature surrounding them is what really appeals to me. The nature in West of Norway is stunning. If we decided to do big establishing shots throughout the film then the audience would only

think about the beauty of the nature, so we made a conscious decision to avoid looking at the mountains and end up with postcard shots. We made it dirty and gritty. Because these are the surroundings for the character of Knut and how he sees the world. So in a sense we chose to make it less beautiful in order to tell the story. This also dictated to amount of film grain to the choice of the colour palette.

You've made your bed, now lie in it has drawn heavily from the specifics of its ambience and we have highly appreciated the way you have created such powerful resonance between the qualities of the indoor locations and the intimate atmosphere that floats around the story: how did you select the locations and how did they influence your shooting process?

Our biggest challenge was to find the Interior house location since we needed a house that we could fill with water. And people where laughing at me when I explained that we wanted to fill a house with water in a short film with very little money. I budgeted building a set in a studio but it was way to costly. After many rounds of funding rejections from the main film institutes and with a basic local funding in place, I decided to go ahead and make this film.

Our production designer knew somebody in the fire department. One day we got a phone call that a house was found and we had two weeks to complete the shooting before the house gets demolished. So we had very little time to put the film together. That phone call

was the push we needed to make the film. We dressed the interior of the house with Knut’s furniture’s and we made it exactly how we wanted to. Although the story takes place in West of Norway, the actual house was an hour outside of Oslo.

So we shot the interior and drove five hours and shot the exterior shots in one day in West of Norway, 350

A still from You've made your bed, now lie in it

kilometers away. But by planning each shot, and finding out where the light was coming from in certain places of the script, we managed to put the film together.

By choosing a real location that you can tear down helped a lot to give the authenticity of the film as originally planned. It influences the final product in a very positive way. Because inside that old house was cold and damp with full of weird smells from the previous owner,

an old and alcoholic loner (not far from Knut’s life). It really helped actors and crew to understand Knut’s world in real sense.

Before leaving this conversation we want to catch this occasion to ask you to express your view on the future of women in cinema. For more than half a century women have been décourage from getting behind the camera, however in the last decades there

are signs that something is changing. What's your view on the future of women in cinema? Do you think it is harder for women artists to have their projects green lit today?

It is very positive that more and more women are part of the industry and that is great because women do see the world in a bit different way than men. In a sense it should never matter if you are a woman or a man provided you

have the right skills that required for the job. I enjoy the fact that especially in Norway we have made a great progress encouraging women in the industry and I enjoy very much to work in an environment surrounded not only by women directors and producers but also women cinematographers, gaffers, sound designers, ADs, etc.It has been a challenge for the women throughout the years, who have the skills to be part of the industry.

A still from You've made your bed, now lie in it

Somehow they had to prove themselves that they are as capable as men for the same job and surely eligible for the same pay rate. And it has been a big challenge for women to balance their careers in this demanding industry with motherhood and partnership in what was set up to be so far a Man’s world.

Many organizations included , in different countries were launched the last years that focus

on Women in the Film and Television industry. By creating a network for women in the industry, educating them and promoting their work is a step closer to help them find collaborators and perhaps having their projects financed.

Thanks a lot for your time and for sharing your thoughts, Valia. Finally, would you like to tell us readers something about your future projects? How do you see your work evolving?

I enjoy short films and I really love to keep fining great and entertaining stories.

One of them is based on a story of a fisher woman in a man’s dominated profession. However, my main focus is on my first feature film that I am looking forward to finance and shoot within 2019. The film is again based on true events and the story is told from a woman’s perspective within the agriculture industry.

As I mentioned so far, the importance in making films is to understand life and ourselves both as women and men. There are great stories out there that deserve to be told and I hope that I will keep evolving as a filmmaker so as to transfer these stories into Films.

An interview by Francis L. Quettier and Dora S. Tennant womencinemaker@berlin.com

Meg Sutton

Lives and works in Los Angeles, CA, USA

Drew's a young female musician working at a local music venue in 1970s Los Angeles. When she books her idol, Marcie, a sultry blues singer, to come play at the venue, her expectation of what opportunities this will bring clash with her budding relationship with Marcie's boyfriend, Reid.

She finds herself up against an industry of sellouts, heartbreak and disillusionment with what she initially admired about these successful musicians. Drew has to find the confidence to pursue her aspirations on her own and prove that talent speaks louder than noise.

Meg is a Los Angeles based writer-director from Norwalk, Connecticut. She got her start in writing and directing with a handful of shorts during her undergraduate career at Bentley University in Boston, where she earned degrees in both Marketing and Media Arts. She then worked as a content marketing writer & editor before attending Chapman University in California where she earned her MFA in Directing. Her award-winning thesis film, L.A. Fadeaway, has screened at over 20 festivals around the world.

An interview by Francis L. Quettier and Dora S. Tennant womencinemaker@berlin.com

Hello Meg and welcome to : to start this interview we would like to invite our readers to visit in order to get a wide idea about your artistic production. Before starting to elaborate about your artistic production we would like to ask you a

couple of questions about your background: are there any particular experience that did particularly direct your evolution as a filmmaker? Could you tell us your biggest influence and how did they affect your work?

When I was younger I had this tiny television, (small enough for my eight year old self to pick up, carry around, and plug into different rooms around the house), with a VHS player in my bedroom. I used to cycle through my very small collection of VHS tapes

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on repeat every night - unless it was the weekend which meant a trip to Video Plaza, my towns momand-pop version of Blockbuster. It was around then most likely, after watching Big Daddy 157 times on that VHS player, that I maybe started to subconsciously get a basic feel for story and character. It was in high school when my sophomore year English teacher told me I could write. This seemed like a revelation to me at the time, since I’ve always ridden the imposter syndrome train pretty hard - which is something I deal with in L.A. Fadeaway. I’ve always just been drawn to the high of creating something new out of nothing - the concept of turning your thoughts into something other people can experience.

I take inspiration from a lot of things; artists, books, movies, photography. When it comes to film, there’s a lot of filmmakers I find influence in for many different reasons. It’s hard to pick just one overall. For this film in particular, though, Andrea Arnold was a big influence. She has an ability to act on pure emotion and tell stories from the inside outespecially stories about young women.

For this special edition of we have selected , a captivating film that our readers have already started to get to know in the introductory pages of this article. While walking our readers through the genesis of , Could you tell us what did attract you to this particular story?

L.A. Fadeaway was my thesis film that I wrote and directed as my capstone for my MFA. I wanted to write a femaledriven, self-discovery film that sort of encapsulated my experience in the film industry so far. There are many themes in the film, the most obvious being the struggle many people, specifically artists, have between total self deprecation and feeling like everything you do is terrible

A still from L.A. Fadeaway

and then feeling like hey, maybe this is pretty good. I feel like it’s an often a fine line with self-confidence and a lot of creatives tend to lean towards the selfdepreciating side. The most important theme, especially for me, is how this plays into female artists and how women see themselves. There’s this sort of standard women feel like they have to meet. Not even

just for artists, but women in general. In order to be seen as equal they need to be the best.

We’re made to feel like we’re not allowed to do specific things or like we need to act a certain way. I had a professor once who told me I don’t need to worry about learning how to shoot horror or action because that’s “guy stuff,” and another say that I did a

great job directing, but wouldn’t be hired back in real world because I didn’t smile at him enough during production. And these we’re the people I was supposed to be learning from.

In the film there’s this concept of false idols preying on this lack of confidence, even when they have no true merit themselves. Marcie doesn’t write her own

songs, Reid is still too scared to do anything no his own. I’ve had plenty of eye opening experiences of meeting people in the industry I looked up to and finding out they aren’t who I thought they were. And I think this is especially relevant in the age of social media and Instagram, which is such a great platform for artists to share work, but at least in the

A still from L.A. Fadeaway

filmmaking space seems to be some sort of competition for followers and “Instafame.” I respect artists a lot who just focus on practicing their craft instead of getting likes and striving for immediate approval and Instagram followers. It’s easy to hide behind posting your best work and not all the heartbreak and downfalls that everyone goes

through, which is discouraging I think for a lot of people starting out trying to find their own groove and not always realizing everyone’s on their own journey. I think this concept is true for social media in general and I’m attracted to this theme of people hiding behind some sort of unrealistic fiction versus just being themselves.

I chose 1977 as the setting for the film because it was a year when music was going crazy. Rock and roll had new competition with punk and disco and there was so much going on it for a single musician to find their voice and stay true to themselves. I wanted it to add to how much of a tumultuous time was is for Drew. I snuck in the comparison of Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham to sort of symbolize the off relationship between Marcie and Reid. I wanted to keep it as personal as possible and I think present day texting and social media takes away from that. And I wanted to show how little things have changed industry wise since then. I used the title to explore this too, based on the 1982 song West L.A. Fadeaway by the Grateful Dead. A lot of people theorize this song to be about John Belushi’s overdose at the Chateau Marmont in West Hollywood. A sort of ode to the demise of great talent when thrown into the disillusionment and pressure of the entertainment industry. And all the pitfalls in this industry are still alive and well in 2018.

Elegantly shot, features stunning cinematography by Hao Yu: what were your aesthetic decisions when shooting? In particular, what was your choice about camera and lens?

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I shot 90% of the movie handheld and then in mostly tighter shots to make it as personal to the main character Drew as possible. The camera molded to the characters, not the other way around. We kept the camera at her height most of the time to keep the story in her perspective.

Since this was my master’s thesis project, we we’re lucky enough to get our camera and lenses from my school. We shot on an ALEXA Classic and used ZEISS Ultra Primes with filters, a lot of haze, and a lot of soft light to recreate a softer Polaroid, vintage look. It was a lot about creating a feeling as much as a look. We decided to stay on the 35mm and 50mm to keep the camera as human as possible, so the audience felt more in touch with Drew and what she was experiencing.

In your film you leave the floor to your characters, finding an effective way to walk the viewers to develop an emotional bridge between their own inner spheres and the character of Drew: what was your preparation with actors in terms of rehearsal? In particular, do you like spontaneity or do you prefer to meticolously schedule every details of your shooting process?

It always depends on the project, but I usually prefer spontaneity. I definitely let this happen on this film because it’s such a personal, character driven story. We didn’t have a ton of time for rehearsal. I did do a table read with the cast, but on set I let the actors mostly block things out themselves and then figured

out how to shoot it on sight with whatever felt most natural. I never really had a shotlist, just an idea of the feeling and moments I wanted to capture in each scene. Shooting handheld obviously made this much easier. I let the cast play with the dialogue a bit and had them change things up during takes to get what felt most natural in the moment. I wanted

A still from L.A. Fadeaway

things to feel as real as possible - almost like the viewer was part of the conversation.

With its brilliantly structured storytelling imparts unparalleled psychological intensity to the narration, to unveil an ever shifting internal struggle. We have particularly appreciated the way your film gives to the viewers the sense they

are watching excerpts from real life: would you tell how did you develop the script and the structure of your film in order to achieve such moving autenticity?

Since this was a sort film, I focused on furthering her personal journey and relationships as quickly as possible without sacrificing authentic moments and

necessary conversations that we’re needed to move the story forward. I went through about 18 drafts for an 18 minute film, making sure Drew’s highs and lows were relatable to real life experiences. I focused a lot on the dialogue and pulled from my personal experiences, as well as other stories I had heard firsthand, to try and create the most human moments - disappointment,

fear, loss. Things that everyone can relate to, not just musicians.

We like the way you created entire scenarious out of psychologically charged moments: what are you hoping will trigger in the audience?

A still from L.A. Fadeaway

I hope they can see themselves in Drew, and their past selves in Reid, who to me is even more stuck. He’s the saddest character in the film. He faced Drew’s problem 20 years ago and in his own way is still too paralyzed with fear to be who he wants to be. He’s stuck in a band he’s background noise in, and in a relationship that’s going nowhere, but

doesn’t have the courage to step into his own. You can’t be satisfied forever coat tailing someone else or living in fear. I hope the audience takes away that no one is going to make things happen for you and just going for what you want can be so life changing. I hope people take away that “success” or fame shouldn’t determine how people are treated or viewed.

Over the years you works have been internationally screened in several occasions: how much importance has for you the feedback that you receive in the festival circuit? And how do you feel previewing a film before an audience?

I love being asked questions that haven’t been asked before during Q&A’s at festivals. Since L.A. Fadeaway poses this artistry vs. fame question, I was asked recently if I think something (films, music, books) is still art if it’s mainstream and whether I thought it was more important to be an “artist” or be “successful.” Though I do think any artist should be creating on their own terms regardless of sales or fame, I definitely think there’s commercial films and mainstream musicians that are pushing boundaries and have their own unique voice. I admire and support artists who do it because they love it, but if you can also pay the bills with it on top of that, more power to you.

I love the discussions and hearing different perceptions of the film. It’s always great getting to share it with new audiences - and gives me a chance to gauge reactions of what works and what I need to improve upon in the future.

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As you have remarked once, is a collective effort between yourselves and a requirement to graduate and earn your master’s: how do you consider the collaborative nature of your filmmaking practice? In particular, can you explain how a work of art demonstrates communication between several creative minds?

I had a great experience working with other students in my graduate program. I formed a lot of great relationships - working & personal - and still work with people I graduated with pretty consistently. A lot of them are my close friends and I was lucky to have them on this project.

I’m very open to new ideas. If actors come to me with something better and it works for the script and the space, I let them go for it. Movies are never just a one person game and I always do my best to hear everyone out. A lot of decisions were made together between myself and the cast on set. I always want to make sure they feel safe and informed, especially since we had a few intimate scenes.

It’s always interesting what other crew members bring to the table, especially with this film since I had a very clear idea of what I wanted aesthetically. But, on a student budget it isn’t always possible - even more so when you’re making a period piece. I communicated heavily with my producer, DP, sound designer, and production designer from the very beginning so we we’re always all on the same page.

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When roadblocks came up and something didn’t go as planned, everyone was able to able to come up with solutions and suggestions to things I wouldn’t have thought of or been able to do on my ownwhether it was locations, music, not getting the equipment we needed or finding 70s decor on a shoestring budget. The film wouldn’t be the same without all the minds that went into making it.

Before leaving this conversation we want to catch this occasion to ask you to express your view on the future of women in cinema. For more than half a century women have been discouraged from getting behind the camera, however in the last decades there are signs that something is changing. What's your view on the future of women in cinema? Do you think it is harder for women artists to have their projects green lit today?

It feels so good to be a part of this diversity movement in the film industry. A shift is happening and I think it will only continue to grow, inspire more women & young girls, and change how things have been done for so long. Having the majority of content directed by straight white guys is not only unfair, but dangerous. It’s deeper than not having enough directing positions for women and diverse voices. It goes down all the way to letting people be influenced by directors who interpret them, not who understand them. This creates false idols in damsels in distress and body issues with male gaze, to name a

few. I think it’s definitely harder for women to break in to the film scene and get green lit with such a patriarchal system and limited mindset, though we are now chipping away at it. You can’t become what you can’t see. We need female filmmakers to help bring real stories to life so we can empower real people to embrace who they are, not who they are interpreted to be. And these women filmmakers are out there. I hope to continue to help represent the female perspective and inspire others to do the same.

Thanks a lot for your time and for sharing your thoughts, Meg. Finally, would you like to tell us readers something about your future projects? How do you see your work evolving?

I’m working on a couple scripts now, both female driven stories that deeper explore some of the themes I touched on in L.A. Fadeaway. I try to write as often as possible and am constantly consistently coming up with new ideas for different types of projects. I’ve also been shooting music videos recently, which has been a blast. It’s a fun way to stay in the director’s chair since it’s often difficult and timely (and costly) to get films off the ground. I’m open to any sort of visual storytelling and representing a female voice wherever I can - be it narrative, documentary or advertising work. I just want to keep telling stories.

An interview by Francis L. Quettier and Dora S. Tennant womencinemaker@berlin.com

Women Cinemakers

Rita Ferrando

Lives and works in Toronto, Canada

Ada and Isak are in love, but things begin to shift when Isak develops a hatred for Ada’s birthmark. Isak cannot reconcile his vision of Ada, becoming obsessed with returning Ada to her “true image”.

An interview by Francis L. Quettier and Dora S. Tennant womencinemaker@berlin.com

Midnights is a captivating short film by director Rita Ferrando: shot with elegance and inventiveness, her film offers an emotionally complex visual experience, demonstrating the ability to capture the subtle depths of emotions, addressing the viewers through a surreal journey, to explore the the epiphanic journey of the characters of Ada and Isak: we are particularly pleased to introduce our readers to Ferrando's stimulating artistic production.

Hello Rita and welcome to WomenCinemakers.

Before starting to elaborate about your artistic production we would like to ask you some questions about your background: are there any

experiences that did particularly influence your evolution as a filmmaker and as a creative, in general? Moreover, how does your cultural substratum direct the trajectory of your artistic research?

Thank you so much for having me be a part of this biennial edition, I’m very excited to be part of such a thoughtful issue.

The experiences that most influence my practice are often from my youth and a lot of the themes I explore relate to ‘obsessions’ that have circulated in my mind for several years. Over time, I have begun to notice these patterns or “creative threads” and how they relate to what I am currently working on.

I find that my creative process is set up in the milieu that I make for myself, my room has to be a sort of

Photo by Lauren Armstrong

Women Cinemakers

sanctuary. A lot of my writing process involves returning to when I was young, I think I was my most creative self when I was a child. At this nascent time, there’s an ability to be intuitive with your creative sensibilities – thoughts and poetry appear in an effortless and lyrical way. So much of my practice is returning to that state of mind. One of my favourite feelings is when I can’t remember if a past memory is a dream or a film I’ve seen. This happens to me a lot. My parents had me watch a lot of films when I was a child and I think that, over time, my subconscious melded them into the realities of my daily life. Nowadays, I might be watching an old film and I can’t remember if I’ve seen it or if it was something I dreamed up when I was younger.

You are a versatile artist and your practice is marked out with such stimulating multidisciplinary feature, that allows you to range from film, photography and video installations: before starting to elaborate about your artistic production, we would invite to our readers to visit https://ritaferrando.com in order to get a synoptic idea about your artistic production: would you tell us what does address you to such captivating multidisciplinary approach? How do you select a medium in order to explore a particular theme?

Working in a multidisciplinary form is relatively new to me, it’s a direction I’ve decided to move in after graduating from film school. I think it’s quite a natural transition because I’ve always been interested in the multiplicity of film as a medium and I think that, after four years in school,

Women Cinemakers

Women Cinemakers

you can really get caught up in the technical realities of filmmaking. After graduating I needed to revisit my relationship to film and shake off a lot of the systems used to teach cinema.

My process of selecting mediums is driven by the kind of work I want to produce. Experimental film or projected installations allow me a level of freedom that has eluded me in actual filmmaking – it forms a more impersonal form of viewership. Moreover, creating a piece for a projection or an installation feels more immediate. Installation work is often a solitary practice, whereas film is a collective art form. Making a film feels like passing off pieces of yourself, sometimes those pieces become more interesting, or, sometimes they become more diluted. The immediacy of installations feels more graphic and expressionistic, it feels like an opportunity to focus on a detail rather than the enormity of a feature or short film. With an installation I can pick a detail from a narrative film and expand on it, experiment with it and understand the multiple forms it can take. I find that I don’t have the time to explore this in a narrative film.

If I have a formal concept I want to work on, I’ll often approach it from an installation viewpoint. Perhaps I want to showcase one scene or I want to alter the materiality of the projection. If I’m making a film, it’s scope is infinite but with an installation I can pick a detail from a film and expand on it. A projection often feels more detailed and concise than an entire film.

For this special edition of WomenCinemakers we have selected Midnights, a captivating experimental short film