cinéwomen/15
how did you develop the script and the structure of A City Between Us? This film started out as a 15 minute short but then I realised it wasn’t giving me the space I needed to build my characters and the idea I was aiming for. And we were already shooting it, there was no turning back at that time. So I had the choice to run along with it the way I had written it or I could try to solve the problem on the spot. So I talked to the actors and started writing some new scenes and they all went along with it so I had the chance to turn this 15 minute short into a 60 minute movie. Still, I think that I would like to have made it into a 90 minute movie and create some new insights into the characters and the story, write some new revealing twists along the way. But you know, I’m still relatively happy with the result in terms of the narrative progression and I know I learned a lot in the making of this film and I feel I’ve grown as a storyteller so I can improve in the works to
come. Most of all, I learned to be less afraid of failing witch I find to be the most difficult and frustrating thing to achieve at times when it’s so crucial because fear is what block us the most at the most important times. The plot of A City Between Us is simple, yet the implications of its characters’ emotions and actions are profound. Throughout the film you capture the pathos of your characters, delicately weaving present and past. We have been impressed by your lack of artifice, resulting in a work at once raw and deeply poetic. How did you develop your filmmaking style? We had some really bad technical problems during the making of this film so it makes me very happy when people are able to see past that and focus on the story and what those characters can bring them or teach them emotionally in that raw and deeply poetic way, because I think that proves