What inspires your work?

I take inspiration mainly from the people around me. If it‘s a conversation with someone I fell out of touch with or someone from my family, I take the things they said, what I imagine they must have felt and how I see them, and infuse all this into my stories. I want to focus on realistic character studies in my movies, which is why learning from real people is the most helpful inspiration to me. 

 

What films did you watch as a child?

I watched a lot of Disney princess movies because these stories had strong female characters that were difficult to find in other children's movies.

 

What directors have influenced your work?

I think I'm still searching for directors whose work truly inspires me. Many of the most-discussed films are by male directors, whose perspectives and styles often differ from what I want to explore. I‘ve been drawn to movies by female directors such as Céline Sciamma, Agnès Varda, and Andrea Arnold and feel like these are the great directors I truly want to be inspired and influenced by.

​

If you could adapt any book/play/piece of literature, which would it be?

When I read The Picture of Dorian Gray I constantly pictured it as a film and was really interested in how it could work, although there are already multiple adaptations and I'd rather focus on new, original stories instead of remakes. I’d also be very interested in adapting A Little Life to screen, as there‘s only a theatre play so far. I do feel that this would be a huge challenge as the story is perfectly told in a book, but I'm not sure it would work as well on screen.

 

Name a film score that makes you feel something.

The music in Portrait of a Lady on Fire has brought up the most emotion in me. Even though it could be argued this isn't even a score as it is diegetic and only appears in a few selected scenes, that is exactly what makes it so impactful. The whole time there is no music, but when all the women fill this emptiness by singing around the campfire, it‘s truly powerful. 

 

Who is an actor that you would love to work with?

Keira Knightley. I adore her in Pride & Prejudice. She has such power that would be amazing to capture for one of my stories. Her emotional subtlety and strength would fit the kinds of characters I love writing.

 

What was the last film you watched? (and would you recommend it?)

I‘ve finally watched My Neighbour Totoro for the first time. I absolutely adored it. It has some of the most beautiful animation and such a wholesome story. I love the relationship between the family and all the little moments they had, and the image of Totoro standing in the rain next to the two girls will probably stick in my head forever.

​

​

​

 

 

​Tell us about your film Alma?  What`s it all about?

On the surface our film is about an elderly lady going about her normal life. But in essence it‘s about loneliness, grief, family relationships, and allowing yourself to fall in love, all told through quiet, everyday moments rather than big spectacle and drama.

​

Can you tell us about the creative process in making your film? What drew you to this project?

There was so much passion and care for Alma‘s story in every member of our crew. We were all dedicated to giving Alma the respect and compassion she deserves - to tell a story for people who rarely see themselves represented on screen. I think this was really important in our creative process, making sure we got her character and all these aspects (older age, LGBTIQ+, being a woman) right.

​

How long does a film like Alma take to make? 

We were a group of 9 dedicated crewmembers who spent a lot of their time over about 8 months on this film as our final-year project at university, and were shooting over almost a week with an extended crew.

 

What challenges did you encounter?

I think the most difficult aspect of making this film was figuring out exactly what story we wanted to tell. There are so many different directions the feeling of the film and the story could have gone, and with various versions of Alma's personality we considered, choosing just one coherent storyline was definitely a big challenge. Our incredible writer Emma put a lot of thought into figuring out exactly what route was the right one. We also had to make sure that this storyline was not only doing justice to our character and the people we wanted to represent, but also avoided overused tropes.

 

Do you have a favourite moment when filming/creating Alma?

The moment I immediately think of is when we filmed the last scene. We had quite a tight schedule for this as we wanted to get the perfect sunset. Fortunately, everything ended up working, the cast embodied their characters and their connection perfectly, the crew worked together so well and, surprisingly, the sun came out and was beautiful - we somehow got lucky with the UK weather!

​

Can you tell us more about the production design of your film? 

Our production designer Priya took inspiration from Nanny McPhee, creating spots of light within the darkness with small lights scattered around Alma‘s cottage. She did an amazing job striking a balance between making Alma‘s cottage cozy and inviting, while still making it feel a bit suffocating and like a trap for her. It was also challenging to get the time period right, as the story takes place in present time, but I wanted it to feel a bit more timeless, to show how Alma is, in some ways, stuck in the past. Priya did a great job with this, avoiding modern phones or laptops and instead giving Alma a landline phone.

 

Where did you get the inspiration when creating Alma ? 

As there are not many movies about elderly women, and they are often put in comedic roles, we had to turn to real people instead. A lot of the inspiration came from what I had observed in my grandmother, just like the ways my crew members had seen their grandparents act also guided the story. A really important resource for us was also the Old Lesbians Documentary, as we could hear their experiences and thoughts about what being a homosexual woman is like at that stage of their life.