Can you explain your choice of title? During the preparatory stages and the shooting of the film, the project was called Kiki, after the class mascot. The film was written as a tragi-comedy, but the project went through a transformation as time (…) Continue Reading »

Obvious question. Why did you choose to explore this subject matter? Have you had any personal experience of the issues around euthanasia? I was drawn to this subject matter because I think it is one of the greatest questions of our age, or any (…) Continue Reading »

This is a very moving story. Is it based on personal experience or someone you know? The story of the arranged marriage depicted in my film Al-Sit is a common one in Sudan and the norm for many Sudanese families. While I did not personally (…) Continue Reading »

Can you explain the choice of title? Hilum means two different things in our language. In the Tagalog language, “hilum/hilom” means “remedy”, while in the Visayan language it means “silence”. I grew up in Manila where we speak Tagalog, while my (…) Continue Reading »

Beryl has featured in a number of your films. Can you tell us a bit more about her? Who was the inspiration for her character? How has Beryl’s character evolved since we first met her? Beryl started life as a very one-dimensional character in a (…) Continue Reading »

What made you want to tell the story of Vincent Blanchot? Is the character based on a real person? A few years ago I read Melville’s short story Bartleby. It takes place on Wall Street in the 1850s and tells the story of Bartleby, an accountant (…) Continue Reading »

You created three great female characters, and the daughter-mother bond is really well depicted. What can you tell us about the character development? Rayka: Spoiler alert here. The story is very personal. My father passed away during my first (…) Continue Reading »

Interview with Houzhi Huang, Yuanqing Cai, Mandimby Lebon, Theo Tran Ngoc, Mikolaj Janiw and Nathan Crabot, codirectors of Coffin What made you want to make Coffin? We originally wanted to make a film with a short and simple story and to (…) Continue Reading »

Why did you want to depict such a strict, snobbish family? The family isn’t so much strict and snobbish as stuck in their “values”, which they transmit by repeating rituals, behaviors and absurd ideologies. The upper classes are convinced (…) Continue Reading »

How much of Le Cercle d’Ali is documentary? Did you do research beforehand? I really wanted to get as close as possible to reality. Firstly, out of respect for the subject and the people involved. And also out of principle. I like the idea (…) Continue Reading »