What were the various starting points and initial ideas behind Over the Bones?
A lot of my films start very simply with an image of something I’ve seen or a conversation I have heard. With Over The Bones I was driving through London late at night and was overtaken by a convoy of large trucks. They looked quite remarkable, threatening and beautiful at the same time and that was the start of the film. Around that time a friend told me about a singer whose voice changed during an operation and it allowed them to subsequently take on a new performing persona.
I somehow wanted to combine these two moments; one visual, and one oral.
Can you share an important/funny/moving/surprising anecdote related to the making of Over the Bones?
I find the actual shooting days very nerve racking and Lola, who plays herself in the film, went missing for three days before the night shoot in the swimming pool. She only contacted us an hour before she was due to arrive. She had made a last minute decision to go away on a retreat and forgotten her mobile phone. I really thought she might not turn up, but when finally at 3am she started to sing in the pool it was a very moving moment. She sang with an unexpected intensity that completely changed the mood of the shoot.
What do you do when not making films?
Where do I start? I should think pretty much the same as most other people a mix of rather mundane daily activities mixed with the odd rather amazing experience.
What would you like to say to the IFFR audience?
Apart from how long it is, and when I made it, I don’t like to say much about a film before people watch it. I don’t want to frame the experience too much for the viewer. I’m quite happy to talk afterwards.
What are you currently working on?
Currently I am in pre production for a film based around a small dead end street in the centre of London which has an extraordinarily diverse demographic. I am working with a composer to develop music for the characters and I am in the process of writing song lyrics from interview material. The film will fuse documentary interviews, staged conversations and song to depict this potentially fantastical cityscape and the rather exceptional people who inhabit it. I often set myself a rule when starting a film and in this case I have banned myself from using any voice over and am not allowed to film anywhere but in this one street.