Page 54 - Demo

Q: MOEDER has already qualified for the 2025 Oscars%u00ae. How does it feel to have this recognition for such a powerful and emotional film?A: A film is meant to be seen, and the Oscar qualification is incredibly exciting, as it means more people will be able to do just that and hopefully be moved and challenged by it.Q: The imagery in MOEDER is stark and meditative. How did you approach creating such a visually intense and intimate atmosphere for the film?A: There were a couple of big decisions my writing partner and I made when writing the film: (1) the protagonist would remain largely silent throughout, and (2) the film wouldn%u2019t explicitly show what happened. That level of restraint and withholding was a high-wire act that was important for me to maintain, because of how I wanted to structure the story and control the flow of information to the audience.Since the film is visually restrained, I chose to focus more on sound design to create a rich, three-dimensional sense of the world that extends beyond the frame and into the audience%u2019s imagination.This approach has a significant impact on the %u201cfeeling%u201d of the film and the atmosphere, as it intensifies the audience%u2019s imagination about what the underlying event of the film might be.Q: Your work often blends visceral intensity with quiet reflection. How do you balance emotion and subtlety in your films?A: I%u2019ve always been drawn to stories that straddle the line or vacillate between intensity and meditation. Perhaps it%u2019s because of the juxtaposition of my upbringing in a rather rough industrial neighborhood in Johannesburg, South Africa, where I witnessed all manner of drama unfold, and living within a very spiritually religious household with missionary parents.Q: What was it like collaborating with Ukrainian producer Daniel Linnik-Zhuravliov, who has a personal connection to the conflict, on MOEDER?A: This project was a massive undertaking, and Daniel, along with a number of my Ukrainian friends, including First Assistant Director Vadim Yuzba, helped provide context as we were putting all the pieces of the film together. The film was shot three months before the war in Ukraine started, so much of the unique cultural (and political) nuances were addressed and ironed out in the early days of preparation%u2014like what language to set the film in, or where to shoot, etc. I had ideas on all of these factors, but they were guided by their unique insights.Q: MOEDER touches on the aftermath of a global tragedy. How did you ensure the film remained respectful to real-life events while exploring themes of grief and loss?A: The most important thing for me was to create an entry point for the audience to emotionally connect with the characters at the heart of this film. It%u2019s easy for this type of film to take on a larger political angle, but I wanted to focus on the human toll that unfolds against the backdrop of these events. Films are %u201cempathy engines%u201d that open up avenues for us to connect with people whose lives are, in some ways, very different from ours yet share our pain, loss, joy, and humanity. The key to ensuring that some of the universal themes that drew me to create the story was working with Daniel, Vadim, Anatolli, and many of my other Ukrainian and Dutch partners to ensure the film is authentically rendered and expresses a non-sensationalized angle of the story.54 MOST MAGAZINE - ISSUE 64