Film is change and change is scary.
At its best, a story reminds us that we are human. A well-told story makes us complicit: we cannot help but feel what the characters experience. And that offers comfort in a world we try to understand. We are not alone.
Film has the unique potential to reach and move large groups of people. Even though the medium seems to be taking an increasingly less prominent place in the cultural landscape, it is still a medium that can make controversial questions and themes broadly discussable. And, in a highly entertaining way! To me this goes hand-in-hand: I refuse to accept the value film can play in public debate is over and I also refuse to watch boring movies.
My love for the medium lies in all aspects of the creative process: I love shooting a shot, talking to an actor about how to deliver a line or how to deepen a character, I love writing a scene and laughing out loud in amazement because I have no idea where what I just wrote came from. I love slapping the cinematographer on the shoulder with enjoyment because everything just came together in one take and I love watching all the takes a hundred times to choose the very best one. I love preparing down to the last detail and still being surprised on set. I love it and I want more!
My preference goes to the horror, thriller and crime genre - always with a touch of irony. It’s exciting and thrilling and I love that. I love sitting on the edge of my seat, being forced to confront fears and dark forces. I believe evil can nestle within all of us and that it's too easy to condemn evil as something we are not. That’s what I explore: ordinary people confronted by extraordinary darkness. Luckily – most of the time – we have a choice: a choice to look beyond our own pain. Sometimes we don’t. Life is unpredictable, unfair and sometimes very grim - deadly serious, tragic and very ironic. And we? We just muddle through. Terrifying, isn’t it? Absolutely. But also deeply human.