iF October DIGITAL September-October 2020 | Page 27

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Heidi PP: Your speech was really
inspirational. Thank you for taking
the time to talk with me. I hope that
we can continue to talk and maybe
work together in the future. I read
that you were an actress in England
in theater. In fact you had some roles
in Shakespearean theater. What made
you decide to become a filmmaker?
Leslee Udwin: It was very simple
actually. When I was an actress, I always
felt that I had too much time
on my hands. When I was rehearsing,
I was busy during the day, and there
was nothing to do at night. When I
was performing, I was busy all night,
and there was nothing to do during
the day except sleep. So, it seemed I
was always looking for more.Then
something happened in my actual life,
my real life, that was a terrible shock
to the system. I was living in an apartment
that was in a Rent Act-protected
block on the West Side of London.
In those days you had a right to a very
inexpensive roof over your head. The
landlord couldn’t just come in and
kick you out. Suddenly our landlady
died, and unknown to us, the house
was sold at an auction for 350,000
pounds. It was bought by an unscrupulous
criminal landlord, a real psychopath,
Nicholas van Hoogstraten.
He had a modus operandi where he
would frighten tenants out in order
to sell the house. It could be sold immediately
for 1.5 million pounds if he
could get the tenants out. By threatening
and harassing, he got every single
man and family out. There were
just seven single women left. I spent
2 and ½ years of my life fighting him
in court. But I was able to wreck the
property of this man. I gathered 4 full
houses together who had the same
landlord and the same experiences.
Everyone including the police were
advising me to move. He threatened
my life, so I carried a kitchen knife
in my purse. I am sure that he would
have treated me the way he treated
other human beings, with contempt.
I was a tenant. But I decided that I
was not giving in. What is wrong is
wrong. I was told that he was bigger,
he was powerful, and I could not win
if I had him summoned to a million
courts. In the end, I was before the
high court. With faith, courage and
patience and by banding together,
we prevailed.That battle created the
woman I am today. If there is an injustice,
you do something about it. I
feel privileged that that happened to
me. Through the years, when I have
had a decision to make or a problem
to solve, I have been able to handle it.
Heidi PP: You have an amazing
spark. That story is amazing. You
reached a turning point in your life.
You became a fighter.
Leslee Udwin: Just as I knew when
in 2012 I gathered my family together
to announce that the protest in India
that occurred because the victim of a
gang rape on a moving bus in New
Delhi had died, had turned vicious
and violent. I spoke to my daughter,
Maya, “ You are 13. Your brother
is 16. He will be able to cope in my
absence; your Dad also. You need a
mother. If you tell me not to go, I will
not go. But I have to tell you that if I
do not go, I will not be able to look
at myself in the mirror.” Blackmailing
my own daughter. She said,” Mommy,
of course, you have to go.”
Heidi PP: So you went to the protest.
Did you take a camera with you?
Leslee Udwin: No. I went to make
a film about the protest. What I could
do was make a film to tell that story
and bring that to the attention of the
world. This film did actually create a
movement. It did. There is no question.
It sparked a fervent international
movement against violence against
women. Now, is that enough? No. Of
course it isn’t enough. I know that and
knew that at the end of the film, and
that is why I am not making any more
movies. What does a film do? It creates
awareness. What does that do? It
is like the “me too” movement. What
has that done, really? It has created an
environment of emergency. People
are coming forward and feeling that
they have made a difference. There is
a massive sense of awareness. In the
scheme of things, in the emergency
of looking at what is going on in the
world day in and day out all over the
world, it has made people in their eagerness,
feel that they made a decision
and accomplished something. It has a
very serious underlying problem concerning
human rights and the right of
an individual to a trial and the right
to defend themselves.
Heidi PP: Right. You can’t just put
out someone’s name and let someone
just say that something happened 20
years ago. It is frightening a little bit.
I feel that it could create a backlash.
Leslee Udwin: It has already in
many ways.
Heidi PP: What we are really trying
to do is change our relationship with
men fundamentally.
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