WomenCinemakers vol V WomenCinemakers vol V | Page 65

..................................JENNIFER.DROTZ.RUHN....
A moody film that delicately
weaves personal pain and public
anguish, Skinhearts explores a
world where the sexual act has
become an irre ve rent act of
rebellion. An emotio nally complex
portrait of human aliena tion, Sally
Fenaux Barley corn's film raises
disturbing que stions, reveal ing a
psychological
penetrating
exploration of love and freedom
reminding
us
of
Yorgos
Lanthimos's early work. We are
proud to present Sally Fenaux
Barleycorn
for
this
year's
WomenCinemakers Edition. Sally,
tell us about your trajectory as a
filmmaker. What inspired you to
express yourself in this medium?
I’ve always been really curious about
everything that is visual. At the age I
was suppose to be finishing high
school and then attending college, I
was jumping from one discipline to
another, doing short and non formal
education on photography, dance,
theatre, video and graphic design.
I started working in the film industry
and commercial shoots in 2008 by
chance. But when I think back, I can
see how all my different experiences
were actually a great preparation for
the “Total Art” that cinema is. That is
one of the things that inspires me the
most about this medium and also, the
high level of collaboration. Which
means that you are constantly sharing
influences and being affected by your
collaborator’s ideas, life experiences
and own influences. Working profes
sionally in feature film and commercial
productions has given me the training,
since I didn’t attend film school and
also the humility. I know first hand how
hard it is to make things happen in this
industry, how hard the people involved
usually work and to respect that and
prepare myself to meet their needs,
don’t waste anyone’s time and achieve
a piece of work worth their efforts,
dedication and mine.
But it isn’t until a couple of years ago
that I started to feel that I wanted to
direct. While I was still working in the
costume department, I had an accident
on set that obliged me to take a break.
I had the time to think about my future,
about who I really was and what it was
that I really wanted to do. I had to deal
with some personal issues related to
my race that had made me someone
afraid to be center stage.