On Day One of the 5th Femme Filmmakers Festival, the second of the 20 Competition Selections films was seen by many of you. Troubled Water was one of the many terrific animations in the line-up, and its creator Elena Wiener was good enough to talk to us about it.
Questions by Morgan Roberts and Robin Write
Filmtomy: Describe your perfect breakfast.
Elena Wiener: Since I am a “night owl”, I have breakfast very late in the day. But usually, a cup of coffee is enough to make me happy in the morning. Homemade pancakes are awesome, unfortunately, I have them rarely.
What was the most memorable moment you had in a cinema?
The most memorable and emotional moment for me personally is, when I can watch my finished film on a big theatre screen. Especially, when the audience likes it and also gets the message behind the film.
Who is another female filmmaker who inspires you? What work of theirs resonated with you?
One of the most impressive female filmmakers ist Maya Deren. She is not only my inspiration for surreal worlds, but she also gives me the self-assurance to take unconventional paths with my work.
What has been the most unexpected thing you have learned about filmmaking?
I didn’t expect that it is so satisfying when people get motivated to start working on my projects. And then, when at the end all of these little puzzle pieces fit together and create a whole film.
What was your intention with the story thread of Troubled Water? Have you found you’ve gotten alternative interpretations from viewers?
I have noticed that autoimmune diseases – especially skin diseases like neurodermatitis – usually don‘t appear in media very much. At the same time, they seem to be a taboo in our society, too. From my own experience, I learned that affected people often seclude themselves away from their social environment because of discomfort. I wanted to give those people a visual platform to show their actual suffering. I wanted to call medial attention to this issue. I wanted to sensitize people, without denouncing them.
This is why my film uses an emotional and psychological approach of story-telling: people that are not affected see the daily struggles of an affected person and might be able to relate their own struggles to this, like depression or anxiety. Like this, it‘s easier for people that are not affected to
sympathize and connect with the people that are affected.
Though I don‘t want to play the disease and its issues down, it still was important for me to include a little bit of hope and a little silver lining in my story. Because even when you are confronted with your weaknesses for all your life, there will come better times.
The animation is extraordinary in its depth and contrast. Tell us about the different styles and your thinking in using them?
During the pre-production, I already knew that I need to give a visual context to all of the symptoms and side effects that come along with neurodermatitis. To visualize this, I defined and used several layers of contrasts that heavily defined my animation style: a contrast of material, a contrast of texture and contrast of shape and color. These visual contrasts are used to represent metaphorical opposites of plot content: sick versus healthy, interior versus exterior, restricting walls versus open nature, imprisonment versus freedom, live action footage versus animated footage.
What does this style of filmmaking allow that live action would not?
Themes like neurodermatitis or diseases in general, often get visualized by striking imagery. Animation allows us, to transmit these on a subtle and rather emotional and psychological layer. In the very beginning, this project was planned as a live action film. But during the process, I realized, that the techniques of animation would do the topic more justice. Funny fact, even my research unfolded then it is historically common to illustrate diseases with animation film.
FemmeFilmFest20 Review: Troubled Water (Elena Wiener)
There are some women directors who do not like the term “female filmmaker” because men are never called “male filmmakers.” How do you feel about the moniker “female filmmaker?” How do we make “filmmaker” a universal term?
I don’t like the term “female filmmaker“ either. Unfortunately, the common language (the terminus of “filmmaker” is male) and the patriarchal system forces us to still use it. As long as there still exists discrimination of female filmmakers in the film industry, as long as male film teams keep on excluding women systematically in their productions, and as long as there are mostly sitting men in the jury of film festivals, we do we have to keep on using this term fort he pursuit of gender equality in film production.
What is your favorite part about being a filmmaker? What is your least favorite part about being a filmmaker?
The best part of being a filmmaker is to get to know so many great, new people, who each gift the project with a different facet of their energy and believe in your project. My least favorite part of being a filmmaker is holding the responsibility and feeling all the psychological stress that comes with it. But in the end, it’s always worth it, which is why I will never stop making films.
As a director, how do you facilitate your vision? Sometimes, people share their opinions on set. How do you take in those opinions while executing your vision for the film?
Generally, I am always open to foreign ideas and visions. Then I reflect and decide if the input supports my visions and the message of the film. When it does, I implement it.
What is your go-to comfort movie?
Oh, that’s a tough one, I have so many. I love “Science of Sleep” directed by Michel Gondry with all its surrealistic elements. But I also love whimsical humor like “Dogtooth” by Giorgos Lanthimos, or romantic movies like “Heartbeats” by Xavier Dolen or “Carol” by Todd Haynes.