Hanna Bergholm is a Finnish film director who has helmed several internationally-awarded short films and TV drama series. Her latest short horror film, “Puppet Master,” was selected to screen at several international film festivals, including Fantasia Film Festival and Fantastic Fest, as well as the MoMA. “Hatching” is her first feature film.
“Hatching” is screening at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival, which is running online from January 20-30. More information can be found on the fest’s website.
W&H: Describe the film for us in your own words.
HB: “Hatching” is a twisted coming-of-age drama mixed with elevated body horror. It is about a young girl struggling to please her mother. It’s a film that horror and drama fans will love.
W&H: What drew you to this story?
HB: Our screenwriter, Ilja Rautsi, contacted me saying that he had a one sentence idea: ”A boy hatches an evil doppelgänger out of an egg.” And I replied, ”Cool! But let’s change the lead character into a girl.” It was very important to me that the lead character is a girl, because I think we still have far too few interesting female characters and female-driven stories in films. This one-liner allowed me to express the inner feelings of the character. I haven’t yet seen a story exactly like it before. So we began to build the story together starting with this one sentence.
W&H: What do you want people to think about after they watch the film?
HB. We all want to love unconditionally and be loved fully, no matter how imperfect we are or what our scars may be.
W&H: What was the biggest challenge in making the film?
HB: One of our main characters is a monster creature. It was important that the creature have a real physical presence. It should be an animatronic puppet and not a CGI character. I knew that we needed the best possible artist to make this puppet, so I googled ”the best animatronic designer in the world” and found Gustav Hoegen, who [was an animatronic designer] for the “Star Wars” and “Jurassic World” franchises, etc. So, I emailed him about the story and he was enthusiastic and agreed that he would create the puppet.
Prosthetic makeup was also needed for the actor when the creature is changing in the film. I contacted two-time Oscar-nominated SFX makeup designer Conor O’Sullivan, whose previous work I had admired in “The Dark Knight” and “Game of Thrones.”
Gustav’s and Conor’s fantastic teams created the monster that we had designed in Finland. When filming with the puppet, we had Gustav moving the puppet’s facial expressions with a remote control and five puppeteers moving its limbs with rods. The puppeteers had been working together in several “Star Wars” films, and they were super professional and nice. It took many takes to make the puppet appear alive. I’m extremely happy with the final look of the creature, which was a result of the great teamwork of so many people.
W&H: How did you get your film funded? Please share your insights on how you got the film made.
HB: During four years, from the early script stage until the very final financing stage, we participated in many development, co-production, and financing workshops like Nordic Genre Boost, European Genre Forum, Frontiéres Co-Production Market, and Frontiéres Finance & Packaging Forum. This was very beneficial because in those workshops and markets, we pitched the film to the producer, and slowly we got financiers and co-producers interested.
The film was a coproduction between Finland, Sweden, Norway and Latvia. It was shot in Latvia. The Finnish Film Foundation, together with Finnish National Broadcasting Company (YLE), was the main funder. Other financiers and funders were Swedish Film Foundation, SVT, Film i Väst, Eurimages, Nordic Film&TV Fund, our Nordic distributors Nordisk Film and Europa Film, our sales company Wild Bunch International, our VFX company U-media, tax shelter of Belgium, tax shelter of Latvian National Film Center, and Riga City Council.
I’m very proud of the big work we did for the financing, because “Hatching “is the most expensive Finnish film ever directed by a woman.
W&H: What inspired you to become a filmmaker?
HB: I’ve wanted to become a filmmaker since I was six years old. My parents are filmmakers. They showed my brothers and I many old classic films by directors like Kurosawa, Hitchcock, and Visconti. Films are my language. They are my way to communicate.
W&H: What’s the best and worst advice you’ve received?
HB: Best – My father has given me some great advice. He said that the director’s premiere is when she for the first time meets all the heads of departments. She must speak to them in a way that inspires excitement and makes everyone smile.
Worst: We directors at film school believed that the true skill of a director was to be able and competent in directing any type of project. I don’t want to direct ”anything,” only something I really relate to and feel I have something to say about.
W&H: What advice do you have for other women directors?
HB: Reach out to your idols and ask them to join you crew and cast. Let’s all make great films together, in the end.
W&H: Name your favorite woman-directed film and why.
HB: Jane Campion’s “The Piano.” I love the visuality of that film and the way the costumes, landscape, and textures are used in its storytelling. I enjoy telling a story with all of the elements of the movie as a director.
W&H: How are you adjusting to life during the COVID-19 pandemic? Is creativity something you do?
HB: The pandemic has made us wait for the premiere of “Hatching.” I’m now writing a new horror drama feature film with the screenwriter of “Hatching,” Ilja Rautsi. It’s about the painful and difficult feelings of motherhood after a couple has their first child. The mother starts to feel strange and un-human about that child.
W&H: The film industry has a long history of underrepresenting people of color onscreen and behind the scenes and reinforcing — and creating — negative stereotypes. What steps do you believe are necessary to make the industry more inclusive?
HB. When making films, it is important to look around and see the actual population of the area or time where we are filming. Only white men? The real change is in letting people tell their stories. [share their]Different points of view. The gatekeepers are the film schools, production firms, studios and streaming services. As long as the largest film productions continue to rely on white male directors to direct, nothing will change. I believe that we can finally make the changes with the constant demands of many people.
Source: Women And Hollywood