The Fourth Annual International ‘Vancouver Badass Film Festival’ is the biggest edition of the annual festival in its four-year history.
Running Feb. 23-25 at the Rio Theatre (1660 E. Broadway), the event includes six feature-length films (including four premieres), shorts, special guests and a circus performance. Visit vbaff.com for details.
One of those feature-length films is April Mullen’s violent gang film Badsville (screening at 10 p.m. Feb. 24). We talked to the director, who splits her time between Toronto, L.A. and other locales, about Badsville, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, and being part of a festival like Badass.
Q: You shot an episode of DC’s Legends of Tomorrow in Vancouver recently. What was that like?
A: The studios were fantastic. And the crews were top-notch. I had a great time in Vancouver. I bought two umbrellas, one small portable one and a large one. I did a lot of hiking on the weekends. Even in the rain. Because it’s so god**** beautiful over there.
Q: Was Legends your first superhero-type production?
A: Well, Killjoys and Wynonna Earp (both TV series) both have lead characters with superpowers. But that definitely my first traditional DC traditional comic book superhero episode. I’ve just finished editing my episode down here in Los Angeles.
Q: Do you see all the superhero features that come out? Have you seen Black Panther?
A: Yes, I see all the superhero features that come out. I’m a big fan of anything that is Fan Expo-y. I’ve always been into comics. I absolutely loved Black Panther. It had so many refreshing things to add. I loved the female characters. I was literally fist-pumping the whole time: ‘Yes! They got it right on so many levels!”
Q: Do you have a dream comic-book or graphic-novel project?
A: I’ve been hunting down Batgirl. It’s in development. I just want to get in the room and pitch my concept because I think it’s so new.
Q: How did you make the transition from actor to director?
A: After graduating from theatre school, I wanted to start making original content. A friend from theatre school and I started a production company the year we graduated and started making micro-budget feature films. He writes, I direct, and we produce together. We’ve made five features together. Then I started doing work-for-hire in the TV world and film world in the last three years and it’s kind of exploded.
Q: Why follow-up ‘Below her mouth’ which is essentially a drama (now airing on The Movie Network—every. day.) with a genre movie?
A: I actually shot Badsville before Below Her Mouth. For Badsville, when I first read the script, I loved the gangster angle. It was set in this rockabilly town, which was non-specific in its time era. So there were a lot of creative decisions to make there.
And I loved how raw and brutal and frenetic the violence was. I couldn’t stop thinking of how I wanted that to look. And I thought the idea of these really masculine characters showing these beautiful, vulnerable sides was a refreshing take on what you would expect from a gang film. That, opposite the over-the-top violence and brutality, was intriguing.
Q: How important are independent film festivals like Badass to your work?
A: This is truly an indie film. We shot it in 18 days, it was really run-and-gun. It brought me back to my younger days.
With smaller film festivals, the passionate people who keep the fresh voices coming to the screen are crucial. I’m always going to be an indie filmmaker at heart and spirit. I champion them all.
Source : Inside Vancouver (22/02/2018)
22/02/2018 | Categories: Festivals, Movies, News, Press | Tags: april mullen, badsville, below her mouth, dc legends, interview, press, tv | Leave a comment
Q: You have said many insightful things about the female gaze in cinema. What does your female perspective bring to the world of Badsville (out now on VOD)?
A: THERE is this pulsating raw guttural feel to the violence in Badsville and I approached it with love; that might be female or just a choice I made, or both.
I know that sounds strange, but the motivation of each character’s actions, no matter how horrific, were innocently motivated by love and protection. This was important to me, to allow the human spirit to fuel every punch.
Badsville explores how difficult it is as a male to want to protect, dominate and be vulnerable as a result of expressing their feelings. These are old themes but they still hold true today in terms of what society expects out of a man, and what I see them struggling with daily.
Q: Ian McLaren has an incredible presence and look, but this is only his first film. What was your approach to casting?
A: YES it is his first film. He is a gift, an ex pro hockey player with one of the biggest hearts I have ever met. He is extremely dedicated and transformed into his character.
He gives everything to the screen. He holds absolutely nothing back, feels everything in the moment and allows it all to happen. As a director this is what I look for in a lead. He is unconscious and completely loses himself.
It is Ben’s first film as well (an ex pro wrestler). He too has this cinematic quality. He is charismatic, makes strong choices as an actor and is fully transparent. I look for magic, that spark – both Ian and Ben are leading men who physically and emotionally can captivate an audience for 90 minutes.
Ian and Ben wrote the script with these characters in mind and were attached to the film when I met them. The second I walked in the door and heard them speak I knew and never doubted they would be incredible as our leads. It is a gut instinct thing with casting. I love working with new faces, especially ones I love.
Q: We often hear actors say they like to work with directors who have had acting experience. Do you feel your work in front of the camera has helped you as a director?
A: IMMENSELY. Big time, oh ya baby, it is something I lean on every second while making a film – finding those moments in a scene that break into the subtext.
I am completely obsessed with performance – allowing, pushing and finding new moments with actors. I always aim to go deeper and love the challenge of finding the keys into every actor’s personality to get them there.
I am so invested in every breath the actor makes at the director’s monitor it hurts. Seriously, I crave it if I am not on set for a little while. I love the craft of acting, the discovery and fragility found in the moment of the take and capturing it.
Q: How would you describe your style as a director? Do you have any influences?
A: LIFE influences me. Every moment, scent, touch, sound and memory makes an impact, resonates and somehow these heightened experiences find themselves into my work one way or another.
So much inspires me daily. It is as if my brain files it all away for a film to come. My style as a director is to deliver stunning images wrapped in moments of impact where audiences are compelled to feel something. I love tackling different genres and losing myself in the creative process.
There are similarities now standing back that I can see as I continue on this journey. Some of them are bold visuals, strong performances, unique worlds, refreshing scores and music, raw emotion and lots of neon lights. Ha!
Q: Below Her Mouth is fantastic piece of work and has reached a global audience. How do you reflect on the project and its success?
A: BELOW Her Mouth brought to the screen something original. A raw female perspective on love, intimacy, sex and even the female orgasm with its all-female crew. It was a film that audiences saw before they knew they were craving a refreshing point of view. It is a landmark in cinema – at the forefront of the movement towards equality as the voices in film change and how women are depicted on the big screen. I feel honoured to have been at the helm of such a special film.
Q: After the love story of Below Her Mouth, what attracted you to the more violent world we inhabit for your latest film Badsville?
A: BADSVILLE was shot first. The film did the festival run to build up some momentum before its release. When I read Badsville I could see the world come to life and it seeped into my heart instantly. That is just what happens when I respond to a story.
I see the image play out all hours of the day in my head. The script was so refreshing in terms of its throw back rockabilly greaser style and it showcased this vulnerable side to our lead gang members.
Overall it was the various love stories enwrapped in the harsh polarizing violence that appealed to me. I felt compassion for Wink and Benny and wanted to go deeper with both Ian and Ben (our writers and stars) to unravel them and expose them to the audience.
After my first meeting with Ian, Ben and Dave it was clear we were all on the same page creatively, which is crucial. Working alongside the writers is something I put a lot of value on. I want to build their vision as a team, and I believed in this team instantly.
Q: What was it like working with an inexperienced actor in Erika and an experienced one in Natalie? Was it a conscious decision to go for that dynamic?
A: AFTER auditioning for months for the role of Dallas we did not find the right person. Then I saw an image on-line of Erika Linder and in my gut felt this was our Dallas.
She was modelling male clothing at the time and her motto was: “I’m too creative to be one gender”. We met and auditioned her several times with different Jasmine. Then in Toronto, when she read with Natalie there was this spark on screen and instant chemistry which we were looking for. It was all about the connection while casting these two leads.
Yes, it was completely different working with Erika vis a vis Natalie. Every person is so different when it comes to my approach with communication and building trust with an actor. Erika has all these natural mannerism which make her mesmerizing on screen. I wanted her to feel confident and never doubt her natural instincts – it was important to keep these elements. For Natalie, she has this vulnerability and honesty she shows as an actor if and when she feels safe as a performer. This was crucial to bring out as a director.
Q: Below Her Mouth has plenty of intense, physical scenes – just as Badsville does. How did you set about constructing them?
A: EACH one is a completely different beast. It would take a novel to go into how much detail and planning is put into these types of scenes. To generalize, every aspect has to be meticulously plotted – physical movement, camera positions, locations, clothing, lighting and motivation. But then during the shoot it all has to be forgotten. As a director you have to surrender to the moment and be with the actors.
Q: What have been the biggest challenges – and the biggest joys – during your rise as a filmmaker? Do you have any words of advice for young female filmmakers?
A: BIGGEST Challenge? I feel everything always takes so long and by the time you complete a film you are literally a different person and your work feels dated before you even start editing.
Joys? Connecting to audience members who are moved or touched by your film, delivering something human beings can all relate to. I also love watching people all excelling creatively on set doing what they do best. It is both motivating and thrilling to watch.
Advice? Take Big Risks, Create Your Own Work, Stay Focused, Be Bold, Never Doubt, Thrive & Indulge In The Moment, Keep Your Head, and Have Fun Always – no matter how hard it all is. Laugh, jump, play – we are all building an imaginary world together. It is like playing outside in those summer nights as a kid. Love it!
Q: What are your ambitions for the future? What kind of stories would you like to tell?
A: I HAVE so much burning inside me to be told, I can’t wait to keep creating moments for all of you. Some of my ambitions right now are to grow and learn to be a better person every day. To bring light and love into the world, to motivate people on set to create things they never thought possible, to protect my sense of wonder and push it even further. Laugh my head off, be with my family, roll around in the tall grass as much as possible, make special films and content that moves audiences.
Q: Lastly, do you have any upcoming projects you can tell us about?
A: I AM super pumped up as I am going back to my roots as a filmmaker and doing a WANGO film next up. WANGO films is my production company, co-funded with Tim Doiron. We have done five films together, 88 being our last. All Indie. We have grown so much as filmmakers I can’t wait to work together again. We are going to camera this summer on our new feature.
Source : Closeup Culture (12/02/2018)
12/02/2018 | Categories: Movies, News, Press | Tags: april mullen, badsville, below her mouth, interview, movie, press | Leave a comment
It’s probably safe to say that one of the quietest yet most inspiring success stories of the past few years has been that of April Mullen. Her star quickly rose with the release of 2016’s Below Her Mouth, an erotic drama praised by critics for its’ sensitive handling of a lesbian love story and for the employment of the female gaze in its visual exploration of the romance at the heart of the story. Audiences ignorant of the indy film world could be forgiven for thinking that ’16 was the year Mullen exploded onto the scene, but that simply wasn’t the case—the Niagara Falls, Canada native has been quietly making a name for herself since the early 2000’s as both an actress and director, churning out multiple films in a variety of genres from comedy (Rock, Paper, Scissors: The Way of the Tosser) to exploitation (88) to horror (Dead Before Dawn 3D). With her name now firmly enshrined as one of the premier indy directors of the 2010’s, it’ll hopefully lead audiences to not only check out her earlier body of work but to keep their eyes peeled for her upcoming projects as well.
Case in point: Badsville, out now on VOD from Epic Pictures. Set in the titular hellhole-out-of-time, the film tells the story of the Badsville Kings, the sort of gang that springs up in small towns when there are no prospects for the future and getting drunk and beating someone up on a Friday night is a viable form of entertainment. As the audience comes into their lives, though, the Kings find the fabric of their gang unraveling at the same time Badsville seems to be taking its last breaths, with family deaths, clandestine romances, and increasing tensions with other gangs all coalescing to form a sort of dirge for their way of life as they’ve known it.
Employing the same sensitivity with which she explored feminine identity and crises in Below Her Mouth, Mullen uses Badsville to engage in a very pertinent discussion of masculine identity. Rather than writing off maleness as inherently destructive the way a lesser director might have, Mullen instead engages in a far more complex exploration of positive vs. negative modes of masculinity, the environment and sociological factors that creature and nurture toxic masculinity, and the ways in which society can hit the reset button and begin redefining what it means to be a good man. Relevant material, indeed, but rather than a bland Feminism 101 lecture, Mullen has instead wrapped it up in an aesthetically pleasing and propulsive package, with plenty of beatdowns, sequences of gang warfare, and some truly stunning cinematography. It’s a master class in engaging an audience in an intelligent discussion while keeping them entertained at the same time.
It was CineDump’s pleasure to have the chance to sit down with Mullen and discuss Badsville, the trajectory of her career, and what factors came together to make the film the unqualified success it is.
Jessie Hobson: What attracted you to Badsville? Did the success of Below Her Mouth and the resultant publicity and dialogue around it influence your choice of next film at all, or was it a project you think you’d have been attracted to regardless?
April Mullen: We shot Badsville before Below Her Mouth. It traveled the festival circuit for an extra year, and as a result, it is now available to audiences. The unique world, characters, and voices found in the script attracted me to Badsville. I found the contrast between the harsh violence and vulnerable love story to be vital. The script is full of passion and I responded to the rockabilly/greaser gangster world as well.
JH: Badsville has a unique, sort of out-of-time aesthetic that recalls a mashup of the 1950’s and the present day the way that certain films like It Follows evoke a combination of the 60’s and the modern era. What was the idea behind that decision?
AM: This town is forgotten, broken and lost: it exists only within our film and was based on the writers’ hometown of El Monte, nicknamed “Badsville”.
The film is timeless. The style and old-time feel is part of the entire world which is Badsville. It’s about a dreamer who is reaching for more, about loyalties, family, and violence, which are all heightened in Badsville. As a director, I love creating a unique micro-universe as a stage for characters to experience things on one that allows for large creative choices, such locations, costumes, dialogue, props, music and shooting styles, etc.
There is a lost feeling in this town, no cell phones, money, technology or cops. This way, the audience can focus on our characters and nothing pulls us away from the story. I love this innocence Badsville retains throughout its violence and heartbreak, it feels real to me, like a place we all remember somehow.
JH: Much was made in the media about how you brought the female gaze to the love scenes in Below Her Mouth, as opposed to the traditional male gaze usually reserved for woman-with-woman sex in cinema. How does the female gaze effect the filming of a heterosexual sex scene, or, does it at all?
AM: Everything I create, I do so with my entire body and spirit. It’s simply as truthful to the moment and characters as possible. I attempt to bring the spark of connection to every frame in a film, and even more so in intimacy scenes. Every film and character is so different. The goal with Below Her Mouth was to deliver a female perspective, so it was designed and heightened in that way. With Badsville, the connection between Wink and Suzie is one of being found, and amongst their empty lives, they find a potential future and hope within each other… the intimacy reflects that.
JH: There’s some really beautiful location shooting in Badsville. Talk to us about the filming location?
AM: The locations in Badsville are essential to building our world, and it’s a large character in the film, as our hero is trying to escape this place. It’s beautiful, yet isolated and empty. We shot the film in Los Angeles, which included El Monte, Piru, Atwater and Santa Clarita. I’ve always dreamed of shooting a film in LA: one that showcased the mountains, a desert feel and blazing hot sun. We started location scouting very early on in prep because we wanted to find perfect locations that were timeless and very cinematic. Ben, Ian, Dave and myself started hunting months before official prep. I loved creating this universe early on, being able to visualize how it would all come together as a team was special.
JH: While Below Her Mouth was this sort of exploration of feminine identity, Badsville came across, at least to me, as an exploration of masculine identity. Specifically, negative vs. positive modes of masculinity, being a protector vs. being an aggressor, etc. Talk to us a little about that? Was that something really present in the script, something you wanted to draw out? It’s certainly a pertinent topic.
AM: It’s true the film is very “male” in a lot of ways in terms of its violence and gang the Badsville Kings. However, the script showed this vulnerable and fragile side to our gang members as they exposed their love to one another and for life. There are deep through-lines within the film of what it means to be a protector as a male and what is expected. What I appreciate is we expose the heartache that comes from being an aggressor and trying to sustain an image and reputation.
A huge part of what drew me to the script was how exposed these violent yet tender heroes were in the film. The audience is let in on the inner struggle of Wink and Benny as they discover a desire to break free of their roles and the constant expectations others and society have on them. I feel the film pushes boundaries on the stereotypical ideas we might have when it comes to gangs and male violence, where it comes from and why it exists.
JH: You’ve directed comedies, violent revenge dramas, love stories, and even documentaries. Do you see yourself as a particular type of filmmaker? Is there a narrative or thematic thread linking the projects you’re interested in, or, it just a matter of “hey, this sounds interesting?”
AM: I love film and creating in all aspects.Human behavior and connection is intriguing to me, moments and memories that jump out and strike a chord within us… the ones that awaken us and our imagination… the genre is just a cardboard box really. I love storytelling and impacting an audience with a feeling that transcends them to a new feeling, thought, and perspective.
JH: Anything else you just want to add or talk about? What’re you working on next?
AM: Badsville is truly independent cinema at its best. If you are looking for a refreshing story, new actors and a strong unique film, this is it. The film is made with pure passion, was shot in 18 days by a crew of less than 20. The film is about dreams coming true and two incredibly talented artists’ –Ben & Ian— dreams DID come true, and the audience gets to watch it come to life on the screen!
I’ve spent a lot of time reflecting what my next feature would be, I’m thrilled to say I’m going back to my roots with my own Production company WANGO and shooting one of our original screenplays by Tim Doiron. We’ve made five features together and it will be nice to team up again.
Source : CineDump (06/02/2018)
06/02/2018 | Categories: Movies, News, Press | Tags: april mullen, badsville, below her mouth, interview, movie | Leave a comment
April Mullen is the Director of Below Her Mouth which pushes the boundaries for cinematic sex and premiered this past September at TIFF 2016. Shot by an all-female crew, TIFF programers called it “one of the boldest and sexiest dramas of the year.”
This film was shot using an entirely female crew. What was the inspiration for this?
AM: With Below Her Mouth, we wanted to bring to life something audiences had never seen before on screen: an honest depiction of a truly female perspective on desire, love, intimacy, sex and heartbreak. The goal was to capture an electrifying moment of intense chemistry between two people when they least expected it.
In every department we wanted to bring a female touch and gaze to the screen when it came to love and sex. This “female gaze” included lighting, sound, wardrobe, camera movement, editing and music etc. In order to bring this story to life we needed to expose our female voice, creativity and truth. Hiring an all female crew allowed our original intention to be strengthened because everything came from women. It was also an essential part in allowing our actresses, Erika Linder and Natalie Krill, to have a safe and comfortable place to reveal their desires and be intimate. They needed to know they were supported and had the trust of all involved in order to go to the extremes they went to in their performances. There was so much respect on set for them and our mission. It was a unique and transformative experience.
Can you talk about your experience working with these women on the film?
AM: On set we were able to create a supportive environment that allowed every woman to stay true to herself. The voice of the film is so strong and honest because of that. Working with all of these women we found a very fluid communication style and seamless work flow to enhance the experience. It was rewarding and empowering to watch each key woman excel in her department. Everyone brought so much of themselves and their truth to the table; it was an honour to bring that to the screen in all forms. I believe the results of having an all-female crew can be seen on the screen.
The film is being called sexy and bold. Can you talk about your experience directing this content and the benefits and challenges?
AM: 99% of my exposure to sex in film, TV and media is something that was written by a man, directed by a man, and made to turn men on. This fact was something that was always on my mind while filming Below Her Mouth. I struggled trying to stay true to my inner sense of sexuality as a woman, and create a filmic narrative that was free from the usual images, positions, sex you would normally see in a male driven film. I had to constantly remind myself to forget all of the “movie sex” I had seen before. Instead, I reflected inwardly on what turned me on as a woman – what were my inner desires, what made me want to be physical with another person. These are the moments I wanted to bring to the screen. Another one of my big goals and challenges was to isolate our leads, Natalie and Erika, so that the rest of the world would disappear as it does in life when we fall in love. To allow the actors to feel extra protected and safe to break down any barriers and be vulnerable; to champion their connection and allow them freedom to express themselves.
What is your background in directing and how has the DGC helped you in your journey?
AM: My background in directing is through creating my own work with Wango Films; Tim Doiron and I started the production company after graduating from Ryerson Theatre School. I started in the industry as an actress and spent years on set observing behind and in front of the monitor. I am from the indie feature film scene and have slowly gone up in budget levels when it comes to features, that being said I just recently joined the DGC. Since joining I have found it to be a very supportive community of very talented people. The DGC has been there recently on my new journey into the TV world and they have been very helpful with the transition. It’s fantastic to be a part of such an important union of creative minds here in Canada; I look forward to getting to know more members and the DGC as a whole.
What advice do you have for female directors and other directors looking to make their film sets more diverse and inclusive?
AM: It’s an exciting time in the industry. There is so much talent and so many new voices out there. I love working with the younger generation as much as I do the older one. The mix of experience and wonder is intriguing and creates an interesting dynamic. Each film is so specific with it’s own creative needs, it’s important to find the right fit every time. I love hiring women; there are so many talented ones out there to recognize, you just have to find them. I hope the percentages of women in film continue to increase
A director known as much for her versatility as she is for her passion, April Mullen’s latest directorial offer Below Her Mouth is a relentless love story shot entirely by an all female crew. She was recently honoured with the Birks Diamond Tribute to the Year’s Women in Film. Her previous features include: 88, an action thriller and Dead Before Dawn 3D, which confirmed April Mullen as the youngest person and first female to direct a live action stereoscopic 3D feature film. The film was celebrated for its technological achievements and awarded the Perron Crystal Award. Mullen is co-founder of the independent production company Wango Films, alongside Tim Doiron. The company has produced five films to date. A true maverick in the feature film world, Miss Mullen is known for her bold and stunning visuals, ambitious shooting style, strong performances and unique voice.
Source : DGC Online (28/08/2017)
28/08/2017 | Categories: Movies, News, Press | Tags: april mullen, below her mouth, interview, movie, press | Leave a comment
One of the big issues in the film world today is getting more female perspectives on to the silver screen, and perhaps no film better exemplifies those efforts than director April Mullen’s “Below Her Mouth,” which made its Korean premiere at the Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival on July 14.
Not content with just a female director for the lesbian love story, the film generated buzz with its all-female crew, from sets and lighting to catering.
“We wanted the actresses to feel really, really comfortable and at ease,” Mullen tells The Korea Herald at a coffeehouse on Saturday in Bucheon, Gyeonggi Province. “And we knew it was going to be a closed set and kind of sensitive material, and we wanted to allow them to feel very isolated from the world.” The idea started just with the floor crew, she adds, but extended when word got out and women started to recommend other women.
While she says she’s unlikely to follow such a hiring practice again, on others following suit she says, “I would encourage it, especially given that the percentages (of women in film production) are very low.”
“Below Her Mouth” is an 18-rated romantic drama that tells the story of Dallas, played by Swedish supermodel and actress Erika Linder, and her seduction of Natalie Krill’s Jasmine while her fiance is on a weekend business trip. Similar in a vein to last year’s breakout Korean lesbian romance “Our Love Story,” the Canadian film goes much further in its depiction of raw female physicality and the lust that intertwines itself into the love story.
“The sex in it is very much like an emotional journey and kind of exploring the laws of attraction and what propels people to want to be with another person physically, and why do we do it, and how it feels,” Mullen explains.
“I think very few films explore the female orgasm,” Mullen adds. “And that’s kind of taboo in a way. … We don’t really talk about that.”
Among other goals the flick seeks is normalizing the depiction of strap-on sexual aides. “It’s just part of our main character’s way of seducing women,” the director says. “It’s very authentic to the community — the LGBT — and what women do.”
“That’s maybe why we’re in the Forbidden section,” Mullen reflects, referring to the film being programmed in BIFAN’s Forbidden Zone. “I love that we’re forbidden. I think it’s tantalizing, and makes me want to see the film even more.”
“I think the film is very much a universal theme that ‘love is love,’ and it really comes from an honest, truthful, raw place,” she adds.
Mullen further set out to reimagine how sex is portrayed on screen. “(The struggle) was preparing for the sex scenes and making sure they were authentically from a female’s point of view, and not things that have been brainwashed into my head,” she says, pointing out that so much of what is out there is from male fantasy and that idea of what “sexy” is. The female perspective is very emotional,” the director opines. I had recently fallen desperately in love, and it came with a lot of heartbreak,” Mullen says about what led up to her making “Below Her Mouth.” “I wanted to try and express what that electrical feeling of falling in love very quickly was like — in 90 minutes.”
“Below Her Mouth” has been making its rounds on the film festival circuit since premiering at the Toronto International Film Festival in September, but critical response has been less than stellar, with some reviews pointing to a lack of direction in dramatic narrative.
“You kind of have to walk in very open-minded and let go of this traditional moviemaking and movie-viewing experience,” Mullen says, brushing off critics. “The movie is meant to just be very simple — a slice of life in 78 hours — and it’s supposed to leave you with a feeling.”
There is a kind of response to the film the director has enjoyed, however: young women who approach her in cinema halls after screenings. “It’s way more about the impact that it’s making on the ground floor and when people come up to me and say … ‘You’ve allowed me to feel like myself,’” she emotes, “That means so much more to me.”
The director, whose previous works included teen horror flick “Dead Before Dawn 3D” and thriller “88,” is hopping genres again. She begins filming an action musical tentatively titled “Bloody Knuckles” in Ireland in October. “I hope to keep making all kinds of different films,” Muller explains. “I hope to be sort of a multigenre director. Maybe I’ll break that mold, too.”
The final screening of “Below Her Mouth” at BIFAN is at 8 p.m. on Friday. The film also appears at the 17th Korea Queer Film Festival at Lotte Cinema Broadway near Sinsa Station in Seoul at midnight on Friday and at 10 a.m. on Sunday. It is set for a nationwide release in October.
Source : Korea Herald (20/07/2017)
20/07/2017 | Categories: Festivals, Movies, News, Press | Tags: april mullen, below her mouth, festival, interview, korea, movie, press | Leave a comment
This year Videovision will be screening four movies at the festival. This includes the opening night’s Serpent‚ a thriller about the interaction between a husband and his unfaithful wife who are trapped in a tent with a black mamba.
Serpent is a feature debut from writer-director Amanda Evans. This will be its South African premiere after it got its international premier at the Cannes Film Festival.
Sanjeev Singh‚ director of distribution and acquisition at Videovision‚ said the film festival had taken a conscious decision to feature more accessible and high-profile films at its opening.
“It’s a different approach‚” he said. “Even Cannes‚ the greatest film festival in the world‚ open with highly commercial films. In 1992 they opened with Basic Instinct.”
Videovision has produced more than 80 feature films over the past 30 years.
This year the festival will be screening three more of their productions and acquisitions: the Canadian erotic drama Below Her Mouth; The Killing Floor‚ a local drama set in Zululand and featuring Durban theatre impresario Themi Venturas; and Viceroy’s House‚ a movie about Lord Mountbatten‚ the last Viceroy of India‚ who oversaw the transition of British India to independence. It stars Downton Abby’s Hugh Bonneville as well as Gillian Anderson‚ Michael Gambon‚ Manish Dayal and Om Puri.
The 38th Durban International Film Festival runs from 13 to 23 July at venues across the city.
Source : Times S.A. (11/07/2017)
11/07/2017 | Categories: Festivals, Movies, News | Tags: april mullen, below her mouth, festival, movie, south africa | Leave a comment
‘Below her Mouth” will be screened at the 26th Rainbow Reel Tokyo Festival. The screening, on July 9th, will be followed by a Q&A with director April Mullen. For information about the Festival and tickets visit Rainbow Reel Tokyo.
20/06/2017 | Categories: Festivals, Movies, News, Press | Tags: april mullen, below her mouth, festival, rainbow reel, tokyo | Leave a comment
‘Below her Mouth” will be screening at this year’s L-BEACH festival in Germany, where 4000 women will gather to party, soak in some music, culture, and sun and have the time of their lives.
The event will take place from May 11-14, 2018 at the Weissenhäuser Strand (North Germany).
05/05/2017 | Categories: Festivals, Movies, News | Tags: april mullen, below her mouth, festival, germany, movie | Leave a comment
‘Below her Mouth‘ is out in select US theaters and is available on the following VOD platforms :
iTunes
Amazon Video
Google Play
Vudu
Microsoft Movies & TV
Sony PlayStation
28/04/2017 | Categories: Movies, News | Tags: april mullen, below her mouth, movie, vod | Leave a comment
Sexuality, in the view of columnist Dan Savage, is like a cake with three layers. There are the people we want to sleep with, the people we are actually sleeping with, and the people we say we are sleeping with. Problems arise when gaps emerge between the layers. In the searingly sensual drama “Below Her Mouth,” which focuses on a love affair as unlikely as it is urgent, director April Mullen mines these gaps.
Jasmine (Natalie Krill) is a fashion editor living in a stylish house in Toronto with her fiance (Sebastian Pigott). He’s classically handsome, and in another film would be a leading man, but this isn’t a story about men. Before leaving on a business trip, Jasmine paints his fingernails while he’s napping. It’s an awkward action that hints at unexpressed desires.
Dallas (Erika Linder) owns her own roofing company and is working on the house next door. When her workers catcall Jasmine one morning, the two women lock eyes. But they don’t speak until a chance meeting at a party that night. Their gravitational attraction makes everything that follows feel inevitable.
Mullen and screenwriter Stephanie Fabrizi don’t waste time showing Jasmine pleading heterosexuality. Instead, she initially rebuffs Dallas by talking about her engagement (although her true feelings quickly betray her). The ensuing chemistry is electric, yet never feels like a performance. While the frequent sex scenes are graphic, they’re also driven by vulnerability and long-buried desire. In this film, wordless encounters often reveal more about characters than conversation. The film opens with the heavy breathing of Dallas and her soon-to-be ex-lover Joslyn (Mayko Nguyen). Dallas’s indifference contrasts starkly with Joslyn’s ecstasy, prompting Dallas to end the relationship.
When there is dialogue, especially in the early scenes, it can feel a bit blunt at times, but the unadorned naturalism of Fabrizi’s sly screenplay pays off in meaningful backstory. In place of monologues of reminiscence, the lovers engage in terse conversations that lead organically to poignant memories, such as the moment when Jasmine’s mom walked in on her kissing a girl and barred her from ever seeing the girl again.
Most refreshingly, “Mouth” is a love story in which the word love isn’t uttered, but felt. Krill and Linder have an understated delivery, common to the mumblecore genre. Although this sometimes works against dramatic momentum, it contrasts nicely with — and ultimately heightens — their intimate moments together.
The ambient yet groove-laden score by Noia acts like a third character, lushly sweeping through scenes while lending them a thrilling momentum. As the layers of Jasmine’s sexuality move closer together — and then threaten to fly apart — desire turns into suspense. In “Below Her Mouth,” the title can be read as a sexual allusion. But it also signals the futility of trying to hide our innate desires, let alone behind something as flimsy as words.
27/04/2017 | Categories: Movies, News, Press | Tags: april mullen, below her mouth, movie, san francisco | Leave a comment
Some of the best lesbian-themed films have come out of Canada, from Patricia Rozema’s “I’ve Heard the Mermaids Singing” and “When Night Is Falling” to ‘90s classic “Better Than Chocolate” and the boarding school love saga “Lost and Delirious.” Lisa Cholodenko’s “High Art,” the Indian romance “Fire” and Julianne Moore-Amanda Seyfried thriller “Chloe” all had Canadian ties, and all of these titles were explicit in their own expressions of relationships between two women. Even “The L Word” was mostly a Canadian affair. So perhaps it’s no surprise that “Below Her Mouth,” one of the sexiest selections of lesbian cinema, was written and directed by women in Canada, where the support for their very specific and Sapphic story was never threatened by the censorship that so many stateside companies and studios face.
Shot in Toronto, “Below Her Mouth” stars out model Erika Linder in her first major acting role as Dallas, an androgynous roofer who is unsettled in life and bored with her current girlfriend (who we meet mid-coitus) until she meets Jasmine (Natalie Krill), a fashion editor engaged to a man. They first meet when Jasmine gets catcalled by Dallas’ male roofing companions, but reconnect later after Jasmine’s bisexual friend pulls her into a lesbian bar. They engage in a push-and-pull of magnetic flirtations, with Jasmine first attempting to put Dallas off but eventually giving in. While viewers will not feel like this is unexplored territory (see: Shane McCutcheon), what they will find is a kind of titillation and story of romance that is just for them, something that admittedly hasn’t existed since Shane & Co. disappeared from regular Sunday night viewing. There are several lengthy and explicit sex scenes that come closer to resembling actual lesbian sex than most movies have (excuse the pun) been able to nail — scenes that were not directed by men and then marketed to a wider audience for thinly veiled voyeurism.
“Before anyone auditioned, they wanted to make sure everyone was game for the material,” actress Natalie Krill said. “It’s pretty demanding physically. So I read it, and it made me feel a lot in many ways —I was turned on, I was sad and thinking of playing the role of Jasmine, as an actor, I was terrified.”
But for an actress who felt she was finding “a common ground in a lot of the roles I was getting,” she was looking for a challenge, and “Below Her Mouth” offered several, including an intimate scene in which Jasmine fantasizes about Dallas while masturbating with a faucet in a clawfoot tub.
“When you’re auditioning, it feels like a shot in the dark, so you’re kind of more fearless about it. And then actually getting it, I kind of felt like ‘Oh man, what have I gotten myself into?’” Krill said laughingly. “But in an excited nervous way. While we were actually filming it, I definitely felt a lot of that, but I think it actually served Jasmine, because that was a lot of the point I’d dug up around her as a person, was that this is something she’d buried in her, and so she had a lot of fear and was a bit trepidatious about it. So I think there’s things that Natalie, me as an actor, were feeling in my personal experience that actually fueled the character as well.”
Linder had been cast first as the brooding heartthrob, Dallas, director April Mullen said, and finding someone to play the unlikely starring role was difficult considering how few actors there are that could do justice to such a specific character.
“We wanted Dallas to have this sort of bravado and charisma that was like striking and when she walked into a room, you know, all eyes would turn,” Mullen said. “ And we were on the hunt for a very long time, because we also wanted to cast queer for queer or try and stay as truthful as we could to somebody who lives that lifestyle rather than an actress playing a role. And we thought that was really important for us in terms of all the roles in our film, to stay as authentic as we could to the world and to those scenes. And so literally one day, I saw the face of Erika Linder in black and white, in this little kind of clip on YouTube, and I immediately responded and was like, ’That’s Dallas. That’s gotta be our Dallas.’”
Mullen said she was attracted to Linder’s “genderlessness,” which leant itself well to the character created by writer Stephanie Fabrizi. And once Linder was cast, the next hurdle was finding someone that could play opposite her in scenes so sensual that they would hold audiences captive. Luckily, Linder’s chemistry read with Krill proved to be an instant connection.
“Natalie Krill had this vulnerability and sense of wonder and naiveté to her, and she’s very open and has a very thin gill, and Dallas is the complete opposite,” Mullen said. “So when she was with Natalie, she sort of surrendered as well, which is a very nice take on what would be stereotypically kind of macho.
“But Erika brought a real softness to the role as well, where she got to let go. As soon as she was with Jasmine, there was like a big shift in her character. She felt safe and, for the first time, let go. I think that was scary for the character and the actor,” she added with a laugh.
In the last decade, several mainstream films have touted lesbian love scenes, most notably “Carol,” “Blue Is the Warmest Color” and “The Handmaiden,” all of which were directed by men. They are also limited to one, whereas “Below Her Mouth” has a handful of Dallas pleasuring another woman (Jasmine and others), which means the film is full of highly-sexualized content, which Mullen sees as part of the narrative.
“There’s a huge story being told with their bodies,” she said. “Like there’s a beginning, a middle and an end in between each sex scene, and each sex scene has its own voice. At night, it’s very silhouetted — you can’t see much, it’s really dark and it’s their first time. So everything’s a mystery, and they’re exploring each other’s bodies, and Jasmine’s really unsure of what she’s doing. But in the day sex, there’s definitely this freedom that Jasmine finds, and she really owns it and she kind of takes more of a dominating position, and it’s in broad daylight, and they’re a lot more comfortable with one another in terms of their sexuality and their bodies.”
Krill acknowledged that there might be some viewers who focus largely on the sexual content of the film, but she sees much more to the story.
“Everyone has sex,” Krill said with a laugh. “It’s a very enjoyable part of life. And the first time I saw the film, I had my concerns. I’m like ‘OK, I know what we filmed, I know what the trip was, and I’m curious to see how how that translated into the edits.’ And the thing that really took me by surprise and caught me in such a beautiful way was that I was really impressed with how innocent it felt. Regardless of all the sexual content, I felt the thing that came through was the love and the connection between them. It’s lovemaking. You can call it sex or you can call it lovemaking, but the story is about two people who have this otherworldly draw to each other, and it turns into a love affair.”
Krill said she’d seen “Blue is the Warmest Color” when it came out a few years ago, but didn’t do any research into lesbian sex scenes in past films before shooting “Below Her Mouth.”
“I kind of just went into my imagination with the character,” Krill said. “Maybe the director and the creative team did more of that, I don’t know. My imagination was pretty entertaining.”
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“Below Her Mouth,” which will be released on April 28, is essentially a fantasy, and when Krill joked that she and writer Stephanie Fabrizi called the film “a Disney movie,” they aren’t too far off. A fairy tale for a subgroup of people who rarely to get to see the kinds of things that they dream played out on screen, “Below Her Mouth” presents a romance-fueled intimacy and passion that is too often relegated to a scene directed by a man and played by two straight women. Inevitably, having queer women as part of all major facets of a Sapphic-themed film will have its benefits and its payoffs. And the fact that it came out of Canada, where artists are less censored and more supported by their government and federal funding opportunities offers even more opportunity for filmmakers like Mullen to create work for marginalized communities.
“As a filmmaker, to take that tool to heart and make sure you deliver something with honesty — you hope that there’s at least a ripple affect,” Mullen said. “It’s a really beautiful thing when your art conveys a message without being overly statement tor political about it. Because the film really is just a love story — there’s nothing political about it in terms of what they’re talking about. It’s just an honest depiction of two people falling in love, and when there’s a beautiful impact it can make on young females or people who are confused or scared or don’t understand their identity or ashamed of their sexuality — all of those things make a really big difference.”
Source : NBC News (27/04/2017)
27/04/2017 | Categories: Movies, News, Press | Tags: april mullen, below her mouth, interview, movie, press | Leave a comment
Over the past 20 years, in all forms, in all moments, I’ve been focused on creating. On a daily basis, big and small moments fire my imagination. Images, sounds and feelings hit me and are transformed into frames in the work I make in film and TV. My spirit has always been driven by my passion to create.
(photo by Rick McGinnis)
Over the past year, I’ve found myself suddenly being labeled a “female filmmaker,” part of an awareness campaign that singles out women in film and TV in order to equalize their severe underrepresentation in the industry. There’s a part of me that understands the label, because younger generations of female filmmakers need people to identify with – they need to know it’s possible to follow and attain their dreams. Part of me, however, can’t help but think the label also contributes to the problem as a whole. The motivation behind this focus on diversity is to move toward a society in which labels are broken down and people aren’t simply put into boxes, but I strongly believe that women are not only underrepresented both behind and in front of the camera, but also greatly misunderstood. If you look at the majority of movies produced, the female characters in these films are often solely there to service the plot of a male hero.
Until very recently, I thought of myself simply as a filmmaker. There was no gender attached to every press article or headline about me. Maybe I was naïve not to look around or outside of my work, but I never saw myself as a “female” filmmaker. I always thought I was just making films. The fact that I was a woman never came into the equation for me. Perhaps I was too busy giving my everything to making independent films and getting a production company off the ground to notice the gender discrepancy in the entertainment industry.
Looking back, though, I recognize that while directing my first five features I was one of possibly two women on set – the other being my sister Faye, who I hired as a production designer. From day one, my longtime producing partner Tim Doiron allowed me freedom and equality as I strengthened my filmmaking muscles over the five films we did together. This kind of relationship and the atmosphere it created is rare, and it was invaluable to me. While I was making those films, my nose was to the ground, I was full force ahead, and I never stopped to notice how off-balance everything was or how sheltered our WANGO Films productions were.
When I worked with producer Melissa Coghlan and writer Stephanie Fabrizi on my latest movie, Below Her Mouth, we decided to set a bold precedent – to have an all-female crew. We made this decision because it was our goal from the beginning to deliver an authentic female perspective, a truth that had to come from all creative keys involved in the filmmaking process. At the time, we didn’t yet know what the outcome would bring, we just wanted to create something fresh and bold that would hopefully connect with audiences and make an impact.
The most common question we get from audiences is, “What did the all-female crew bring? Why and how is this film different?” I’ve often responded to this question by saying, “The answer is on the screen. It’s also the feeling you are left with as you leave the cinema.” But then again, what exactly is “it”? What do women bring to the screen that separates us from men? What is the female gaze? And why is it that I don’t like differentiating myself as a woman? Could it be that over the years I have been told time and time again in convoluted ways that I needed to “fit in” and suppress my female essence while on set with more than 200 men? Have I been cutting myself and my female voice short in order to succeed in this very male-dominated industry?
For the first time I will openly admit, I believe for many years I have been dimming my female qualities while financing, writing, shooting, editing and even releasing films, because I wanted to keep making movies and thought being female might be seen as a weakness.
I now, however, see it as a strength. This might have come with experience and age, but it might have also come with all the support I feel around the current celebration of women in film. Maybe it’s a little bit of everything. After going to festivals with Below Her Mouth and watching the reactions of audience members, I wanted to answer this question – what makes it different? Essentially, what as females were my crew and I bringing to the work we were creating?
I can only answer from my personal experience, but I will say, I create with my body and my spirit – my work comes from deep within me. Women have this vulnerability and connection to a depth of emotions that I can see and feel in certain moments of truth in the films we create. To me, the female gaze is transparency – the veil between audience and filmmaker is thin, and that allows people in more. Females allow for silences, moments of compassion, space to feel. We don’t force the audience into thinking or feeling; rather, I find, we give them the choice. When I create, I give my everything – all of my insides … the moments, the feelings – there’s no holding back. It’s all-encompassing.
Now that I’ve found this understanding about what it is I feel we as females offer, I intend to stay relentlessly true to myself and my voice, because I know it’s important and has value. The female gaze offers a unique perspective on human beings. Women see the world differently than men. How exciting is that? Imagine more films with greater transparency, and enhanced with a raw honesty. There’s a long way to go still, but the female gaze is upon us, and as it gathers momentum, it will be electrifying, offering audiences the opportunity to experience a new consciousness.
April Mullen : a filmmaker known as much for her versatility as she is for her passion, April Mullen most recently directed Below Her Mouth, a relentless love story shot entirely by an all-female crew which had its world premiere at the 2016 Toronto International Film Festival and will be released theatrically in the U.S. on April 28. Mullen’s previous features include: 88, an action thriller; and Dead Before Dawn 3D, which made Mullen the youngest person and first female to direct a live-action stereoscopic 3D feature film. The film was celebrated for its technological achievement and awarded the Perron Crystal. Mullen is co-founder of the independent production company WANGO Films, alongside Tim Doiron. The company has produced five films to date. A true maverick in the feature film world, Mullen is known for her bold and stunning visuals, ambitious shooting style, strong performances and unique voice. Selected TV credits include Killjoys, Aftermath, Real Detective, Bellevue and Wynonna Earp.
Source : Talkhouse (26/04/2017)
26/04/2017 | Categories: Movies, News, Press | Tags: april mullen, below her mouth, interview, movie, press | Leave a comment
Below Her Mouth starts this Friday 4/28 at the Cinema Village in New York.
The 9:10 pm screening with special introduction by Stars Erika Linder and Natalie Krill and Director April Mullen + FREE POPCORN w/ each ticket to the 9:10pm show
DIRECTOR: April Mullen
STARRING: Tommie-Amber Pirie, Natalie Krill, Elise Bauman
SHOWTIMES: 1:10PM, 3:10PM, 5:10PM, 7:10PM, 9:10PM
Gunpowder & Sky – 92 min
An unexpected affair quickly escalates into a heart-stopping reality for two women whose passionate connection changes their lives forever.
25/04/2017 | Categories: Movies, News | Tags: april mullen, below her mouth, movie, new york | Leave a comment
Located in the Los Angeles Area? Come join us for a screening of ‘Below her Mouth’ on April 29th and then dance the night away at the official after party !
Don’t miss the Frameline Encore screening of ‘Below her Mouth’ on April 20th in San Francisco. Actress Natalie Krill and screenwriter Stephanie Fabrizi will be in attendance. We hope to see you there !
30/03/2017 | Categories: Movies, News | Tags: april mullen, below her mouth, los angeles, movie, san francisco | Leave a comment
Pegged as the sexiest lesbian film of Queer Screen’s Mardi Gras Film Festival, and of the year, Below Her Mouth celebrates female and lesbian sexuality like few films before it. Dallas (Erika Linder) isn’t built for relationships, but her chance encounter with Jasmine (Natalie Krill) causes an electric reaction that neither expect. The film was created with an entirely female crew, and director April Mullen talks to LOTL about the challenges, breakthroughs and inspirations for such an exciting project.
Where did the idea to use an all-female crew come from?
Women in film are rare gems and rather than talk about misrepresentation we decided to do something about it while shooting Below Her Mouth. The original intention was to bring to life something audiences had never seen before on screen: an honest depiction of a female’s perspective of what it’s like to experience desire, love, intimacy, sex and heartbreak. The goal was to capture an electrifying moment of intense chemistry between two people when they least expect it through the female gaze.
It was a challenge finding women in all departments, but word spread quickly and we were able to fill all the positions.This full female crew bought to life a feeling of being apart of something bigger than the film, this gave the female voice a stamp on the screen.
I believe the results of having an all female crew can be seen on the screen. We were able to bring our raw sensibilities to our craft, which included an enormous amount of heart and courage. Each key creative brought their personal female touch to their department. We were able to create a comfortable environment for our lead actresses Natalie Krill and Erika Linder to feel utterly supported. On set the women were able to stay true to themselves — the voice of the film is so strong and honest because of that.
How can more women be encouraged to work in the entertainment industry?
By setting examples likes this so they know the possibilities are out there. You have to take your passion and talents into your own hands, if you love the entertainment industry and want to create, do it! Create your own work, don’t wait, create everyday, build a team and start making content.
Do you think your film is a landmark for female sexuality on screen?
Yes, it is a landmark; it is uninhibited and celebrates the female gaze in a refreshing way. It allows the audience in, rather then jump out at it to be heard. The film is simply honest, raw and bold. It gives a voice to the female orgasm…there is no hiding the orgasm, or strap on, they simply are. The film is intense and simple all at once.
Do you think female sexuality is underrepresented in the media, and what can be done to counter this?
The female voice, desire, and even orgasm is seldom represented in film, television or advertisements. 99% of my exposure to sex in the media is written by a man, directed by a man, and made predominately for male audiences. I struggled heavily to stay true to my inner sense of sexuality. I had to constantly remind myself to forget all of the “movie sex” I had seen up until now and its impact on me. I had to reflect inwardly on this, and what really made me want to be physical with another person.
I feel the more we offer an alternative to audiences the more we will see a change in perception. It will not happen overnight but having female writers, roles and creators helps build a new perception and option.
“Below Her Mouth is a daring and emotional film that finally gets right what so many queer films get wrong.” – Dork Shelf
“Director April Mullen has added something beautiful to the landscape of film. Her love story – captured by a crew comprised entirely of women – feels truer, messier, and more vulnerable than most of what passes for romantic cinema these days.” – The Matinee
April will be at Saturday’s screening of the film to talk more about Below Her Mouth.
More Information:
When: 25 February 2017, 9:30pm
Where: Event Cinemas George St / Australia
Source : Living True (21/02/2017)
21/02/2017 | Categories: Festivals, Movies, News, Press | Tags: april mullen, australia, below her mouth, festival, interview, press | Leave a comment
Things are bustling in and around the second floor lounge of Montecito, the Ivan Reitman owned restaurant in Toronto’s Entertainment District. It’s the first weekend of the 2016 Toronto International Film Festival, and a front-of-house manager on the first floor is barking instructions at staff concerning a major event happening there this evening. Muscular men and women are furiously running around the first and second floors, rearranging the restaurant’s furniture and bringing in nicer sofas and armchairs.
Things on the second floor are no less chaotic, as Canadian filmmaker April Mullen and actresses Erika Linder and Natalie Krill are participating in a photoshoot amid all the noise and confusion tied to the premiere of their collaboration on the lesbian romance Below Her Mouth (opening in theatres across Canada this weekend, just in time for Valentine’s Day). In comparison to everyone else in the building – myself included as I watch and wait for them to finish up – they’re incongruously overdressed, something they all chuckle about once the cameras have left and it’s just us and the restaurant staff left in the still buzzing building.
Buzz is something the three women have become accustomed to, with Below Her Mouth generating a lot of publicity for them and the project. It tells the story of Jasmine, played by Krill, an unhappily engaged and lonely magazine editor from Toronto who begins a steamy, lustful affair with a female roofer, Dallas, played by Linder, a Swedish model in her first onscreen acting role.
The film seeks to capture a sense of overwhelming lust that one feels from an instant sexual attraction, leading to a film that has both been celebrated and criticized for its sexually explicit nature. Most of the scenes in screenwriter Stephanie Fabrizi’s story are lengthy, and often wordless, relying on the sexual chemistry and compatibility of the two leads. It’s also a huge change of pace for Niagara Falls native Mullen as a director, who most recently worked on bloodier genre films like Dead Before Dawn and 88.
“The challenge of trying to capture that lightning in a bottle effect of falling completely and madly in love so quickly is so difficult to convey,” Mullen says when talking about how the material’s challenging nature only made her more intrigued to come on board to direct. “I had recently experienced something similar in my life and the heartbreak that sometimes goes along with that, so I immediately connected to the script. I knew that I could bring something forward and something unique to the screen. There was a challenge to it, personally and professionally, but it’s a blessing to have material that allows you to do something like this. It has been such an incredible journey from where we started to now, a year later – literally almost a year since we finished filming – I’m brought to tears looking back on it. It was a vulnerable place for everyone who made this film, and we really had to shed all of our filters, and allow the audience in. It was courageous and brave for everyone involved.”
“It’s also a night and day difference from the genre based stuff I had been making recently,” Mullen adds with a laugh when asked about how Below Her Mouth represents a change of direction in her filmmaking career. “It’s a lot different than making something fast and furious with blood, and guts, and squibs, but I wasn’t daunted. I was just thrilled to explore this side of me. I have longed for a film like this to come my way for a long time. I always wanted to have a film where I could showcase a kind of sensitivity, and not have to have fast edits and allow the moments to sit still. I wanted for the longest time to make a film where you could just be mesmerized by two performances. It was very, very exciting because, you know, genre films sell all over the world and they can be shown all over the world, and that all makes it easier to find. When it comes to drama, and a drama like this in particular, it can be harder to pull the funding together, so when an opportunity like this comes along, you never want to pass it by. I feel so blessed that I was one of the first who could see this script. It was freeing because I was able to stand behind the monitor and draw small moments and innuendos out of Erika and Natalie and not worry about hitting a certain number of beats that had to be there. We could play things a lot more naturally, and feel like we were genuinely getting to the heart of these people’s desires. I was able to bring out a lot more raw and honest moments that you often can’t get if you’re running and gunning through the production.”
For Linder, it also marks a massive career change as she makes the leap from modelling to acting, and being around her and seeing her effortless charisma and dry sense of humour in person, it seems like a natural transition. But to hear her tell it, Below Her Mouth was one of the few projects she seriously considered to make the transition with.
“Of course, you always have some sort of a vision of how you want your career to take a turn, and when I got the script and I met April and got to know the production, I felt like I couldn’t have asked for a better first role or a better team to work with,” Linder says about how she came to the project. “We just clicked, and it was almost too good to be true. Dallas is great because, as a character, she’s holding onto something that she’s frustrated about, and it has led her to a point where she feels like she can’t feel love, and she meets someone else who wants to live their life authentically.”
For the more veteran performer Krill, a Saskatchewan native, Below Her Mouth represented a chance to explore complex, overwhelming emotions she had never been able to tap into on screen before.
“I had a lot of different reactions to the material at first,” Krill says about her visceral first reaction to the material. “The material just kind of jumped off the page, and it made me feel a lot. For me, as an actor, I was really waiting and working towards having an opportunity to delve into a role like this. The material was challenging and kind of terrifying, but that’s what I always wanted. It’s absolutely a once in a lifetime opportunity.”
When all three women had joined the project, they were all in agreement that the relationship between Jasmine and Dallas should be strong in terms of physicality and emotion, but allowed to be played somewhat silently and over long periods of time. They also agree that the chemistry between Krill and Linder was something almost instantaneous and something that couldn’t be duplicated if either of them tried.
“I think we got cast because we really had a sort of chemistry between us before we started,” Linder remarks about her rapport with her co-star. “If we were to do this film today, I think because our chemistry has changed as a result of getting to know each other, the feeling of the film and our performances would be totally different now than they would have been a year ago.”
“We talked a lot about what this connection meant between them,” Krill says about how the two performers went about fleshing out their onscreen relationship. “We talked a lot about eye contact, and taking time to look at each other and take everything in. We kept coming back to that, a lot. We talked a lot about not rushing. We would often remind ourselves to slow down and really take each other in. Aside from that, I think it was quite natural and organic. We were both really secluded in terms of our preparation for the movie, but I was really in touch with Jasmine, and Erika was really in touch with Dallas, so when we came together to make the film, it was like two people with great chemistry meeting for the first time all over again. I felt pretty pleased and satisfied for than month.”
“It was a very true to life film, and if you want something to feel true to life, you can’t rush it, and that’s why we ended up with these two women here today,” Mullen adds about her stars. “They could take that time and have that chemistry. We move wherever they move in the story, and these performances are the kind that I don’t think could be captured in the same way twice or if we spent more time almost over-preparing things.”
Not “over-preparing” was something Mullen was quite keen on in order to maintain a sense of spontaneity Krill and Linder’s relationship, particularly since most scenes in the film are quite lengthy and require a certain degree of emotional believability to work with an audience.
“This is a daunting film to read on the page, and sometimes if there was magic in take one, like the scene where Natalie and [actor] Sebastian [Pigott] break-up in the bathtub, we just knew that the master shot of that first take was when we had it,” Mullen says of her approach to the story’s emotional, sometimes purposefully drawn out beats. “If all the pieces were in place, and everything was perfect, we were always careful to never overshoot or over-cover things that needed to feel organic and spontaneous to be effective. We never did more takes and coverage than absolutely necessary because we needed the feeling of every scene to continue fluidly. For scenes that were really long, we would often do it in one take while getting as much coverage as possible so things could feel organic. This is a film that needs to feel alive and frenetic, and I like to keep the actors or the camera always moving. The minute something starts to feel stilted or choppy is the minute it stops feeling organic.”
Behind the camera, Below Her Mouth has also garnered a lot of press attention because it was the almost nonexistent type of motion picture that was filmed by an entirely female production crew, something the filmmaker and stars find a great deal of pride in. And to hear them tell it, it couldn’t have been made any other way or under any other circumstances.
“I think it would have been a very different kind of film, otherwise,” Krill says when asked if Below Her Mouth could have been made with anything other than an all female crew. “Everyone was excited to be a part of this. We knew that a predominantly female feature of this kind would always a certain kind of curiosity about that, but we knew we were part of something special. We definitely had challenges along the way. Our shooting schedule was crazy, and we had really big days, but April was amazing. No matter what was thrown at her or what challenges arose, she was always a leader, and she always made it work. She was always so positive and so resilient.”
“Everyone here was a key to making this special,” Mullen gushes with a smile about her collaborators. “We all fell in love here. The environment was so warm and passionate. If there was no trust or no love between all of us, there was no film. Every woman on this project brought a different set of experiences and touches, and that added so much to the overall film.”
“Women just understand each other on a very emotional level,” Linder adds about the film’s uniquely feminine perspective and the convictions of everyone involved with the project. “It wasn’t just Natalie and I as performers who had to understand each other. We all did. Everyone was dedicated to this, and everyone gave their all.”
They all also hope that Below Her Mouth is seen as more than just a lesbian love story made by and for women. They hope that every viewer sees a piece of themselves in it; a romance where people of all sexes and orientations can understand the emotional weight.
“I can’t say this enough, but even though this is a love story between two women, this is a film with true to life emotions and moments that lots of people experience when falling in love,” Mullen passionately states. “We want people to view it with an open mind, and then go home and really think about it. I hope people go home and just feel free, regardless of what they’re going home to. I want this film to reinvigorate people and make them feel free.”
Krill also adds that she hopes Below Her Mouth will allow viewers to be comfortable and honest with themselves after leaving the theatre.
“It’s about being authentic to who you are, whether you’re with a man or a woman. It can apply to any part of your life. It’s about staying true to yourself and making choices that are only for yourself, and not what other people think you should do. It’s about going after what you want.”
Source : The Toronto Film Scene (10/02/2017)
10/02/2017 | Categories: Movies, News, Press | Tags: april mullen, below her mouth, interview, movie, press | Leave a comment
Opportunities aren’t always going to fall in your lap, so get out there and make them happen for yourself. That’s the philosophy and approach director April Mullen has taken with her career, co-founding the independent production company Wango Films with Tim Doiron after graduating theater school and being disappointed in the opportunities available to her. She’s since leveraged that philosophy as an actress, writer, producer and director, landing opportunities to excel in every part of the creative process.
Most recently, Mullen became a breakout director after her film Below Her Mouth had its world premiere at the 2016 Toronto International Film Festival. Below Her Mouth is the story of an unexpected and passionate romance between two women (Erika Linder and Natalie Krill) who form an immediate connection that changes both of their lives forever. The film gained attention behind the scenes as well due to the all-female crew Mullen assembled.
Along the success of Below Her Mouth, Mullen has recently transitioned her directing talents from the big screen to television. Her credits include episodes of Killjoys and Aftermath, as well as the upcoming season of Wynonna Earp and the new CBC drama Bellevue. She recently spoke with The TV Junkies as part of our Women Behind Canadian TV Series to elaborate on her decision to use an all-female crew on Below Her Mouth, the challenges in staffing the crew, as well as why she thinks the number of female directors is so shockingly low and what can be done to change things.
The TV Junkies: You’ve pretty much done it all from acting, writing, producing and directing. Is there any specific role you prefer?
April Mullen: I’m just obsessed with the creative process as a whole. I’ve been addicted to and loved creating since a very young age. I love bringing something from your imagination onto the screen and have it come to reality. I’m mesmerized by catching something in the heat of the moment on film and being able to play it back. All of those things drew me to the industry because it was part of my identity from the beginning, and I’ve loved it ever since.
TTVJ: The gender gap is glaringly obvious when it comes to the directing position. How were you able to break through?
AM: I graduated from arts and theater school with a bachelor in fine arts. I came to Los Angeles and at the time there was a writers’ strike and nothing going on. I’m very much a believer in creating your own work and am definitely a generator. I just couldn’t wait and hope that someone would call, and couldn’t see roles or films that I loved represented on screen. My producing partner Tim Doiron and I teamed up right out of theater school to start our own production company called Wango Films. We facilitated our future with our production company and started creating our own work.
We started with micro budget feature films and slowly built up our company. I hopped right into the director’s chair after 10 years of being an observer as an actor and got to grow, experiment and try different genres under our umbrella. I started doing work for hire in the last two to three years which has been fantastic, but that’s really what happened. I was in love with what I wanted to do and nothing was happening, so I started creating my own work and the opportunity to express myself.
TTVJ: The numbers for women in the directing position are just abysmal. Why do you think it’s so hard for women to break through?
AM: The percentages are shocking when you put it on paper and count the numbers. It’s a fascinating thing to me because in the last 15 years no one has labeled me as a female director. I was never labeled as anything other than a creative person or director. However, in the last year and a half there’s been a lot of awareness and a lot of buzz so everyone now labels me as a female director. I think it’s important because there needs to be awareness, but it’s also funny because I never really realized what an oddity it was. I was so busy creating and I didn’t realize that I was surrounded by a 99 per cent male crew.
Personally, I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that when a lot of young women are leaving school they might not be aware of the fact that it’s a possibility–a woman director is a possibility. We have to promote and very much put on a pedestal the women that are succeeding in the industry, put them on the covers of things, make sure their names are household names and if that starts happening, the younger generation of filmmakers will see the possibility and know it’s an option.
If you enter the industry in the traditional sense it takes such a long time to slowly go up the ladder. If you’re a young woman that’s in love with film and want to be a director, you have to leave school and start creating work and directing shorts right away. If that’s the position you are vying for, then claim that position and start directing immediately because that’s what you’ll be seen as.
TTVJ: Directing seems to be a lot about who you know and then people hire the same people over and over again. What’s the process you go through when getting hired on a job?
AM: I think it’s also an age thing. I’m from the film side of things so when you’re entering a new medium like television it’s a whole different beast. I went through the same process any newcomer into the TV landscape would have. I went through a slew of interviews, shadowed on the CW shows and you have to put in a lot of effort to break down those barriers to let them know they are in safe hands. Your first episode of TV is definitely different than creating feature films, so once you get the first one under your belt and everyone knows you can deliver then everything becomes–I don’t want to say easier because you still have the same amount of interviews–people tend to gravitate towards what they feel safe with. Obviously, that means they work with people they’ve worked with before, but I think that goes for any industry. So when you’re new, young and breaking through those doors it’s always going to be a process.
TTVJ: You used an all-female crew on your film Below Her Mouth. Can you discuss why you made that decision?
AM: With Below Her Mouth it was very specific because the content is what generated the creative decision. It was very much a creative decision to have an all female crew because we were aiming to achieve love, sex, lust and that incredible electrifying chemistry that you can find–if you’re lucky–but we wanted to give that to people through a female perspective. To do that we wanted to go all the way in terms of the camera movement, what they are wearing, our production design, our music, our editor, everything we wanted to bring forth this truth that came from a female perspective. We just wanted to be as true as possible, so that’s why we went with an all female crew.
We wanted to give a different perspective, especially on sex and love and what those things are like for women. We felt there was very little represented on screen, and even when I was doing my shot listing, I found it extremely challenging because everything I had been exposed to in terms of sex and love was written by a man, directed by a man or made to turn men on. I constantly had to throw that to the side and remind myself to look within and really ask myself an authentic question of ‘what actually turns me on as a woman? What truly happens to us when we instantly fall in love, and what do those feelings feel like? How can I capture that and bring that to the screen?’ It’s very rarely seen, and with Below Her Mouth I think the results are on the screen because there’s something to that film that makes it so authentic, and I believe it’s the female voice that comes from all departments.
I create from inside my body with no filter to deliver the female gaze to all that I do. The female gaze creates empathy, you are feeling with the film, series, or piece of art. I don’t want to simply show the audience something, I want them to feel something, something honest, found deep within my female gaze.
TTVJ: Since there is such a lack of women in many positions behind the scenes, did you have any difficulty in hiring the crew?
AM: Yes, it was really difficult actually! It took over three months and sound was really challenging and so was boom operator. Grip and electric were also really difficult to lock women down because there are so few in Canada.
TTVJ: What differences did you notice in the environment on set from having that all female crew?
AM: I think with every film when you get a bunch of creative people together they have their own personality and it creates this synergy on set. With Below Her Mouth it was very supportive, non-judgemental, the communication was seamless between departments and there were no barriers between departments which was fantastic. It really helped with the performances of the actresses because they felt supported and very brave when going into these very vulnerable places. The crew and directorial wise we all exposed inner pieces of ourselves so they felt very comfortable. It’s like we were all on the same mission to deliver something new, from the female perspective, and we were all on the same page. We felt like a little army and it was a very inspiring and motivating set to be a part of.
TTVJ: What are you currently working on?
AM: I just finished an incredible series called Bellevue that was written and created by a woman, Adrienne Mitchell. Jane Maggs was the showrunner and writer so there were various strong, creative and fantastic women involved in that project that stars Anna Paquin. I’m also heading off to Wynonna Earp right after the new year to shoot more sci-fi with Melanie Scrofano and the Wynonna team. I cannot wait and am very excited to shoot that out in Calgary.
Source : The TV Junkies (27/01/2017)
27/01/2017 | Categories: Movies, News, Press | Tags: april mullen, below her mouth, interview, movie, press | Leave a comment
Director : April Mullen | 94′ | Canada | 2016 | Drama/Romance | English | 18A | Tickets : $15
Friday, Sept. 30 @ 7 pm – Buy tickets HERE !
Western Canadian Premiere. Magali Simard (TIFF) writes: “One of the boldest and sexiest dramas of the year, April Mullen’s ‘Below her mouth’ tells the story of an unexpected romance between two women whose passionate connection changes their lives forever.” We would like to add the words ‘most courageous’ to that sentence.
Jasmine (Natalie Krill – ‘Remember’) is a successful fashion editor living with her fiancé. On a night out with her best friend, she meets Dallas (Erika Linder, a Swedish fashion model in real life), who owns her own roofing company and is recently out of a relationship. Jasmine is taken by surprise when Dallas confidently hits on her; she turns Dallas down, but can’t get her out of her head.
Stephanie Fabrizi’s screenplay powerfully explores what happens when two women fall hard for each other. Shot with an entirely female crew, ‘Below her mouth’ smashes all kinds of ‘rules’. Director, April Mullen (‘Gravytrain’ and ‘Rock, paper, Scissors : The Way of the Tosser’) is an EIFF alumni and we are so proud to welcome her back for an audience Q&A following this screening.
28/09/2016 | Categories: Festivals, Movies, News | Tags: april mullen, below her mouth, edmonton film festival | Leave a comment
The festival tour is not over…
Premiering at TIFF, “Below her mouth” is helmed by Canadian filmmaker April Mullen (88, Dead before dawn), and boasts itself as one of the first Canadian film productions to have an all-female production crew.
Director April Mullen in attendance at the screening on October 1 !
Screenings
Wednesday Sep 28, 9:30 pm
At Globe Upstairs – Licensed Screening
At Globe Upstairs – Licensed Screening
21/09/2016 | Categories: Festivals, Movies, News | Tags: april mullen, below her mouth, calgary, festival, film | Leave a comment
Don’t miss another screening of ‘Below her mouth‘ in Ontario at the Cinefest Sudbury ! Melissa Coghlan and Stephanie Fabrizi will be attending.
Schedule
Sept. 21 8.00 pm @ Silvercity , 355 Barrydowne Road, Sudbury.
Tickets HERE.
20/09/2016 | Categories: Festivals, Movies, News | Tags: april mullen, below her mouth, canada, cinefest, festival, film, sudbury | Leave a comment
Once in a blue moon, a person can look at you across a crowded space and strike a chord very deep inside of you. The sound that reverberates through your body when they do seems to ask you over and over “what if.. ?.”
What happens if you find out the answer to that question… even just once ?
‘Below her mouth’ introduces us to Jasmine (Natalie Krill). A well-heeled fashion editor with a great car, posh house, and handsome fiancee… the sort of woman who seemingly “has it all”. When her man goes out-of-town, Jasmine and a girlfriend hit up a lesbian bar on a Friday night. It’s there that she meets Dallas (Erika Linder), a roofer who she caught a glimpse of working on the house next door that morning.
The two are drawn together; Dallas feeling an undeniable attraction, and Jasmine fighting a “I’ve never done this before” hesitancy. One kiss becomes two, two becomes three. Soon Jasmine can’t concentrate on anything else and an actual date is set.
Over the course of one weekend, the women become deeply intertwined; sexually and emotionally.
Director April Mullen has added something beautiful to the landscape of film. Her love story – capture by a crew comprised entirely of women – feels truer, messier, and more vulnerable than most of what passes for romantic cinema these days. She knows that sometimes we grab hold of something awkwardly in a fit of passion, and that sometimes we say something silly the next morning.
She wants to use it all; give it all the full treatment and paint a new picture of what love-at-first sight means in the city I call home.
If I’m left with a question for Dallas and Jasmine, it’s this: ‘Below her mouth’ leaves no question about their sexual chemistry. In the heat of their moments, these two women are as-one; they slip into a give-and-take that most lovers can only dream of. Their sensual prayers are answered thanks to a whole lot of delicious sin. There is no question there. Instead, my question is this : what comes next ?
I have a pretty good clue what happens on Saturday night – what’s the feeling on Sunday morning ?
The filmmakers of ‘Below her mouth’ paint this as a love story – a declaration of bravery when we are strong enough to recognize love in all its forms. What is portrayed on-screen though is more like infatuation. Deep infatuation, and emotional infatuation to be sure…but more like craving, and less like completion.
Seeing Dallas and Jasmine try to cope with the absence of the other is intense, raw, and wonderfully understated. However, we are denied a glimpse at just what is truly missing. I believe those conversations took place – that there were more scenes at cafe tables, kitchen tables, boardwalks, and sidewalks – but we never see them, and so we’re left to take an emotional leap.
All in all, ‘Below her mouth’ is a good movie. It’s handsome, charged, splendid and sexy… but it could have been a great movie. There is no question what draws Dallas and Jasmine together; but there is much to be explored over what keeps them there.
Source : The Matinee (17.09.2016)
18/09/2016 | Categories: Movies, News, Press | Tags: april mullen, below her mouth, film, press | Leave a comment
” ‘Below Her Mouth‘, the TIFF-premiering feature that I directed, was shot with an all-female crew. This allowed each department to bring unique female perspectives and raw sensibilities to the screen, giving the film a vulnerability and boldness that I’d never seen before.
I believe the results of having an all-female crew can be seen on the screen. On set were able to create a supportive environment that allowed every woman to stay true to themselves, and the voice of the film is so strong and honest because of that.
With Below Her Mouth, I wanted to bring to life something audiences had never seen before on screen: an honest depiction of a female’s perspective on desire, love, intimacy, sex and heartbreak. The goal was to capture an electrifying moment of intense chemistry between two people when they least expect it. We get to follow our leads on this escape, a journey of heightened pleasure and deep emotion. The film itself is a whirlwind, all happening over the span of three days. We see the physical relationship and connection between our leads, Dallas (Erika Linder) and Jasmine (Natalie Krill), borne of the need to be close to another human being. Their coming together changes their lives completely. I always found fascinating the fact that we have the ability to fall in love with someone that quickly and have no control over it. I’ve recently experienced this kind of love and could relate to the characters and script in a strong way.
The decision to bring on an all female crew was an easy one: We wanted to depict the film via a “female gaze”—everything from the tone, to the feel, to the intimacy of the sex scenes. It gave the film as a whole an authentic female perspective. It also brought to life a feeling of being a part of something bigger than the film, giving the female voice a stamp on the screen. It was important for all of us on the film to expose ourselves (our fears, our comforts, our strengths, etc.) in order to creatively be transparent with the material.
The female voice, desires, all things sexual (all the way down to the female orgasm) are seldom represented in film, television and advertisements. Ninety-nine percent of my exposure to sex in film, TV and media is written by a man, directed by a man, and made to turn men on. This fact was something that was always on my mind while filming Below Her Mouth. I struggled to stay true to my inner sense of sexuality as a woman, and create a filmic narrative that was free from the usual tropes you would normally see in a male-driven film. I had to constantly remind myself to forget all of the “movie sex” I had seen before. Instead, I reflected inwardly on what turned me on as a woman—what my inner desires were, what made me want to be physical with another person. These are the moments I wanted to bring to the screen.
Once I had my vision intact, I relied heavily on the voices and creativity of my female crew. In prep, DP Maya Bankovic and I worked on our lighting palettes after our locations were chosen. We wanted each sex scene to have a very different and distinguishable look that matched the emotional journey between Jasmine and Dallas at each stage of their relationship. Our sex scenes needed to feel organic, like you were watching them unfold in real time. The lighting needed to embrace a woman’s perspective. It had to feel cinematic, yet not overstated, to amplify the intensity of the performance without ever taking away from our leads. I never wanted it to be about frontal lighting, with which we would see every inch of our performer’s bodies. Rather, I wanted to focus on the connection between the actresses.
We decided Dallas’ world would use a bold palette of reds and blues in her apartment while alone. While Jasmine was at Dallas’, we would use warmer light so she would feel more comfortable and safe. To achieve this, we had one warm source backlight on the bed during the first night sex scene. In contrast, the day sex scene was more exposed, using natural sunlight, as Dallas and Jasmine got closer and trusted one another more. For our final sex scene we used a chandelier to create intense, messy, animalistic lighting that matched the deep yearning and loss our characters were experiencing at that point in the film. I worked with as much natural and practical light as possible, allowing reflections, wall color and shading to help shape the visual tone.
Atmospherically, I wanted to create a sexy, safe place that gave us stunning visual images without ever distracting from the actors and the delicate moments on screen. I didn’t the film to feel polished and perfect. If there was an out-of-focus moment or a camera bump while we were with our actresses in the heat of the moment, it didn’t matter to me; as long as the performances were genuine and magic was happening, I let the camera roll. As a director, I would rather do one or two takes with moments of imperfection and keep everything fresh and unpolished, then do 10 takes and lose the rawness of the moment. Nothing in the film was over-covered, quite the opposite: I let the scenes and shots breathe on set. I wanted everything to feel unobtrusive.
Setting the stage was also a crucial piece of the puzzle to amplify the female touch. For example, production designer Faye Mullen created and installed a metallic wall that reflected light toward our actresses’ bodies and city movements outside the large window. Faye then matted and sprayed down a mirror that she positioned as the headboard for Dallas’ bed, to create depth and allow for some unique shots that wouldn’t seem overly composed.
Another reason why an all female crew was essential to Below Her Mouth? I truly believe that because of our crew, Erika and Natalie were able to let go even further when it came to their performances. They felt safe, trusting and open at all times on set, and were willing to let go physically and emotionally. They needed to connect on a level that transcended normal expectations between co-stars on a film. They needed to indulge in each other and allow their raw feelings to surface. Having an all-female crew made all the difference in the world. There was never any judgment; only encouragement and respect for what Erika and Natalie were bringing to the screen. We were all in awe of their performances.
Natalie, Erika and I spent so much time together, discussing every detail of the film in advance: all questions, motivations and blocking. This bonding time made for a seamless workflow and comfort on set. We were also strongly supported by writer Stephanie Fabrizi and producer Melissa Coghlan at all times, which helped us stay true to our original vision of the film. The five of us hold on to our connection dearly.
True love and its effects are such a difficult phenomenon to depict on screen, and it was a blessing that we were able to give this particular story a female voice. I am so proud of what we achieved with Below Her Mouth. The thin lens, zero filter and female touch can be felt in every frame. I can’t wait to bring every moment of it to audiences around the world.”
Below Her Mouth premiered at the 2016 Toronto International Film Festival.
Source : Movimaker Magazine (16.09.2016)
16/09/2016 | Categories: Movies, News, Press | Tags: april mullen, below her mouth, film, moviemaker magazine, press | Leave a comment
This evening, Telefilm and Birks will come together during TIFF to celebrate Canada’s top talent at the fourth annual Birks Diamond Tribute to this Year’s Women in Film. Meet honouree April Mullen, whose film, Below Her Mouth, received well-earned praise at its world premiere this past weekend at TIFF.
Previously, Dead Before Dawn 3D marked Mullen as the first-ever woman to direct a live-action stereoscopic 3D feature and took home the Perron Crystal Award. Her other films include 88, which has sold in over twenty-two territories, and Badsville, slated to begin its festival run this year.
You have been selected as one of twelve women to be honoured by Telefilm and Birks. How does that feel?
It’s an honour to be listed alongside these incredibly talented and diverse women. The importance in celebrating Canadian talent is so crucial, as it creates awareness and new motivation with the younger generation. I feel humbled and thrilled and can’t wait to sport some fabulous diamond bling!
What did you love most about the all-female crew for Below Your Mouth?
I love the fact that our original quest to create a female perspective of what love and sex look like has been achieved. The lighting, the production design, the editing style, the music, the colours, the wardrobe, the sound design, the score, all the way to the bed – it was all created by raw female voices. I love that we collaborated and worked our asses off together to bring audiences something new that will hopefully challenge the way they see things.
Over the course of your career, when you’ve felt frustrated, what has kept you moving forward?
The world does – moment-by-moment. It relentlessly speaks to me in creative images. This is a blessing and a curse, because I love creating so much that it’s always poking at me and pushing me to new places. I can be in the trenches for sixteen hours a day on-set, or stuck on a story point, and still feel addicted to the work. I always want to come back to it and find a solution. I want to share with people, give to the audience and show them the magic I see. I am mesmerized by human behaviour, connections and telling stories through moving images.
What is a recent lesson you learned?
Recently I’ve learned to let go. Let go of past ideas, moments and beliefs. I’ve learned to be free, run with the wind, celebrate where you are, be naughty once and a while, never forget your priorities, and observe.
What do you do when you need to recharge?
Go into nature, be in silence, or make out hardcore. Oh, and I love to travel and discover new worlds.
When do you feel most creative?
When I’m present. It’s like the world hiccups and creativity flows. When shot listing, I see the scenes play in my mind a million different ways and then I pick what serves the story and moment best. It happens in fast forward – it literally puts me in a trance.
What’s your favourite TIFF story to share?
For Below Her Mouth, we searched all year trying to find our Dallas and Jasmine – the two women who would bring the chemistry to life. We finally found them we introduced them to the world on the red carpet at the Remember premiere. Being on the carpet with writer Stephanie Fabrizi and producer Melissa Coghlan, I could not stop thinking about the film we were about to embark on. The anticipation and obsession I had for Erika Linder and Natalie Krill was ridiculous. I watched all of them that night – it was almost as though the moment froze because I knew everything was about to change. Then, I blew my family a kiss as they watched us enter the cinema.
What’s your best advice for women trying to make it in this biz?
Stay focused and if you want to create, do it every day. Take brave steps, big risks and don’t ever doubt that hard work pays off. Believe in making the impossible possible always, because ladies, it is. Find your voice and stay strong. Also, when you’re fresh out into the world, be sure to do what you want to do. If your goal is to direct, start directing. Do a short film or create your own work so you don’t get stuck in the system of slowly moving up.
What’s a career goal that you’re currently working towards?
I love the challenge of finding and bringing incredible and unique material to life. I plan on signing my soul away to another film and living it up big time.
Can you share with us the films that really influenced your life journey or perspective?
1. Edward Scissorhands. The love, the innocence, the creativity, the characters, the music and bold visual aesthetic never leave the back of my mind. The film is simple at its core, timeless and universal. When I saw this film I knew I’d spend a lifetime in this industry working to achieve something with such a strong impact.
2. American Honey. I just recently saw this in Cannes and it makes me want to scream and jump into the sky at how much I stand in awe. Its heavy impact and subtle statement on the world we live in is frightening and exhilarating at the same time. The electric moments between the characters were so natural and intense, I cannot shake the film since watching it…it was reinvigorating.
Source : She Does the City (12.09.2016)
12/09/2016 | Categories: Festivals, News, Press | Tags: april mullen, below her mouth, film, press, tiff | Leave a comment
One of the films that’s demanding the attention of queer women at the Toronto International Film Festival this year is most definitely ‘Below her mouth’. This sexy drama about two strangers who fall in love and lust over the course of a weekend is described by its director, April Mullen, as “a landmark in terms of its female gaze.” Let me tell you; her description is very telling (…)
AfterEllen.com: What attracted you to this script as a director?
April Mullen: When I first read the script I was blown away because I had never read anything like that before, in terms of its sex and its boldness and what happened between women. I loved that it was not a statement on anything. It was just love for love’s sake. And there wasn’t a huge turmoil or complex plot shifts. It was just this gorgeous depiction of this connection between two people and how that happens. I’m always so curious. I’ve been through that, and I always think, “How does it happen so fast and so ferociously that it changes your life forever?” That you can spend three days with somebody, and you literally jump into a whole new you and a whole new world, and you’re willing to go there. That really drew me to the material.
And there was these gorgeous moments of silence between them, and I felt I could bring a lot to the project. I felt I was ready to, as an artist, bring so much to the project in terms of sharing myself and my experiences and my female perspective with that take on what that instant is like when you meet somebody and sparks fly and you can’t live without them.
AE: How much of that was just a great script and how much of that was genuinely wanting to take on a queer love story as well?
AM: It was a bit of both. I feel so blessed that I was able to do a film like this because it’s not every day where a drama and a love story comes across your desk and it’s financed. I’ve been a genre girl, and I tend to always get pitched a lot of genre scripts because it sells, it’s international and, you know, they’re very successful. And they can be with a low budget and without stars.
So to be able to have a project with such substance and such depth and a special story and meaning to it, I felt incredibly blessed that the project came my way. It was definitely a challenge and something I had never tackled before, at all, in any way, shape or form. But I knew that I had a lot of that side waiting to come out of me, and I couldn’t wait to explode that onto the screen. I was dying for material that was this beautiful and this deep and this honest and raw.
AE: You made this film with an all-female crew. Can you tell me about when the decision to do so was made, who was involved in that conversation and why this was so important to your team?
AM: The decision was made right away. Very, very early on. Our original goal for this film was to show audiences something they had never seen before on screen. Because most of what we experience in terms of the general public and as audience members is predominately sex directed by men, written by men, and usually to turn men on. Now that’s fine because that’s just the way society is and it’s been like that for a really long time. But we really felt underrepresented in terms of the female perspective of what is sex for us, what defines our pleasures, our desires, What turns us on? And how is that depicted onscreen? If it was written by a woman, if it could be directed by a woman, played for women, and if we could have every key person creatively giving that female touch throughout the whole film, what would that look like? What would that truly look like? So that was our goal, was to really bring something new and fresh to the screen. We didn’t know what it would be or how it would turn out. You could only hope for the best and hope that everybody is bold enough and brings the most honest depiction of themselves creatively to the screen. I feel like we were successful in that original intention.
That’s what’s so exciting. It was difficult to find an all-female crew. It wasn’t easy. We’re talking everybody top to bottom. And there are very few females in the entertainment industry and in general, let alone the crew and behind the scenes. So we really worked for five months on never giving up on this idea of finding every single position to be a female. On the floor and behind the scenes. Even for score, editing. Everything. It was so important for us to stay true to our original intention. Everyone was involved in that decision and it happened very early on.
AE: Are you at all worried that the film will be viewed by some as too sexually graphic?
AM: I think it is a really truthful depiction of what happens when you meet somebody and that chemistry ignites this fire inside of your soul where you can’t get enough of the other person. Films only usually have one sex scene because that’s how it goes. But our film is literally about that. It’s about that spark, that chemistry that happens. And it’s amazing to be able to explore that and have several sex scenes between the girls because there’s a real journey. The first one’s about discovery and the unknown, the second one is about connection and quiet, intimate moments, and then the third one is about the raw, like animalistic impact of not wanting to let go of that person.
So I feel like every sex scene in the film offers a very different journey. Like they really are very, very different. And so I don’t think it’s repetitive in any way and I really feel that people will go on the journey with us. I don’t think they’ll step aside and think there was too much sex because I feel like it’s a celebration of freedom and lust and love and desire between two women. You’re so invested in the characters and the chemistry between the two of them and their entire arc of like growing with one another in that three-day span. That’s what you do. When you fall in love, you’re in bed and you just kind of don’t leave the room. You either order food in or eat a burger on the side of the road like I used to do. Like you just are so into the other person you can’t stand to leave them physically because you want to know everything about them and that’s how you get to know somebody initially.
AE: Do you believe most people will be quite aware of the female lens applied to Below Her Mouth?
AM: I think they will never have to be reminded because it’s so in their face. Like it’s so drastically different than anything I’ve ever seen before on screen. The quiet intensity between the two girls and the pauses and the moments of silence… Even the cutting style. The way it’s shot, the way it’s lit, and the choreography and the intensity between the two of them, it’s a landmark in terms of its female gaze. And I feel like there would be no mistaking it.
When you’re watching it, you will be able to feel it just because you’re so enwrapped in it. And you don’t know really what makes it different, but it’s so different and you just can’t help yourself but, you know, want to be drawn into the screen, rather than something coming out at you. It’s a film that really pulls you inwardly, and it pulls people into the journey between the two of them, rather than sort of gratuitous sex or hard impact things that usually jump out at the audience, and you feel like you should be watching it. This film feels like you shouldn’t be watching it because it’s so intimate, because it feels like you’re a fly on the wall, and you’re like witnessing a secret that you shouldn’t even really be a part of. So for those reasons alone, I feel like it will be pretty obvious that, whether it’s female or not, it’s just a unique depiction of love. And sex.
AE: Do you feel the movie takes on a new meaning the more you watch it?
AM: I’ve seen it like over a thousand times now. When I was watching it with the audience on the big screen, in surround sound, the montage where the day turns to night and you know that they’re leaving each other, I started crying. Unintentionally tears just started flowing down my face and I just thought of how beautiful and also how tragic love can be. That you can fall so deeply for someone and then you can also lose them. It’s like the fragility of life. And it’s so universal that when I watched it this time I just thought of its larger impact and how universal the theme of our film is. It’s not even about the sex. It’s about that depth in which human beings have the ability to let go and discover another human being. And we can only connect through physical contact. We have mental and spiritual, but this physical contact…
And then there’s also the tragedy side of losing that person and how fragile life is and that those things happen on a daily basis and how amazing that is. All of those things came into my head while I was watching the montage because it says, “I’m memorizing every part of you.” There’s such a tragedy to that line and also there’s such a sense of gratitude to that line. Like, “I can’t believe I’m feeling these sensations, but oh my god, what if they go away?” Those polarizing things just made me cry. And that never came to me before, so that was like a refreshing thought of the evening. So I do think that every time I watch it something new will jump out at me and have a heavy impact.
AE: From a recognizable gay Village bar to a scene in a very well known city strip joint, this film doesn’t hide the fact that it’s set in Toronto. Even Dallas, a Swede, living here makes total sense because of the city’s famed multiculturalism. So it’s appropriate that the film had its world premiere at TIFF, but I wanted to ask how important the city really is to the film. Could you see it being set anywhere else?
AC: I can’t because Toronto has such a sense of multiculturalism and freedom to it that it makes so much sense that these two feel comfortable enough to go there and fall head over heels in love with one another. Because the city itself it feels to me like it carries with it open arms. It’s a sense of surrender and no judgment. I feel like they would feel very comfortable in Toronto, and that’s so much of a blessing of where we live and where we’re from. I can’t see it set anywhere else besides Toronto because of those twinkling lights and that skyline. It’s very romantic the way we shot it. Even though it has the strip clubs and Church Street, there’s something very cinematic about it. It’s really alive. The city feels alive and like it’s breathing. And I feel like it matches the sex and the intensity between the two girls.
AE: Do you have any particular hopes for the film now that audiences and critics alike have seen it and can continue to see it?
AC: I hope it allows people to have a sense of freedom and break down any perceptions that they might have had going into it, or perceptions they might have had about love or reservations they might have had about same-sex relationships. And to me, if the film makes an impact in a person’s life, personally I feel like we’ve succeeded. And whether it’s one or a thousand, or it’s a strong review or a bad review, those things don’t matter to me as much as a filmmaker as if I make an impact in a single person’s life that day and make them feel comfortable to be who they are and walk the streets with pride. That means so much more to me.
A few really young girls in their twenties came up to me and just said, “Thank you. Thank you for giving us a voice and allowing us to feel comfortable. I can’t wait to show my friends. I feel comfortable coming out to my family.” Those things I hadn’t seen coming. I just feel like the film if it can make that kind of an impact, it’s done its job. Because that’s what our original intention was. So I’m not really worried about the industry and the financial successes as much as I’m so proud that it’s making personal impacts on people and their lives daily.
AE: Finally, can we expect to see you working on more LGBT-themed projects in the future? Either as an actor, director, or both?
AC: I certainly hope so. I would love to do any other projects. I’m not currently attached to any, but I’m definitely looking. If I’m blessed with a great script, and I’m definitely looking, I would be very honored to be a part of it. I think it’s a great community, and there’s not enough strong cinema out there for those voices, so I would love to put more on the screen.
Source : After Ellen (12.09.2016)
12/09/2016 | Categories: Festivals, Movies, News, Press | Tags: april mullen, below her mouth, erika linder, press, tiff | Leave a comment
TEAM WANGO ! 