NEWS DIRECTORS photo gallery films FILMS PROGRAM PRESENTATION REGULATIONS PARTNERS CONTACTS CURRENT EDITION select director Alovisi Enzo Aprahamian Sallie Berdini Alessandro d’Arcimoles Camille Garini Giorgio Maccioni Germano Mastrella Flavia Möderndorfer Vinko Murga Celina Pasolini Uberto Rezza Antonio Rosa Michal Sitaru Adrian Sláma Bohdan Soldini Silvio Toye Patrice Tummolini Stefano Valkeapää Jukka-Pekka Verheyde Sylvie Sallie Aprahamian When the actors, Doraly Rosa and Dan Fredenburgh, brought me their script some four years ago, I was drawn to the simple potency of the characters and their stories. A search for identity was entwined with a love story, using a contemporary urban setting to play out the illicit world of an affair. I was hungry to explore a narrative where the drama was primarily rooted in the world of the emotions. I collaborated with them, first as writers, then as performers, to draw out the themes of obsession, voyeurism and passion, set against the ordinariness of everyday life. My question, as director, was how to orchestrate the spaces between the words - the silences, the power of look and gesture in the unspoken story. A heightened, atmospheric look contrasts the energy of the city streets – their rhythms and colours – with the emotional decay of the characters’ domestic environments. I dislike the ‘brown’ nostalgic aesthetic or the super-realism of some British cinema, so I invited the energetic French cinematographer, Jean-Louis Bompoint, to bring his ‘outsider’s eye’ and sensibility to the world in which this story unfolds. Sallie Aprahamian is one of England’s most gifted television directors. Her body of work includes many critically acclaimed shows including: Extremely Dangerous (Picture Palace/NW Films) starring Sean Bean, The Sins (BBC) starring Pete Postlethwaite – three BAFTA Nominations, Real Men (BBC) starring Ben Daniels & Harry Eden – nominated for RTS Award, The Lakes (Company Pictures) starring John Simm – BAFTA Nominated, Teachers (Tiger Aspect) - BAFTA Nominated, This Life (World Productions) - BAFTA Nominated. She has collaborated with a wide range of writers – including Jeremy Brock (MRS BROWN), Frank Deasy (PROZAC NATION) & Billy Ivory. Prior to her success in television, she directed over thirty productions of new work in theatre for a wide range for companies. She developed and directed, the critically acclaimed Blue Night in The Heart of the West by James Stock, which won the George Devine Award. This is Sallie’s feature film debut.