The Kind Of Characters I Grew Up With: Joseph Ollman On His Short "Bitter Sky"
Director/Writer Joseph Ollman is a multi Award-winning filmmaker whose debut short, Throw Me to the Dogs, won several awards, including Best Director at Shuffle Film Festival. Ollman also works in commercials and music videos, having worked with clients such as the BBC, BFI, Vodafone and Lush UK, as well as an actor. His latest film, Bitter Sky, centers around a turbulent relationship between a father and daughter.
In the Welsh wilderness a young girl must break away from the coercive control of her adopted father, reluctantly befriending a lad from the local scrapyard.
This topical film has already screened at the 2020 Prague International Indie Festival, where it was nominated for the Best Debut Actress Award (Darci Shaw), the 2020 BFI London Film Festival, and the 2020 The Shortest Nights. This film will be also be screening at the Oscar-qualifying and BAFTA-qualifying Aesthetica Film Festival in November. We had the pleasure of chatting with Joseph about his film, its origins, finding the right cast and locations, and much much more!
How did the concept for Bitter Sky originate?
Firstly, I desperately wanted to make a film based where I come from, in rural Mid-Wales, with the kind of life and characters that I grew up with. But it was important for me to tell a female-led story, as most of my films had been pretty male-centric up until that point. Along with Christopher Spurdens, the co-writer and DOP, we discussed ideas, with the intention to use kids as the central characters. We began by telling each other stories about the children we'd grown up with and also stories about ourselves at that age. With all of this in mind, we came up with the main character Nia. The story followed on from that really.
How did you get connected with your film’s terrific cast?
We managed to get the fantastic casting director Sarah Wilson involved quite early on. But we had to work hard to find the right people — we must have auditioned hundreds of kids — both from professional and non-professional backgrounds. I would go into Welsh schools and youth theatre groups to do workshops with the kids, which is eventually how we found the cast for the opening scene. Darci Shaw (the lead) came via a self-tape from Liverpool, where I'd asked her to do a load of improvisations. She made us laugh so much, but also had the clear emotional weight to act as the driving force of the narrative. We actually wrote the character of Roy with Richard Harrington in mind, having wanted to work with him for a while. He read the script and was willing to come on board luckily.
How did you discover the film’s many beautiful landscapes?
Well, like I said, it's where I grew up, so I knew how beautiful it was and had initial ideas of where I wanted to shoot when writing the script. That being said, I didn't realise how impossible some of these locations would be to access, especially with a film crew, equipment and a really small budget. We spent a good few weeks prior to the shoot driving back and forth from London to scout for locations. It seemed pretty impossible, with a lot of the locations completely inaccessible via vehicles. Luckily, we got in touch with the local Rangers and council who were able to help us out and find both accessible and beautiful locations.
Can you talk about your decision to use the 4:3 aspect ratio for the project?
It was a bit of an experiment, really. I'd used a different aspect ratio for each of my shorts, so I wanted to see how 4:3 felt, having been inspired by the films of Andrea Arnold. Artistically, it felt right for this film, both because it's set in the 90s and because the central character, Nia, lives this very closed off, trapped existence. We wanted to mirror this feeling using the aspect ratio, so the audience felt claustrophobic and cramped within the frame, just like the protagonist.
What has your work in music videos and commercials brought to your narrative films?
I guess it helps having had experience working within a budget and under difficult time constraints. I've had the opportunity to experiment technically in music videos and commercials, so I have more confidence to incorporate those when making narrative work.
What drew you to the visual arts? How did you get into directing?
I don't know, it just happened. I always loved films, and I think I was given a camera for Christmas as a kid. I started making stupid videos with my mates and editing them together to make a finished film. I just fell in love with the process. But then I lost touch with it as I grew up, but knew I wanted to go into the Arts. I eventually went to Camberwell College of Art for an illustration degree, but dropped out pretty soon after. I thought I'd give film school a go and the first week I was there, I knew that's what I wanted to do. I love film because it can incorporate loads of different art forms.
What films or filmmakers have inspired you, your style, or your approach to telling a story?
As mentioned, I love the work of Andrea Arnold, but I've also always been a huge fan of Shane Meadows since I first saw This is England. I recently fell in love with the films of Sean Baker, especially the way he worked with the kids in Florida Project. But I am constantly getting inspired from different types of films. I'd love to experiment with multiple genres in the future, as Alfonso Cuaron and the Coen Brothers do. But it's important for me to always strive for a certain realism. One film that blew me away recently for it's approach and especially its realism was Capernaum directed by Nadine Labaki. I have no idea how that film was made possible. It just felt too real.
What do you hope audiences take away from the film?
An entertaining, tense, heart-warming story that feels real and authentic. But it's up to them to draw their own conclusions and subjective opinions.
Do you have any future projects in the works that you can share with us?
I've written a semi-biographical feature film over lockdown, that my producers are looking to get financed in 2021. Also, I'm in very early development for a follow-on story from this short, which is a road-movie involving some characters from this short.
What do you think? We want to know. Share your thoughts and feelings in the comments section below, and as always, remember to viddy well!