Lynne Ramsay talks about her love of short films, the art of adaptation and why she has no plans for a series – Qumra Masterclass

British director Lynne Ramsay enjoyed international acclaim for short films early in her career minor deaths And reader was invited to Cannes and won the jury prize in the short film competition in 1996 and 1998 respectively.

“It was the first film festival I went to. It was so overwhelming,” Ramsay said during a masterclass at the Doha Film Institute this week. “As reader won an award and [Francis Ford] Coppola gave me the award that paved the way for other films.”

The film’s reception in LA, when Ramsay screened it there in the late 1990s as part of a British Film Institute talent show, was less enthusiastic.

The focus is on a young girl who slowly discovers a mysterious side of her father’s life during a trip to a Christmas party. reader shows the protagonist and other characters from the waist only in the opening scene and other parts of the film.

“The Hollywood producers who saw the film said, ‘Slide off the camera, because you can’t see heads. I thought, “Oh my god, you really missed it.” When you watch the whole film, the details really start to emerge, this big picture about a tragedy so central to this family.

“That’s how it’s written. It’s about a broken family that’s together, but not together,” explains Ramsay. “These first films allowed me to go deep into the language I found. It was a way to understand the language of the film.”

“Somehow, when you have a camera in your hands, you know what’s right and what’s wrong, and if you go against your instincts, you kind of dry it up,” she continued. “There was a kind of naivety about the making that still moves me.”

Ramsay returned to Cannes with her first film rat catcher, uncertain in 1999; her second film move caller, who starred in the parallel section Directors’ Fortnight in 2002, and We need to talk about Kevin And you were never really herewho participated in the official selection competition in 2011 and 2017.

“I don’t know if I enjoyed going there in my shorts that much,” she said. “It’s a bizarre experience because you often don’t really know what people think or how the film is going to be received until later, so it’s quite nerve-wracking.”

rat catcher Ramsay has won several awards, including a Bafta for Best Newcomer in 2000. Set in her hometown of Glasgow in 1973, the drama follows a young boy living in misery against the backdrop of a garbage strike as his family waits to to be moved to new housing. become

The setting has led to the film sometimes being referred to as part of the British tradition of social realist cinema. Ramsay said she disagreed with that classification.

“I like this style Saturday night and Sunday morning movies. There was a great time in British cinema in the 1960s and 1970s, but I never felt that I was following a tradition. I’ve actually always loved filmmakers like Nick Roeg, who took things apart and broke them up a bit,” she said.

“I did something where I grew up in a certain period of time in an environment that was familiar to me. I think anything working class in that setting was considered social realism, but I’ve never felt that was the case. I never thought I would be a part of it. I just thought, I’m doing a movie and this is where it takes me,” she continued.

“I’ve never felt part of a movement, although I love many of the filmmakers. I felt it was a bit misinterpreted as a social realist film. It goes to different places. It’s a weird movie. I don’t like to stick to those things or be a thing in any of the films I’ve done.

After writing an original screenplay for rat catcherRamsay’s next three films were adaptations.

Move CallarStarring Samantha Morton as a woman dealing with the trauma of her writer friend’s suicide during a trip to Spain, it was based on Alan Warner’s 1995 experimental novel, written in first person and in Scottish dialect.

“The second film is the most difficult. Everyone wants you to do what you just did and I never want to do what I just did, I want to do something new. I want to challenge myself,” she said.

“It’s a first-person novel. That was what was on this girl’s mind and I made it without any voice whatsoever. It was an interesting novel. It is about a young woman who takes her life into her own hands. It was never a total adjustment. This was just my interpretation of this wonderfully wild character.

Ramsay next movie We need to talk about Kevin is an adaptation of the 2003 novel of the same name by Lionel Shriver. The director said she was drawn to the work because of its seemingly “unfilmable” structure.

“At its core, something was interesting to me. It was the kind of theme I’d never seen in movies before: this mother-son relationship where you don’t know if she loves him and she doesn’t know if she loves him,” Ramsay said. .

“It was written in the form of letters to the man. It was quite literary and there seemed to be no way to do it. I had to put it together and find out what it really is.”

The filmmaker said it was a “nervous” experience showing Shriver the film for the first time.

“The producer’s wife was late and Lionel is pretty hardcore. It was such a different approach to her work, but she really loved it as something other than the novel form, which was good because she’s a pretty good character.

Ramsay revealed that she was reluctant to cast Tilda Swinton, despite the actress pursuing the role of mother and them being friends.

She initially felt that Swinton’s extraordinary looks and strong on-screen personality were at odds with the character, then decided they would work to her advantage.

We need to talk about Kevin was Ramsay’s first filming experience in the US and with unions and guilds.

“There are certain freedoms you have in the UK that you didn’t have in the US, like fringe benefits. You can’t talk to the extras when you’re the director. There’s a union for extras,’ she said.

“Everyone wants to be in the picture. I took this great shot with Tilda Swinton and then noticed that everyone in the background was moving very slowly.

Despite the challenges, Ramsay said yes We need to talk about Kevin was one of her favorite sessions thanks to the New York crew and camaraderie with the other cast members, which included JC Reilly and Ezra Miller.

“I like the teams in New York. There’s a real vibe and when the crew enjoys the process, they enjoy the process,” she said.

“This movie was a brilliant movie even though it was such a dark movie. It was one of those movies where the actors would come over at night and we’d cook together and make music together because we were dealing with this pretty intense thing. It was a liberation. Oddly enough, the darkest film I made was the easiest to make.”

The director, whose last film was the 2017 thriller Yor where never really Here along with Joaquin Phoenix, also gave updates on some of the projects she has in the pipeline including Stone mattress, die my love And Polaris.

After turning to writing during the Covid-19 pandemic, Ramsay said she’s now keen to land one of the projects she’s been juggling.

“You always want to do something groundbreaking,” she said. “I feel like these are all things that I’m very interested in and have taken my years to develop.”

When asked if she would ever consider doing a drama series, Ramsay said it was unlikely.

“I was asked to do things, but I really like cinema. There is great stuff there. Maybe if it came from me. When it came to me… my first love is film and bringing people into a world.”