Interview: Charlotte Wells – Aftersun
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This year’s “buzz” title at the Cannes Film Festival was tucked away in the Critics’ Week section and everywhere Charlotte Wells‘ debut feature has gone to since has managed disarm auds. Freshly released in theatres via the A24 folks, Aftersun is a conjoined character made rich by its sturdy introspective look into what is a loving father-daughter dynamic (remarkable synergy between newbie Frankie Corio and Paul Mescal is especially noteworthy) but with possible cracks in the foundation. Influenced by films such as Lynne Ramsay’s Morvern Callar, this set in a Turkish resort town escape-cation is a hearty look into the how memory serves us, defines us and how it can control us. This is an immense first work.
Amidst of flurry of recent nominations and fest awards (including Cinema Eye Honors’ non-fiction blurring Heterodox Award), I had the chance to sit down with Charlotte who was in Toronto for the film’s Canadian premiere at the 2022 Toronto Intl. Film Festival. I had the chance to ask the filmmaker about the process during the pre-production phase, her choice to include DV footage in the mix and how she worked with both actors.
Eric Lavallée is the founder, CEO, editor-in-chief, film journalist and critic at IONCINEMA.com (founded in 2000). Eric is a regular at Sundance, Cannes and TIFF. He has a BFA in Film Studies at the Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema. In 2013 he served as a Narrative Competition Jury Member at the SXSW Film Festival. He was an associate producer on Mark Jackson's This Teacher (2018 LA Film Festival, 2018 BFI London). In 2022 he served as a New Flesh Comp for Best First Feature at the 2022 Fantasia Intl. Film Festival. Current top films for 2022 include Tár (Todd Field), All That Breathes (Shaunak Sen), Aftersun (Charlotte Wells).
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