Author and artist Louise Stern tells us about her debut short film, Boat

Posted on January 15, 2019 by



You can see ‘Boat’ along with four other Deaf short films at BFI Southbank on Thursday 17th January (that’s this coming Thursday!). Find out more and book tickets here.

You’re an artist and author. What led to you making your screen debut as a writer/director?

For years now, I’ve been developing written narratives and a visual language, both rooted in a body of ideas and preoccupations.

To add to that, I’ve done work in theatre and dance, so film was almost inevitable as a way of combining these mediums in a natural next step.  But aside from all that, these things are often about timing and luck.  Serendipitously, things came together to make BOAT.

Tell us about Boat. Where did the story come from? And how did you get it funded?

BOAT started life as a short story in my first book, Chattering.  When I first started to think about narrative film, this story somehow felt right as a vehicle that could easily carry everything I was interested in.

I wanted a simple, straightforward, but atmospheric – in a way that felt saturated – setup that would leave plenty of room for what I’m really keen to look at – body language, how people choose to communicate or not communicate, and what that sets into motion.

As for getting it funded, I worked for many years as an assistant to the filmmaker and artist Sam Taylor-Johnson and knew various people through her.  After a long time sporadically pestering this person and that person, someone finally gave in and one thing led to another!

Patrick O’Kane and Claire Wetherall in rehearsals

The film has no subtitles on either the spoken dialogue or the signs and gestures used by the deaf characters. Why not? 

I see my work as being in large part about questioning what it really means to participate in language and communication.  Are words the most important part of communication?  Are there empowering opportunities in sidestepping spoken words? How do we bring these questions and reactions to people in a visceral way – a way they can feel?
In my mind as writer and director, you don’t need the spoken or written words to understand it.  The gestural bits, which I chose not to subtitle either, are more important; but the body language tells you all you really need to know about what is happening.  I did not choose to make the film silent because it is not meant to be told solely from the deaf character’s perspective – she is entering their world, they are not entering hers – and because I don’t like the focus on silence when it comes to deafness…..
I did think long and hard about what ‘access’ to the film really means for deaf and hearing audiences.  It was more important to me that all viewers of the film came away feeling as if they didn’t quite get everything that was being said, but then to realise that it really didn’t matter – which is what being deaf often feels like for me.
Every character in the film, not just the deaf character, has an uncertainty about communication that I think most if not all people share, no matter how much they pretend not to.
Whether or not it is a conscious understanding, deaf people will have the easiest entry to the core messages with or without subtitles, but I hope that a large part of any audience will ‘feel’ the film.  So far, that has been the case and that means a lot to me.

The crew filming on the boat

Claire Wetherall gives a compelling performance in the film. How did you find her and the rest of the cast?

We were lucky enough to work with an intuitive casting director, Lara Manwaring, who has worked with many exciting directors.

Most of the casting is thanks to her, although the incredibly elemental and wonderful Boat Owner, Patrick O’Kane, was a family friend of our producer.  The dancers, we found through other sources.

The other actors are all highly professional, but I knew I wanted someone fresh for the deaf character, so Lara did a nationwide street-casting search for us….  nowadays that actually means hours of trawling through social media as well as walking the streets looking at faces and turning up to community events and street parties, which is what street casting used to be.

Lara sent me video after video of possible actresses, and I selected a few to meet in person.  Claire had a honesty and vulnerability that set her apart.  She is deeply perceptive and there is a natural feeling and a purity to her that I don’t think will tarnish.

She’s also remarkably hardworking and open.  I think she is special and I am really hoping that opportunities come for us to work together again.  In the meantime, she is studying acting in Glasgow and I am sure many things await her.  We’ve become friends, which is a joy.

What are your hopes for the film?

That’s almost like being asked what my hopes are for my daughter.  Everything under the heavens, of course!  But for the film (not for my daughter….) I’d settle for some productive and substantial conversations.

What’s next for you?

I’m currently acting as Associate Artist on Going Through at the Bush Theatre.  The beginnings of a feature film script is making the rounds, and I’ve got everything crossed for that to become a reality.  I’m also developing a new art project which draws on the visual language of BOAT.

Interview by Charlie Swinbourne.

You can see ‘Boat’ along with four other Deaf short films at BFI Southbank on Thursday 17th January (that’s this coming Thursday!). Find out more and book tickets here.

Curator of the screening, Zoe McWhinney, tells us about it in this BSL video:

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