Filmmaker Statement

As a filmmaker I've always been moved most by stories that break down societal tropes through the use of genre. While exploring complex human themes that revolve around identity, personal crisis, or the state of the world. I grew up on Jean Pierre Melville cinema, a French-auteur who transformed the landscape of Noir filmmaking through his use of American iconography in European films. And inspired a generation of filmmakers, notably Quentin Tarantino, that built on this cross-pollination of genre with world cinema. With Lellebels, I was inspired to use the Noir genre, which typically revolves around murder mysteries, identity crisis, sexual politics and power structures, to explore a short story with a modern cast of trans-characters set within the wonderfully liberal city of Amsterdam and its underground glow. We wanted to break down the barrier of how traditional gender relationships are presented in film, by playing with familiar narrative tropes, but presented by a unique set of c