Director BIO: Jesse May Fisher

Played at the FEMALE FEEDBACK Film Festival on Thursday August 24, 2017

Director Biography

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Jesse grew up in Ireland before to moving to London to study photography at London College of Communication. She graduated as of June 2016 and currently lives and works in London. We Were Swimming is her first short narrative film.

Director Statement

Inspired by personal conversations and shared biographies that recalled the strange and overwhelming world of teenage friendship, I began exploring the vital and under-represented intricacies of girlhood. I became intrigued by these universal observations that seemed gender specific. The ominous, ambiguous, erotic and aggressively pretty nature of the visuals attempts to disorient the preconceived notions of girlhood and femininity, which are further subverted by the constant use of the colour blue. We Were Swimming is a reaction to the image of girl within a social context. Beauty rituals aid the cultural construction of femininity and for this reason can become oppressor to both girls and women. Washing and brushing long, thick hair, skin care application, actions that are, at first glance, nurturing evolve into something with a sinister significance. We Were Swimming abandons the sweet scents of girlhood to make room for a multifaceted, obscure and essential relationship. The highly aestheticized visuals coincide with a bleak voice over to create an oppositional effect; an archetype of purity and innocence with secrets, desires and darkness. Through the female gaze a coded language between young women is acknowledged.

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By femalefilmfestival

The irony of this festival is that its goal is to not be around in 5 years time. To eventually not be relevant because there is zero need to have a festival geared for female talent and female stories because the stories presented in Hollywood and around the world are a balanced showcase of the human experience from both sexes. Our goal is to achieve a lot of success and then fold into oblivion simply because there is no need for this festival. This festival was created by the FEEDBACK Film & Writing Festival as a simple reaction to a strong need to showcase female talent from around the world in a more profound way. When putting together the weekly festival, the administration noticed a lack of a female presence in the stories being shown at the festival. A classic example and analogy to the frustration is how the festival noticed that even the smaller roles in a screenplay were written for a man to play. There was zero reason for this in many stories. How a police officer, or a political campaign manager, for example with 3-4 lines in a screenplay was a "HE" character. Why? And these are the screenplays written by the winners! The talented one who have obtained agents and have began/beginning their careers as a writer.

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