This is Katherine is a charming animated short about a lesbian film fan's journey of self-discovery, from an early crush on Sandra Bullock to overcoming her phobias of heights and shopping. Short film programmer David Llewellyn spoke to the director about the film and her own love of cinema.
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David: Your earlier short films have been live action. What drew you to animation, and what were the challenges – if any – of working in a different medium?
Ida: I’ve always loved movies. All kinds of films; animation, live action, comedies, drama, horror, basically everything. And I’ve always wanted to make an animated film, and this felt like the perfect story for this medium. With all the movie references that make up Katharine’s world and also using this technique made the story even more personal in a way.
still from This is Katharine
Film is storytelling and that’s the same no matter what form you tell it in, so the biggest challenge was to figure out how to actually do it. It is my first animation, so I had to try a lot of different approaches before I found the way and the look I wanted the film to have. It’s was quite a long process, but a good one, so I will definitely make more animated films in the future.
David: Would you consider developing any of your short films in to feature films, or are you happier working in the short form? I can easily imagine Rektor Svint as a feature length movie!
Ida: I am actually working on my first feature film right now. It’s a romantic comedy called Recycled. It’s a story about a woman trying to get over a break-up and ends up dating two women at once. We're in development and recently shot a proof-of-concept. But I do agree, Rektor Svint could easily be a feature length movie.
I’m not going to abandon the short format though, which I also love. And I am actually in post-production on my next live-action short. A queer comedy called The Tree.
David: A love of movies shines through in ‘This is Katherine’. Who are your filmmaking heroines and heroes?
Ida: I do love movies, and I like a lot of different things, like screwball comedies from the 1930-40, from Billy Wilder and Howard Hawks, and I love the work of Céline Sciamma and Wes Anderson, and many, many more.
