MIRROR MIRROR Directed By John Winter

Indie Express: Tell us about your film?

John: It’s a film about an elderly man, Joe, a crossdresser. After living with his female persona, Jana, for most of his life he’s now saying goodbye to her. But Jana’s not going to give him up without a fight. Breaking up is always hard. Breaking up with yourself is even harder.

IE: How did you come up with the idea for the film?

J: Inspired by a friend’s personal journey… although I don’t think he argued with himself in the mirror.

IE: How did you assemble your production team?

J: Friends, colleagues and friends of friends, colleagues of colleagues, colleagues of friends and friends of colleagues.

IE: How did you find your cast? 

J: I worked with Roy Billing on previous feature films that I produced like “Rabbit-Proof Fence” and “Doing Time for Patsy Cline”.  I sent him the script and within thirty minutes he called back to say that he’d never been offered a part (or two parts!) like this before.

IE: How long did the film take?  (From conception to final edit)

J: About a year.

IE: Tell us a little about your process of directing (writing) this film.

J: I’m a collaborator… I have clear ideas of what I want to achieve but then I like the key creatives and cast to surprise me with their ideas and their talents.

IE: What was the most difficult part of the shoot for you?

J: I needed a glamorous photo of Jana from when she was much younger. Armed with some old black and white pics of Roy, various graphic artists’ attempts failed… We tried a photo shoot but that didn’t help. I tried. And failed. The clock was ticking, I was losing more hair than Joe. Finally, the production designer asked if I’d like her to have a go. Using the old photos she nailed it in twenty minutes.

IE: Any particular moments from filming that stand out for you?

J: The first rehearsal… when Roy first read through the lines – and I thought, yes, this is going to work.

IE: Tell us about the film’s festival experience so far?

J: A great selection of festivals… and we’ve been blessed with a number of awards.

IE: What are you most looking forward to at the festival?

J: Response from a US audience… this being the film’s US premiere.

IE: What has been your most interesting Q&A so far?  What was your favorite question?  How was the dialogue afterwards?

J: Silence… After one small private screening, no-one had anything to say, no questions. Nothing. I felt deflated but then they came up to me individually later to chat about it, ask questions… It turned out that at the time they had been moved by the film and simply wanted to let it sink in.

IE: What films or filmmakers inspire you?

J: It changes… but at present I’m being inspired by Indian filmmakers from the great Bengali Satyajit Ray to the some contemporary Bollywood directors. And also, for something completely different… Catherine Breillat.

IE: What made you decide to become a filmmaker?

J: I like telling stories.

 IE: What is next for you? 

J: Presently writing and will direct a feature…. It’s pretty edgy, pretty sexual…

IE: What is next for the film?

J: Some distribution is firming up.

IE: If asked to give one piece of advice to a new filmmaker making their first short film… What would it be?

J: Don’t start pre-production until the script sings.

IE: What question would you like to be asked about your film? 

J: Now that you’ve made this short film, would you like a million dollars for you feature?

IE: What is the Answer to that question?

J: Yes