ella greenwood ~ mental health on film

Young filmmaker, Ella Greenwood is a director of a vastly expanded London based production company called Broken Flames Productions and has had her work selected for BAFTA accredited festivals and has been featured in major publications such as the Huffington Post, Variety, BBC, and more. Ella is also a mental health activist and an ambassador for teen mental health charity and has been awarded Positive Female Role Model Of The Year at the Darkus Magazine Awards, we got the chance to interview her on her ambitions in film and where her love for it began.

How are things going? Anything new coming up? Hows life?

E: Things are going okay! Obviously being in the pandemic still is hard, and not being able to see friends and family but I'm trying to focus on the positives. I'm working on an exciting project "Smudged Smile" which should be shooting soon so there's lots to do for that which keeps me busy!

So to get started off, lets talk about Faulty Root. You made it when you were only 18! What's it about? When did you get the idea for it? It's been praised for promoting awareness for teenage mental health, would you like to say anything about that? Do you find the there's an issue with misrepresentation with mental health in film?

E: It's about two teens with different genetic conditions who are forced to form a friendship. I knew that I wanted to make a short film and wanted it to be about something that was important to me. The main character has depression and mental health is extremely important to me as its something I've experienced. I'm so grateful for the lovely feedback that I've had on the short, from people saying that they felt it represented mental illness well, or that it helped increase their understanding about it. I also feel lucky that I get to expand on this even more now that it's being adapted into a feature film! There's definitely an issue with misrepresentation, characters who are seen from suffering with a mental illness are often criminalized, or overdramatized etc. There is also a real lack of representation, as well as misrepresentation.

You're working on your new film "Self-Charm", think you could tell us a little about it? Is it okay for you to tell us what it's about? Hows the process of creating it going?

E: Self-Charm is about a teenager who is struggling to find a way to deal with self-harm, and so her therapist suggests looking after a plant as if it's herself. We shot it in December and so it's now in post-production. I should be getting sent a first cut soon, which is exciting! 

What are your favorite films and why? Favorite filmmaker? What movie/TV show influenced your work or perspective on film the most? 

E: I have a lot of favorite films as I literally love all genres, especially animations and horrors and so I would say that my favorite animation is Inside Out, and my favorite horror is Hush. I love Mike Flanagan, as he has such a way of creating atmospheres that really draw you in with his work. I also love Sarah Gavron, her recent film Rocks was so incredible. It starred the amazing actress Bukky Bakray who plays the lead in Self-Charm!

What got you into film/when did you know that you wanted to make movies? Was this something that you've dreamed about before? 

E: I've always loved films, I spent so much time at the cinema growing up and knew that I wanted to work in the industry. I started acting from a young age, and then when I turned 18 I decided that I wanted to start filmmaking too.

Where are you trying to take this? Future goals?

E: I'm building a slate of mental health based projects with my company Broken Flame Productions and so I look forward to creating more projects that focus on this! I also want to make a variety of projects in the future including more animations and horrors.

Do you remember the first script you wrote or video you made? What was that like?

E: I think the first script that I properly wrote on an actual scriptwriting software was when I was around 13. I don't remember much about it but it was based on the London Underground and a girl who kept disappearing and re-appearing there. I don't think I wrote another script after that until writing Faulty Roots!

Mental health seems like a very important aspect in your work, what made you make this decision? Is mental health always something you've wanted to talk about?

E: In particular when I starting out I honestly thought that it would be easier to create work that I could be confident because I had experience with it, and also work that I would want to dedicate all of my time and passion into. Mental health was this subject, as its something that has had a huge impact on my life, and the medias portrayal of it definitely made things worse, so I wanted to try and change this too. When I first started struggling aged around 13, I didn't talk about it at all and would never have imagined that I'd be doing the work that I'm doing now!

★ follow @popsella on Instagram

★ also @brokenflamespd

★ @ella_greenwood on Twitter

★ ellagreenwood.com for more on the filmmaker!