5 Questions with Charles Williams

1/2) Can you talk briefly about your background? Do you feel it informs your work, why or why not?

I grew up in a similar environment to what is portrayed in this film. In many ways making the film was a way to portray the felt sense of what that was like, so yeah my background informed the film completely. It's kind of inevitable that your background becomes part of what you're doing as a filmmaker, even if it's not literally autobiographical.

3) What was the biggest challenge in making this film? 

There were a lot of challenges, particularly because we had no money and everyone was donating their time and services. I had a great cast, but most of whom were untrained child actors, which meant short shooting days. Then of course bugs, driving scenes, shooting on film, animals... So nothing came easy and I’m incredibly grateful for the help we had.

You can never fully anticipate the challenges either. For example, I went to do a day of pick-ups a month after our shoot and our main location had been bulldozed to the ground! 

4) What's a film that you saw recently, new or old, that you really loved, and why?

For a new film, UNCUT GEMS has stayed with me. I just saw 1917 too which was really incredible. Another film that I watched again recently is THE ACT OF KILLING. It might be the best film I saw this decade. 

5) What's next for you?

I’m working on two feature films right now. One of them, INSIDE, is very much in the world of the short film. It’s not a coming of age story, but it has the same themes and relationships. I’ve been writing that for quite a while and hoping to shoot soon in Australia. 

I have another film called KINGDOM COME that’s set in America, in the late 70s, early 80s. I can’t speak a lot about that yet, but that’s super exciting and great to be able to alternate my attention to. I was initially attracted to it for how strange the world seemed to me, but slowly I'm seeing how similar it is to my own background. There's no getting away from it!

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http://charleswilliams.com.au/

IG: @_charleswilliams