“Girls Will Be,” by director Eva Evans, is a disturbing satire on glamorous surfaces, and the societal pressures to conform to standards of beauty. We asked Evans how the project began, what the biggest challenges were, and what comes next for her…

1) Can you talk briefly about your background, and how you first got interested in filmmaking?

I grew up homeschooled in the East Village and, like many a homeschooled weirdo, I never had a TV. Instead, I had access to my dad’s extensive collection VHS tapes (there were over 3000), which lined the walls of my parents’ bedroom. The collection was eclectic, and by the age of 10, my film education covered Abbott and Costello to The Twilight Zone to all of James Bond to any and everything Jim Carrey, all things Pixar, and everything in between. 

Despite my lifelong love of movies, I didn’t seriously think about becoming a filmmaker until we wrapped on the first project I was ever involved with. It was a whirlwind, a mess, and the film has still never made it out of the edit. However, despite the stress, insanity, and sheer absurdity of the whole project, I realized when it was over that I'd had the best time working on it. 

That project was also the start of what became a wonderful friendship and a continuous source of collaboration and inspiration. The DP was none other than Sonja Tsypin, the DP on Girls Will Be. After we wrapped, she asked me to produce her senior thesis at Bard College, and we haven’t stopped working together since. From there, I changed my major to screenwriting, and haven’t looked back since.

2) What’s the backstory here - what was the initial idea and how did it evolve from there?

The idea first came to me during college, when my screenwriting professor told us we had five minutes to come up with three loglines. While racking my brain for story ideas, I remembered a group of girls I knew in middle school who later became extremely thin at the same time. I vaguely remembered rumors of them having a baking club, and that they would get together and bake lavish desserts. For the film, I extrapolated on those rumors, and imagined that they binge-purged together. And from here, the seed of the film was born: a group of teens who ritualize and celebrate what’s usually a private and shameful act.

I shelved it until a few years later, when I was working at Anchor Light (which produced Girls Will Be) and was offered access to their equipment. During that time, I was constantly working on fashion sets, which initially inspired me to make a fashion film. Then, when I remembered this story idea, it turned into an “anti-fashion” fashion film. I decided to utilize the all-too-familiar dreamy aesthetic I was so used to seeing/creating to subvert the viewers’ expectations and talk about the reality which isn’t advertised: the destruction behind the beauty.

3) What was the biggest challenge in making this film? And generally what part of the creative process do you enjoy the best, and the least?

Well, the first major challenge was that we shot in a massive victorian house in July and it was 104 degrees on both shoot days. ACs + victorian house = no AC. It was tough physically for all involved (the crew was so amazing)!

After that, it was the vomit scene. I felt like a total sadist when asking MaryV, who played Roxana, to “vomit” over and over again. I’d call action, and then she’d pick up this pixie cup full of fake throw up (I believe it was a mixture of various juices and muffins), take a huge mouthful, and then have to fight the urge to gag long enough to get into position. Meanwhile, Sonja and I are by the camera, gagging and barely able to look. It was really gross. MaryV was such a trooper. 

Generally, my favorite part of the creative process is assembling the team. I know so many talented artists--actors, stylists, casting directors, musicians, designers, and so on--and it’s pretty spectacular to work in such a collaborative medium. It’s also humbling to find out that people whose work I admire believe in me and my projects; that feeling hasn’t gotten old yet! On the flip side, it’s been tough working in the indie-low budget world. I feel capable of creating a finished product with high production value when working with a low budget--in fact, I actually enjoy budget limitations because they encourage a degree of creative problem solving--but I hate having to ask favors. I especially hate asking crew to work at reduced rates.

4) What’s a film you’ve seen recently, new or old, that you really loved and why?

Burning by Lee Chang-dong is probably my favorite film from the last couple years. It was just epic. And stunning. There’s a masterful balance of action and inaction, it’s subtle enough but then slaps when it needs to. Also, I love unreliable narrators, and this film is one of the best unreliable narrators of recent cinema. I’m now a huge Lee Chang-dong fan.

5) What’s next for you?

In the short term, I have a micro short premiering online this week! It’s called Miracle of Life (you’ll be able to find it via my instagram), and I’m excited to be putting it out. I’m also in pre production on two music videos, which will come out in early 2020. 

Longer term, I’m developing a feature film about a dysfunctional family of women who are in arrested development after the father/husband figure dies. Things come to a head then the wayward daughter in her mid-twenties moves home and encourages her mother, who’s in her 60s, to become a sugar mama. It’s going to be funny, absurd, and dark. I’m excited.

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Website: http://evaevans.co

Instagram: @itsevaevans