Every month Brave Island runs a Young Creative of the Month fund, where we spotlight a local young creative with an interview on our blog, and support them with funding of £100. For June, it’s Filmmaker Rachel Attwood. This fund launches at the beginning of every month, you can apply to be Young Creative of the Month for July here.

Please can you tell us about your creative practice?

I’ve been a Filmmaker for a very long time. I don’t come from a very supportive background of my practice which made it, like I know it is for many people, more like a dirty little secret that I didn’t want to work in the arts. My Dad was by far my biggest supporter and always watching my clips and stills going “Look at you, Roo! That’s you!”. I finally rebelled when I was fifteen when I did Film as an A Level and during my last year of Sixth Form applied for and was accepted into the Academy of the British Film Institute to avoid University. The experience wasn’t for me and I just wanted to start working, in all honesty I really didn’t want traditional work. I’m nomadic too so tradition as most know life isn’t my style!

I made my first film when I was in Sixth Form which was called ‘Butterfly’ which was about a messy woman who befriends a broken butterfly and after it helps her clean and learn to fly after being fixed, it goes away, only to miss her and come back. I have always loved stop motion and it was a small stop motion film. It took 11,596 photos, three days to film and four to edit as everything was broken at the time. I used a butterfly sticker which I put on card for the film, and named it Terrence. I also credited him a role and gave him to my teacher, Mr Cronin, who is by far one of my favourite people ever, as a thank you because his support has been constant, even when I’ve left school and bumped into him! I’m 20 but he’ll always treat me like the sixteen year old student he met years ago! He’s always going to be a legend and get the first info about my films – all the gossip goes to him!

I now make Independent Film and collaborate with independent artists from all over. I find independent work is the most unloved area because the stigma and stereotype is that you don’t work and only get out of the house once a month. Many people have told me to get a “better job that’s got a steady income” but I and any Independent Artist knows that’s far from the truth and Independent Artists are the ones I have the deepest respect for. They earn less and work a million times harder just because we love our craft. It’s quite beautiful really. I myself am a Director, Screenwriter and Actress. I love finding new people to work with and new styles to try. One film I’m like, ok, this is very specific and the next I’m like, go nuts, do anything! I love trying new things.

You’ve got your own film coming out soon, please could you tell us a bit about it and how you got the opportunity to make your own film and get it into cinemas?

When you leave film school, everyone expects you to go for a major company and settle there. They tell you you can’t do it alone. I was like, why the hell not? When you send in a script they change it completely and you don’t get credited at all. You don’t get to work on it and your film never gets made. And when you want to try again, it’s too late and they own your product, even though they never really use it. Not to mention most major studios remake things or do biopics now. I hate both genres I can’t deny. I’m also a Queer Demiwoman and the Gay and Transgender Filmmakers, especially Writers are so mistreated, I didn’t want to go anywhere near a studio when there are such good people working independently. I save up money from working on photography and stand up comedy to make my films. Collaborative work also helps because everyone is kind and pitches in something to borrow for a shoot day, be it a green screen or camera, it helps with budget problems or timing. I had one film, my first, go missing when I was 19. I filmed it at 18 and even cut off my waist length hair for the film because money was so tight we couldn’t afford a good wig that all the hair would stay on during the cut. Then someone threw the envelope with the SD card in in the trash. I was shattered. Utterly shattered. So this year I have my first two features being released. One on a friend’s independent production company’s YouTube Channel called ‘The Cinema’, and one with some dates to be released in Independent Cinemas. We were supposed to release it in March but push backs are common. We can’t say too much right now as we’re waiting for release day and press week. But we’re pretty ecstatic! My co-star Alex, my hero, was so sweet, we play a couple going through a divorce and I remember being nineteen playing a thirty-five year old like, is this going to look real? I hope so! Without a doubt though, Alex’s dog Rufas was the star of the show! Very good boy!

What’s the next project you’re working on?

I have a few upcoming projects I’m dying to share. I have an hour long stand up comedy show at the Ventnor Fringe called ‘Wack!’ and I could not be happier. It’s a silly little show about how I view the world. Wack is a word I invented which means the art of not caring about the unimportant things. I’m a bit of a madwoman as my friends call me and I have had anxiety for years. After my Dad passed away in November, I invented it to help me cope with everything. It doesn’t make you less anxious, but it definitely helps you enjoy things a hell of a lot more and eases the guilt. It makes you a bit unhinged so it’s quite a funny show once people act the same. I want everyone to sit back, relax, and enjoy.

I also have a film I wrap soon called ‘Go with the Willow’. It’s a feature length live action stop motion. Bit of a mouthful to explain but according to my friends it’s never been done before. I don’t know if that’s true, but I’m going to try it anyway! It’s about a woman in the 1960’s who discovers she has the power of telekinesis and decides to run away to a world where she can safely use her powers. Little fun really. I want people to enjoy the colourful mess on the big screen and feel like they’re really going to the cinema again. Independent Cinemas fund Independent Artists, so I would never go anywhere else.

I also shoot a 1950’s Period Film soon called ‘The Interview’ about a 1950’s actress and I’m in the pre-production stage for a mini series called ‘Apocalypse’ about elves who have to save the world and live the human experience first to understand humans. But after six months are very opposed to the idea due to the nature of humans. We want to make people laugh and understand the underlying messages but you have to figure those out yourselves!

Where can people find your work if they’d like to support you?

I’m only just getting out in the world with my work but my Instagram will have all of the information about how to find me @girlwiththeeightiescurls. It will include release dates, castings and events. I hope to meet many more people the more I work on! My film ‘Butterfly’ is also published there!