Sofia Bohdanowicz is an experimental filmmaker from Toronto, Canada. Her most recent collection of shorts, “Last Poems,” explores the passing of her paternal grandmother through the poetry of her great-grandmother, Zofia Bohdanowiczowa. Her first feature, “Never Eat Alone,” a genre-defying documentary about lost love, family, and regret, premiered at the Vancouver International Film Festival, where Bohdanowicz won the Emerging Canadian Director Award.

“Maison du bonheur” will premiere at the 2017 Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival on May 3.

W&H: Describe the film for us in your own words.

SB: “Maison du bonheur” is a diary film that chronicles the month that I spent in Montmartre living with an elderly astrologer, Juliane Sellam. The film is a portrait of her character and rituals that are integral to her character and day to day life.

W&H: What drew you to this story?

SB: My co-worker and friend Eillen — who is Juliane’s daughter — approached me to make this film after seeing a program of my short films at the Lightbox, a cinema in Toronto. She was intrigued by the way I had made portrait films about my paternal grandmother and told me that her mother might be an interesting subject to study on film.

She described Juliane — how she had been living in the same apartment for 50 years, and how she had learned astrology from a military general who served as President Charles de Gaulle’s astrologer during WWII. I was fascinated by all of this and a year later I found myself packing my bag with a 16mm Bolex camera and heading to Paris.

W&H: What do you want people to think about when they are leaving the theater?

SB: I want people to think about their own families, their own grandmothers, mothers, or elderly women that lead and that have had a significant impact on their communities. I think it’s seldom that people really listen to the voices of elderly matriarchs and women and I want to change that.

My mission as a filmmaker is to get audience members to think about, converse, and connect with elderly women in their own lives and for them to realize their importance, impact, and wisdom.

W&H: What was the biggest challenge in making the film?

SB: I think every aspect of filmmaking is challenging, but that is what draws me to it. I am addicted to problem-solving; it’s very satisfying. Since I work by myself, everything is a mission in and of itself: I am loading the camera with 16mm film, checking exposure, directing my subjects, rolling sound, and thinking about how I am going to edit it all in one go. I am self-reliant in my filmmaking, and I’m quite proud of that.

Sometimes I do find it challenging to shoot in public on my own. There are some shots in “Maison du bonheur” where I am shooting a few wide establishing shots in Les Jardins des plantes and I felt quite self-conscious doing this on my own. I was worried that I was going to be told that I was not allowed or that people were going to get angry for filming them from afar.

One of my sets was shut down once in the Junction here in Toronto because we didn’t have a permit and I think I am still a little scarred from that experience. As much as I am a champion of it, low-budget filmmaking can definitely have its rough moments at times.

W&H: How did you get your film funded? Share some insights into how you got the film made.

SB: I am very careful with the way I spend my money. I work a day job and I had saved up for the film a little bit but I also took out a loan from the bank to make the film. I typically do not have the patience to wait for grants or private investors to get my work made as I worry that waiting to shoot a film after I’ve gotten the idea for it will kill the original enthusiasm I had for it in the first place. I have learned to make films with limited means.

“Maison du bonheur” only cost about $12,000 in production costs which is microscopic in the grand scheme of things. We were also very fortunate to have gotten a grant from the Ontario Arts Council for post-production which really helped us polish the film and get it to the final stages.

W&H: What does it mean for you to have your film play at Hot Docs?

SB: Hot Docs is the biggest documentary film festival in the world, so naturally I am over the moon. I love Hot Docs. I actually worked in the box office for the festival last year and was going to do so again this year but this all changed when I found out that “Maison du bonheur” was going to screen.

They treat their staff very well, their programming is brilliant, and they give such an amazing platform for filmmakers to showcase their work. This is the first major festival in Toronto that I’ve been invited to and I am very excited to have the opportunity to screen the film to my peers, friends, and family here in the city.

W&H: What’s the best and worst advice you’ve received?

SB: The very misogynist director of my film school told me not to go to an experimental film screening of Michael Snow’s film “Wavelengths” — in the Toronto International Film Festival’s Wavelengths program — when I asked him for a ticket during TIFF in 2004. He told me that experimental filmmaking was equivalent to masturbation and that I should be ashamed of myself for wanting to go to such a screening. It was awful.

Needless to say I did not take his advice. I went to the screening and I have been a faithful attendee of the Wavelengths program at TIFF ever since. It’s a program that has helped grow and nurture my filmmaking in a way that film school never did. In a certain regard it was the best advice because it made me so angry that it gave me more energy and gumption to pursue the kind of filmmaking that I wanted to see on-screen.

W&H: What advice do you have for other female directors?

SB: Go with what feels right in your heart, mind, and gut. Your intuition is your strongest asset.

W&H: Name your favorite woman-directed film and why.

SB: It would definitely have to be “Hotel Monterey” by Chantal Akerman. It’s a medium-length silent film that studies the interior of a hotel in New York. It has such a strong weight and confidence, and it explores time and space in a way I could never have imagined previously. It’s a simple and boldly executed concept and I revisit the film frequently. It inspired one of my short films, “Wiezcór” (“An Evening”), which studies the interior of my paternal-grandmother’s home after her passing.

W&H: There have been significant conversations over the last couple of years about increasing the amount of opportunities for women directors yet the numbers have not increased. Are you optimistic about the possibilities for change? Share any thoughts you might have on this topic.

SB: I think it’s such a sad thing that in 2017 we are still having these conversations. I wish that it was a topic of conversation that’s long past but it is still unfortunately very much an ongoing issue in the industry.

I feel quite optimistic that the landscape will change for women and I think it is making progress and will continue to evolve as well. Hot Docs has almost reached gender parity this year with close to 48% of their programming this year featuring films directed by women, which I think is fantastic.

CBC and Telefilm are also leading initiatives to get more women in the directing chair and to have their voices heard. I think the more we keep pushing the conversation and asking for more opportunities the more progress we’ll see in the future. This emotional labor does not lie solely in the hands of women themselves but in the hands of those in power.

Of course, it isn’t happening fast enough and we are long overdue but I think that film festivals, as well as funding bodies here in Canada, have opened their doors more than before and are committed to ensuring that all voices have equitable opportunities to make and show their work.