Marion Hill (she/they) is a New Orleans-based director with roots in Vietnam, England, and France. Her direction of the camera is devoted to the nuances of femme power, queer sensibility, and radical sensuality across cultures. Hill’s short films “Bird​ of Prey” (2016)​​ and​ “Goddess​ House” ​(2018) ​played at festivals including Frameline, Outfest Fusion, and the New Orleans Film Festival. Their films now have over 3.5 million views online. Hill is also the assistant director of video at WWOZ New Orleans, producing music-related content from concert and festival live capture to short documentary with local artists. ​

“Ma Belle, Ma Beauty” is screening at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival, which is taking place online and in person via Satellite Screens January 28-February 3.

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

MH: “Ma Belle, My Beauty” is, simply put, a contemporary love story. It is a deep devotion to the exploration and authentic depiction of nuance: nuance of character, relationship, culture, and personality.

W&H: What drew you to this story?

MH: When I was young, what pulled me into the world of film was, more than anything, a luscious dramatic love story — I loved Audrey Hepburn, for example, and the romantic sound of a Hollywood orchestra. As I grew into adulthood, I was continuously disappointed that none of my love stories looked nor felt anything like the ones I had grown up watching.

I wanted to tell a love story that was complicated, where the film doesn’t just end with “I love you” and call it a day. Love is so much more complicated than that, and I am of a generation that is adamantly trying to strip ourselves of our learned expectations of love and monogamous partnership in favor of self-love, pursuit of pleasure, and radical communication.

I wanted to show a love story driven by characters from within the communities that I am a part of.

W&H: What do you want people to think about after they watch the film?

MH: I don’t have a singular or particular message I want folks to walk away with after watching this film. For me, that’s not what filmmaking is about; as a viewer, I don’t like it when there’s a message being explicitly drawn out for me. My intention is to create an experience into which there are many points of emotional entry.

After watching, I think all folks will walk away thinking about something unique to them — the thing that spoke to them most, likely based on who they are demographically, and their own personality and experiences. To me, it’s crucial for folks to have a uniquely individual viewing experience; for everyone to watch the same thing, experience it in a personal way, and discuss their feelings and observations with others who also saw it, further opening their minds and ideally discovering things about themselves.

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

MH: Since I was committed to keeping the story largely in one location — the main house — the biggest challenge was constructing a story arc that would keep character tensions and engagement high throughout. The funny thing about a love story in a queer and polyamorous context is that marital cheating and societal scorn are emphatically not the conflict—that is, “conflict” in storytelling terms: that which stands in the way of a character getting what they want and ultimately creates drama.

This meant that all conflict in this story comes from within the characters themselves, from their own personal baggage and issues. Thus, the conflict throughout the film is ever so subtle, and the actors and I had to be spot on when shooting each scene — in terms of where they were emotionally — to ensure the through-line of their internal conflict was in the right place at each moment.

Crafting the arc of tension in the editing room also involved a lot of challenging decisions.

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

MH: We funded this film ourselves. That is to say, my long mailing list of friends, old teachers, friends of friends, and family members who don’t want to hear from me ever again!

It was crucial to keep this budget as low as realistically possible so we could make the film without waiting for external funding. Something in my gut back in early 2019 told me not to wait, so I “attached” my incredible creative team early on — including Idella Johnson, who would play Bertie, my composer Mahmoud Chouki, and my DP Lauren Guiteras. This decision enabled us to paint a vivid picture of the film going into our aggressive crowdfunding campaign in the spring of 2019.

A few months later, we got additional support from the Sundance Institute, which helped get us into production.

After that, we relied heavily on other small grants and donations of all amounts. Our local community in New Orleans that is greatly invested in our success helped a lot. That said, continuous fundraising has been hard and is a big toll on creative energy throughout the process, not to mention two years of work without pay for me and my producers. But we made the film and that’s what counts in the end.

W&H: What inspired you to become a filmmaker?

MH: As a young musician, I was drawn to film scores but the first book I checked out from the library about film scoring made me realize I actually was fascinated by filmmaking in its entirety. So I applied to be a film major in college. The balance of emotional sensibility and technical discipline came very naturally to me. I love team building and working with actors to develop character nuance, and I love spending days and nights at my computer by myself, creating a world and a story with a hard drive of footage.

In college, I saw Joey Soloway speak about patriarchy in the film industry and how it must be toppled. Hearing their speech confirmed for me that there was, indeed, a burgeoning place for me and for my style of storytelling in the film world. I became more and more ambitious to pursue directing.

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

MH: It feels so early in my own path to be giving advice to others, but here is a big one I’ve been thinking about: we’ve all heard that we should surround ourselves with people we trust. Yes indeed. I want to add that you should surround yourself with people who trust you.

To pull this shit off, you will need partners who believe in you in a way that makes them walk with you into an abyss of unknowns. You can’t have creative and producing partners who need you to do things a certain way for them to stick with you. You need the people who will take the leaps of faith because they believe you have something worth working with — something that will be worth it for them too.

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

MH: “Tomboy” by Céline Sciamma. I’ve been a follower of Céline’s work for a long time. “Tomboy” should be required viewing for all people, especially parents! Not only is it an amazing feat of honest and raw performances from young kids, it is also a masterpiece of observational storytelling that depicts gender identity in a way that is sweet, organic and uncomplicated. The way the camera just exists with the kids is amazing.

I have drawn a lot from Céline’s filmmaking over the years.

W&H: How are you adjusting to life during the COVID-19 pandemic? Are you keeping creative, and if so, how? 

MH: I have been very lucky to be able to cocoon in my creative process throughout the pandemic. We went into lockdown right when I was desperately trying to finish my picture lock of the film while juggling a full-time job. Stuck at home, I found myself with a lot more time and focus than I would otherwise have had. My main post-production partners were in a similar situation where they, too, suddenly had more room to focus. It has actually felt like an intensive incubation period for the film.

At this very moment, I have just finally turned in my final cut to Sundance, so I’m not sure what the pandemic will feel like going forward. However, as an introvert who loves to hunker down and get shit done, I have been able to find a decent amount of peace and drive through all this.

W&H: The film industry has a long history of underrepresenting people of color onscreen and behind the scenes and reinforcing — and creating — negative stereotypes. What actions do you think need to be taken to make Hollywood and/or the doc world more inclusive?

MH: If Hollywood is really interested in changing these things, it will take a bold commitment to put resources into communities and filmmakers that are operating outside the Hollywood system. It’s not enough to invite people of color to your table and call it inclusive. Gatekeepers need to be ready to put money on other people’s tables, then take a step back and let them work.