Hanna Bergholm is a Finnish film director who has helmed several internationally-awarded short films and TV drama series. Her latest short horror film, “Puppet Master,” was selected to screen at several international film festivals, including Fantasia Film Festival and Fantastic Fest, as well as the MoMA. “Hatching” is her first feature film.

“Hatching” is screening at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival, which is running online from January 20-30. More information can be found on the fest’s website.

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

HB: “Hatching” is a twisted coming-of-age drama mixed with elevated body horror. It is about a young girl who tries desperately to please her demanding mother and about un-lovingness that creates a monster. It is a film that both horror and drama film fans can watch and love.

W&H: What drew you to this story?

HB: Our screenwriter, Ilja Rautsi, contacted me saying that he had a one sentence idea: ”A boy hatches an evil doppelgänger out of an egg.” And I replied, ”Cool! But let’s change the lead character into a girl.” It was very important to me that the lead character is a girl, because I think we still have far too few interesting female characters and female-driven stories in films. I always like to show the inner feelings of the character in the film and this one-liner gave an interesting opportunity for it. I haven’t yet seen a story exactly like it before. So, we started to build the story together from this one sentence.

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

HB: We all want to be seen and loved fully and unconditionally, just as imperfect as we are, with all our scars.

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

HB: We have a monster creature as one of our main characters. It was important for the creature to have a real physical presence. Therefore, I wanted it to be an animatronic puppet instead of a CGI character. I knew that we needed the best possible artist to make this puppet, so I googled ”the best animatronic designer in the world” and found Gustav Hoegen, who [was an animatronic designer] for the “Star Wars” and “Jurassic World” franchises, etc. So, I emailed him describing the story and he got excited about it and agreed to create the puppet for us.

Also, when the creature is evolving in the film, we needed prosthetic makeup for the actor. I contacted two-time Oscar-nominated SFX makeup designer Conor O’Sullivan, whose previous work I had admired in “The Dark Knight” and “Game of Thrones.”

Gustav’s and Conor’s fantastic teams created the monster that we had designed in Finland. When filming with the puppet, we had Gustav moving the puppet’s facial expressions with a remote control and five puppeteers moving its limbs with rods. The puppeteers had been working together in several “Star Wars” films, and they were super professional and nice. It took several takes to make the puppet look alive. I’m extremely happy with the final look of the creature, which was a result of the great teamwork of so many people.

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

HB: During four years, from the early script stage until the very final financing stage, we participated in many development, co-production, and financing workshops like Nordic Genre Boost, European Genre Forum, Frontiéres Co-Production Market, and Frontiéres Finance & Packaging Forum. That was very useful because in those workshops and markets we pitched the film with the producer, and little by little we got co-producers and financiers interested.

The film was a co-production of Finland, Sweden, and Norway, and was shot in Latvia. The main funder was the Finnish Film Foundation with the Finnish National Broadcasting Company, YLE. Other financiers and funders were Swedish Film Foundation, SVT, Film i Väst, Eurimages, Nordic Film&TV Fund, our Nordic distributors Nordisk Film and Europa Film, our sales company Wild Bunch International, our VFX company U-media, tax shelter of Belgium, tax shelter of Latvian National Film Center, and Riga City Council.

I’m very proud of the big work we did for the financing, because “Hatching “is the most expensive Finnish film ever directed by a woman.

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

HB: I’ve wanted to become a filmmaker since I was six years old. My parents are filmmakers and they showed me and my brothers a lot of old classic films, from directors like Hitchcock, Kurosawa, and Visconti. I always felt that films speak my language. They are my way of communicating.

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

HB: Best: My father has given me advice that I really like. He said that the director’s premiere is when she for the first time meets all the heads of departments. In that moment she must talk to them in a way that makes everyone lean forward with excitement.

Worst: At film school, we directors thought that the real skill of a director is to be able to direct anything well. I don’t want to direct ”anything,” only something I really relate to and feel I have something to say about.

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

HB: Dream big and contact your own idols, asking them to join your crew and cast. In the end, we all want to make great films together.

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

HB: Jane Campion’s “The Piano.” I love the visuality of that film and the way the costumes, landscape, and textures are used in its storytelling. As a director, I also like to tell a story with all the elements of the film.

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

HB: The pandemic has made us wait for the premiere of “Hatching.” I’m now writing a new horror drama feature film with the screenwriter of “Hatching,” Ilja Rautsi. It is about the difficult and painful feelings of motherhood when a couple has their first child and the mother starts to feel that there is something strange and un-human about the child.

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 it more inclusive?

HB: When we make films, we should look around to see what kind of people are actually living in the place and time we are setting our stories in. Only white men? In the end, the real change comes with letting people tell their own stories and [share their] points of view. The film schools, production companies, studios, streaming services, and financiers are the gatekeepers in that. Nothing changes as long as the biggest film productions are always leaning on white male directors to direct. I believe that with the constant demands from many people, we will finally make the change.