Paprika Steen is an award-winning Scandinavian actress and director. She made her directorial debut in 2004 with the tragedy-drama “Aftermath” and followed it up with 2007’s “With Your Permission.” In 2018, Steen will appear in Brian de Palma’s thriller “Domino.”

“That Time of Year” began screening at the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival on September 7.

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

PS: This film is a story about a family and their traditions. It takes place during a family’s annual dinner on Christmas Eve, where extended family members, relatives, and friends come together.

The family dinner is where people have been developing their own particular tribal languages, ethics, and traditions for generations. We want both the best and worst for each other. We compete with each other through our kids, we bring each other down, and we pull each other back up time and time again. In this way, the family becomes a radical catalyst for our own limitations, humanity, and longing.

W&H: What drew you to this story?

PS: My fascination with family psychological structures and the family as an institution drew me to this story. I wanted to place a family in the most exposed situation of them all– in the moment where everyone is expected to be extra performative in the name of the holiday spirit.

Christmas Eve is the one day of the year that the gap between expectations and betrayal is the smallest, so the potential for danger is the highest.

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

PS: If the audience leaves the film wondering “why don’t the members of this family just get up and leave?” the point of the film has landed. We don’t just get up and leave our families? We stay and stick with them and tolerate them because families have their own powerful justifications as a means to battle loneliness.

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

PS: Being both the director and an actor was a huge challenge. We had 14 actors on set every day, including a dog and small children. My brain was constantly being divided between thinking about framing, having an ear for the dialogue, and being present as an actor.

It was a great and lovely experience which was challenging in an extremely positive way.

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

PS: We are quite fortunate in Denmark as we have a public funding system that can partially support your film through the Danish Film Institute. However, it is only partially funded, so it’s difficult to get the green light in Denmark — we only make 22-25 feature films a year.

I am working with the best and biggest indie studio in Scandinavia, Nordisk Film, and their support for the project was without a doubt extremely important.

For me, it’s all about having a personal approach with my producer. Getting the final green light is impossible without teamwork.

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

PS: My background of film buffs, musicians, actors, and painters inspired me. I wanted to be an actor since I was very young and somehow dared to take on the role of director. This is my third feature as a director. This time, I feel much more complete as a director — not as insecure and apologetic as I was during the first two.

I love it, and my nerdiness shined when directing this film with so many different kinds of actors! I wanted to make them look and feel like a real family. I wanted to make sure that we were putting ego and vanity aside to be in the room as a family.

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

PS: The best advice was from Sidney Lumet, who said that if an actor wanted changes to the script, the move was to fire the actor, not the script. I apply this to myself as an actor as well.

The worst advice was that people wouldn’t notice things onscreen. Everyone notices everything, either on a conscious or unconscious level! The audience will notice, so stick with your intuition.

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

PS: I hope that we won’t have to ask this question in the near future! I am a director and an actor. I am a filmmaker. My advice is to eliminate your feelings of being anything but a director.

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

PS: I have many, but the one that comes to mind is Lynne Ramsay’s “Ratcatcher.” It’s so gorgeously shot, well-written, and beautifully acted. I think it was her first feature. A hardcore story, but told so poetically and subtly. Very impressive!

W&H: Hollywood and the global film industry are in the midst of undergoing a major transformation. What differences have you noticed since the #MeToo and #TimesUp movements launched?

PS: Most importantly, it has been helping to normalize the perspectives of women for everyone.