Marianna Palka is an actress and filmmaker from Glasgow, Scotland. Her film “Bitch” sold at Cannes after its 2017 Sundance premiere, and her film “Good Dick” was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance. She produced the Oscar-shortlisted and Emmy-nominated short documentary “The Lion’s Mouth Opens.”
“Egg” will premiere at the 2018 Tribeca Film Festival on April 21.
W&H: Describe the film for us in your own words.
MP: Scrambled.
W&H: What drew you to this story?
MP: The beauty of birth.
W&H: What do you want people to think about when they are leaving the theater?
MP: Their own healing heart.
W&H: What was the biggest challenge in making the film?
MP: I don’t see challenges. Making a film is akin to going to Hawaii. Have you ever been to Hawaii? It’s like that!
W&H: How did you get your film funded? Share some insights into how you got the film made.
MP: There are many financiers out there who want to make your movie. We had a lot of folks who understood what we were doing and why — those are the types of people to work with, the ones you simply like and trust and those who like and trust you.
W&H: What does it mean for you to have your film play at Tribeca Film Festival?
MP: Everything! I was here with a film I acted in, Peter Mullan’s “Neds,” when Robert DeNiro bought our film for America, and it changed everything for Scottish cinema and me! Very grateful to be at such a wonderful NY festival with such a NY movie.
W&H: What’s the best and worst advice you’ve received?
MP: Best advice: Quincy Jones, who said, “Play to your crowd.”
I don’t recall the worst advice I’ve ever received
W&H: What advice do you have for other female directors?
MP: Same as the advice I’d have for anyone: be kind.
W&H: Name your favorite woman-directed film and why.
MP: All directors have a female streak. I love so many movies. And some of the best female directors are male, and I think saying “woman-directed” film is as arbitrary as asking what it’s like to eat fruit and be a director, or how being from the street I grew up on has informed my directing. It does and doesn’t have anything to do with it, simultaneously. I call directors “directors” as opposed to distinguishing between a “female” director or “male” director. Everyone is both and more!
W&H: Hollywood and the global film industry are in the midst of undergoing a major transformation. Many women — and some men — in the industry are speaking publicly about their experiences being assaulted and harassed. What are your thoughts on the #TimesUp movement and the push for equality in the film business?
MP: I think it’s glorious. It’s the funeral of the perverts, and we all get to attend! And cart them off to the judicial system where they can be dealt with. It’s the best time to be alive ever and I’m very proud that my five feature films I’ve directed are feminist as fuck and that women and men come up to me crying saying my movies have made them better people or helped them immensely.
