Sherry Hormann is a German-American writer and director. Her directorial debut, “Silent Shadow,” won the Bavarian Film Award for Best Young Direction, the Film Award in Silver for Outstanding Feature Film at the German Film Awards, and the Interfilm Award at the Max Ophüls Festival in 1992. Her comedy “Guys and Balls” won the Audience Award for Outstanding Narrative Feature at LA Outfest in 2005. She also wrote and directed “Desert Flower,” based on the best-selling autobiography, which won the Audience Award for Best European Film at the 2009 San Sebastián Film Festival. Following the box office success of her 2013 film “3096 Days” in Germany, she went on to work on several TV projects.
“A Regular Woman” will premiere at the 2019 Tribeca Film Festival on April 27.
W&H: Describe the film for us in your own words.
SH: All Hatun Aynur Sürürü wanted was to live a self-determined life with her son. Instead, she got shot in the face by her youngest brother at a bus stop around the corner from her apartment. She was barely 23 years old.
With “honor killings” we tend to focus on the politics, optics, perpetrator, motive, and societal impact. But what about the murder victim? Aynur was more than just the “Sürücü case.” She was a woman with a voice that still needs to be heard.
W&H: What drew you to this story?
SH: In Germany, Europe, and the world, we face a growing mix of cultures amidst a declining sense of tolerance. We struggle with diversity because we still refuse to accept individuality. To me, Aynur is a kind of Joan of Arc in the backstreets of Berlin.
W&H: What do you want people to think about when they are leaving the theater?
SH: Live the life you hope for. Fight for your values. It’s always worth it.
W&H: What was the biggest challenge in making the film?
SH: Being fair to all sides and to a culture I am not a part of. Being fair to Aynur—the person, not the story.
W&H: How did you get your film funded? Share some insights into how you got the film made.
SH: “A Regular Woman” is a low budget film financed by several TV funds and also by German cultural subsidies
W&H: What inspired you to become a filmmaker?
SH: Due to chronic tendonitis I had to stop studying the piano. I was really lost and searching for a field that combined storytelling, rhythm, and music. By coincidence, I watched an homage to “Scarface” director Howard Hawks. That was it!
W&H: What’s the best and worst advice you’ve received?
SH: I found the best advice in Michael Caine’s book on acting: less is more. The worst? I don’t know—I must have repressed it.
W&H: What advice do you have for other female directors?
SH: Focus on the story you want to tell. Trust your point of view. You are a filmmaker, a wanderer, a searcher—you are not an artist reduced to your gender.
W&H: Name your favorite woman-directed film and why.
SH: Susanne Bier’s and Kathryn Bigelow’s. Both directors are so different in their work but so real in the stories they tell us.
W&H: It’s been a little over a year since the reckoning in Hollywood and the global film industry began. What differences have you noticed since the #MeToo and #TimesUp movements launched?
SH: We are talking. Finally! Discussing, listening, changing opinions, and raising awareness and empathy. We can never go back to the way it was before, because the elephant in the room refuses to be ignored any longer.
