Woken is an Irish/Italian sci-fi featuring Maxine Peake and Ivanno Jeremiah. We spoke to them at the red carpet for Glasgow Film Fest 2024.
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Short filmTranscript
00:00 Let's start by asking about, you know, it's the 20th anniversary of the Glasgow Film Festival
00:04 and you'll see across the programme there's all kinds of different independent voices
00:08 and people from all kind of different backgrounds or different accents and stuff like that.
00:12 The fact that there are events like this that provide a route to cinema for, you know,
00:18 independent films, is that really important do you feel?
00:21 Yeah completely, I mean our film is an Irish-Italian co-production so we shot it in Ireland
00:29 and then did the post-production in Italy and considering especially Italy having such a great
00:35 kind of history with sci-fi and genre, like I mean it was amazing to be able to have that
00:39 cooperation between the two countries and all of the people who worked in it, like I mean all the
00:44 Irish crew were amazing, the Italian crew was amazing, kind of like, you know, just with a real
00:48 passion for just genre and sci-fi and doing something different so it was really, yeah, it was great.
00:53 And what about from an actor's perspective in terms of what you look for in a script,
00:58 if it is something that's kind of interesting and, you know, something that really moves you,
01:02 what did you see in Alan's script that really moved you?
01:05 Well I think for me it was, I mean, you know, the script, you know, I mean it's a small cast but
01:13 you've got, you know, a female protagonist, played by Ireland's very own Mary Knight,
01:17 going on this sort of awakening but it's in such a, you know, using that sci-fi sort of genre to
01:24 do it. I just think it was a brilliant script. I mean, I just read things and I think, 'Would I
01:29 watch this?' Yeah, I'd watch it. I'd want to be in it, you know what I mean? So yeah.
01:33 What about you, Ivana?
01:35 Similar thing. I'd seen 'Cake', Alan's previous film that Maxine was in and I'd been a massive
01:41 fan for a long time. So not only his very distinct cinematic style drew me to it immediately but also
01:48 being around such peaceful, natural players was a great opportunity.
01:52 Can I just ask a quite self-indulgent question and ask if there's any
01:57 Glasgow or Scottish films or actors that you admire or like?
02:01 Oh, Kate Dickey.
02:02 Kate Dickey.
02:03 Kate Dickey.
02:03 Kate Dickey.
02:04 She was on the list.
02:05 Yeah, oh yeah, she, yeah. Yeah, but you've got, you know what I mean? You know what?
02:10 I mean, there's such a great tradition of films here as well. I mean, kind of, you know, I mean,
02:13 kind of, I mean, to be honest, 'Trainspotting' kicks it off so much for so many people and just
02:18 the energy of that film.
02:20 Yeah, and Lynne Ramsay. I mean, I don't know about the Scots, you know,
02:22 I don't know about the...
02:23 The culture.
02:23 Yeah, you know, and more than... Yeah. But I just think what's so important about
02:29 Film Festival is it's about the films getting shown but it's also showing there's an audience,
02:33 there's other stuff than huge franchises. Cinema is much more than that and there's a lot of,
02:39 you know, it's like when you're in a bookshop and you, you know, there's a whole other world
02:43 out there that, you know, that exists, you know, that maybe it leans more to, you know,
02:48 this is sci-fi but more art, how you saw, whatever. Just, you know, there's something
02:52 for everybody.
02:53 But yeah, 'Ratcatcher' is amazing.
02:56 Yeah.
02:57 And we're kind of like friends as well.
02:59 I think it's the best part.