Film Name: The Ones You Didn’t Burn
Director: Elise Finnerty
Writer: Elise Finnerty
Starring: Nathan Wallace, Elise Finnerty, Samuel Dunning, Estelle Girard Parks, Jenna Rose Sander
Nathan and Mirra are in no way close siblings. But their father’s passing means they must return to their old family farm to sell off the land. There, Nathan starts having vivid nightmares of a woman rising from the sea, feeling the same dread his father felt before his death. As Nathan spirals back into the addiction that caused the friction with his sister, Mirra is growing close to the very people the family exploited, giving way to a centuries-old secret regarding the land’s original owners.
In a new exclusive interview on Blazing Minds, I got a chance to ask writer-director Elise Finnerty a few questions about the film the Ones You Didn’t Burn which will be making its International Premiere at Arrow FrightFest on Saturday 27th August at 11:00hrs
Q. Your film The Ones You Didn’t Burn has been selected to play at the Arrow FrightFest Film Festival. Can you tell us what we can expect from the film?
A. I like to tell everyone to expect a slow burn (pun intended) with a very satisfying ending.
Q. What were some of your influences when writing the script for The Ones You Didn’t Burn?
A. The honest answer is I wrote the script so fast I really can’t pinpoint exactly which films influenced the script. Of course, bits and pieces of my favourite abstract genre films are in there, and I even have a ‘MANDY’ easter egg in one shot that some people have been catching. The biggest writing influence was my composer, Daniel Reguera’s, music.
Q. What were some of your influences for the look and style of the film?
A. I had to look back at my original mood board to answer this one…Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is everywhere. Probably because that’s my favourite movie and it’s shot in the same part of Long Island that we shot in. The way Gondry uses a spotlight on the beach for the memory sequences was a big inspiration for our nightmare sequences. Also, I wanted to use a natural light style, so of course, Malick’s influence is in there, Andrea Arnold’s American Honey, and Ari Aster’s Midsommar.
Q. Did you make any changes from the original script during filming?
A. During filming? Not so much. There was so much going on, we shot this whole film in 9 days, so the script was my anchor. If I started improvising and changing things in those 9 days, we would have totally derailed. We shot every inch of that 90-page script…. and then we changed the heck out of it in the editing room ha!
Q. What were some of your favourite moments during filming?
A. The end of the day when we could all relax, have a drink, smoke some weed, hang out and watch the dailies. We were moving so freaking fast we barely even knew what we were creating. It was the end of the day where we could reflect on how much we accomplished and how well we were doing that kept us going.
Q. Did you experience any issues during filming?
A. Of course. I don’t think there’s ever been a film made that didn’t have some emergencies during the shoot. However, given how much was stacked against us, with our time crunch, our budget, intense covid anxiety, and my producing partner Estelle Girard Parks just having given birth and taking care of her new-born on set, we had more miracles than issues.
Q. What makes The Ones You Didn’t Burn stand out as something different in the horror genre?
A. Mmm, that’s a hard question. I guess I’d like to say there’s a lot of beauty and love in the film which I’m proud to say balances out with the dread that I don’t see a lot in the genre. And that goes back to my hope that people have all different interpretations of the film and story. Some people may not even consider this a horror and see it as a family drama. But at the end of the day, I didn’t necessarily set out to make something vastly different from what’s come before but was more so interested in making a film that I really love and I’m happy I was able to do that.
Q. What do you hope people take away after watching the film?
A. One reviewer ended their review saying “never, ever steal anything from a woman”. With everything going on in the world, perhaps that.
Q. Do you have any other projects which you are currently working on?
A. YES! Me and my partner Estelle are in development for our next genre feature, It Comes Back. We co-wrote it, and I will be directing.
Q. If someone was looking to write and direct their own film what advice would you give them?
A. I’d say to not be too precious with anything and try your best to just get something out into the world. There were so many things I wanted to do differently, even in the moment, that I just had to let go of for the sake of finishing. Now that it’s finished, I can take everything I learned and hopefully do better next time.
You can find out more about the Festival and purchase tickets here: https://www.frightfest.co.uk/
Published in various websites, Philip is a reviewer who is best known for his interviews and media coverage of independent projects including; films, books, theatre and live events. Always on the lookout for something different to cover!
