JULIA L. ROSENGREN

First of all we would like you to introduce yourself so that we can introduce you to our audience. Who are you? How long have you been making films?

As a producer, I really started just a year or so ago in the pandemic shutdown. I wrote and acted all the parts in a film called Before Sunrise about five dear friends and how they are all reacting to the lockdown in different parts of the world. It was filmed in Texas, shot on an i-phone and directed remotely from Brazil. So that was my beginning.

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And now we talk about your project Leaves. What will the audience find?

Hopefully they will find some awareness that they didn’t have before. Perhaps make them think a little.

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Were you inspired by any other movie to make Leaves?

Only in the sense that it was always a movie I had in my head. At least, some of the images have been floating around in my head since I was a little girl.

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What has been the most difficult part of the project?

I think it’s always the compromises that you have to make when you get into the reality of filming. I believe in the old saying that you actually make three films: The one that is written, the one that is shot and then the one that is edited.

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Is it a self-financed project?

It was. Yes.

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How long did it take you from the initial idea to being able to release them?

As I said, the original idea has been germinating all my life but once I brought in my friend, Paul Davis, who wrote the screenplay and directed the film, it moved pretty quickly. We worked on the script in the summer of 2020 and were filming by Thanksgiving. Editing and then completing the music took quite a while and there were other things going on in my life, so it was finally released in March of 2022.

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I understand that you have directed other projects, so I would like to know from the producer’s point of view, how was the relationship with the director? Tell us a bit about the process of working with another director.

It was good. I had worked as an actress on a film that Paul had directed. It was called Cult Cartel and I got to play a Cartel boss! It was a great experience and I knew we could work together on Leaves. Working with a director is all about trust and I certainly had that.

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And now we would like to know about your cinematographic preferences: What does cinema mean to you?

I have always been in love with films and the idea of interpreting another person's life story. Whether it’s interpreted as fantasy, real life...even musically. When I see what someone has done with a film, I am just amazed at what a beautiful accomplishment it is.

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What was the first movie you remember seeing?

I was very young, and escaped from my parents one day and got myself under the seats of the cinema of a small town where I live. It was the film called ‘Bedknobs and Broomsticks.’

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Which movie is the best for you?

I honestly don’t have a favorite, I would choose many different ones from all over the world.

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What do you think a movie must have as an essential ingredient?

I prefer that it ultimately has some sort of a positive message, however subtle, that can stay with the audience.

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Your favorite actor or actress?

Angelina Jolie, Leonard de Caprio, and Selton Mello, a Brazilian actor and director come immediately to mind but there are many others.

What qualities do you see in those actor/actress to have such consideration. What do you like most about them?

I think all three of those actors do so much away from the screen and have such powerful personalities yet, when they are on screen, they just command it and disappear into their characters. I think that’s an amazing, very special quality.

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Please visit my website www.juliarosengren.com