Filmmaker Interview: Katharine Fry

After learning about the Ann Arbor Film Festival just a year prior to having two of her works included in the 57th annual event, London-based filmmaker Katharine Fry sat down for an interview to discuss these works.

The video installation, Before her investiture, the novice must hear what she has to, learn what she has to, shape what she has to, say was part of the Off the Screen! program. According to Fry’s description of her work in the program guide of the 57th festival: “In this video installation for one, you enter an intimate red velvet world and encounter a novice in a strange educational setting…. The novice must rehearse the lesson dictated by an unseen voice, but her body refuses.”

“I am very interested in the relation or invitation or confrontation between the viewer and the screen as a body,” says Fry in the interview with AAFF. Her digital film, d.a.n.c.e.f.o.r y.o.u.r d.a.d.d.y. had its North American premiere at the 2019 festival and was a film in competition.

In this conversation, Fry admits that her work “can upset people.” Even she is affected by it. In fact, she spoke about the emotional impact d.a.n.c.e.f.o.r y.o.u.r d.a.d.d.y. had on her, stating that “the ratcheting of the tension still gets my heart going.”

Fry’s works have been awarded and recognized around the world. Katharine has received a Hauser & Wirth First Prize, Soho House Mentoring Prize, and prizes from the Creekside Open and Black Swan Arts Open. Her work was also exhibited at Visions in the Nunnery in London and the Alchemy Film and Moving Image Festival in Hawick, Scotland.

Enjoy more of the interview with Katharine Fry.