The Bite Magazine - Autmn/Winter 2020 - Issue 28

bitedirectorsspotlight In 2008, she wrote and directed the award-winning short film, The Weight Of It. While living in Paris, she worked on several screenplays, one of which she is writ- ing as a novel. A feature film currently in development is The Time of The Wolves, thematically inspired by the filmmaker’s experience during the 2015 attacks in Paris which happened close to where she was at the time. In Paris, she found inspiration to write her award-win- ning short film, The Gesture and The Word , which she directed upon her return to LA. The filmmaker is now developing a feature version of the film. She admitted she loves people-watching and became intrigued by a local postman, which sparked a bizarre thought, “What if a socially awkward and shy postman read someone else’s mail?” This simple idea grew into a beautiful short movie and has won sever- al awards including Best Short Film at the UK Motion Picture Festival; Best Female Director at the Montreal International Independent Film Festival; Best Art Di- rector & Best Cinematography at the British Film Fes- tival; and Best Costumes at the Prague International Film Festival. The film is also competing for Best Nar- rative Short at the prestigious Oscar-qualifying festival at the LA Shorts International Film Festival. The Gesture and the Word tells the story of Gilbert (James Michael Tyler), a lonely postman. He secretly recreates postcards for a woman named Aurore (Rox- ane Mesquida) on his mail delivery route after her boyfriend, Eric’s (Andrew Creer) homemade postcards stop arriving from his travels around the world. With the help of his friend, Mr Rostalle (Paul Dooley), a blind widower and retired literary professor, Gilbert learns to open himself up to the prospect of love. In the process of trying to bring someone else’s happiness, he discovers it for himself. To create a multilayered story, the director incorporates her own experiences during the writing process, as it allowed her to create profound, rich and relatable char- acters. Eric’s travels are inspired by Helen’s upbringing overseas and a love of travel. The postcards, which the director drew herself, were inspired by her summer at the RISD (Rhode Island School of Design) pre-college program. “My friends and I would send each other homemade postcards and elaborately written letters,” she explained. Other ideas come from different life experiences like her friend creating her own costumes and having a burlesque show and later having a flower cart business while knowing the meaning of each. “The ideas for the pressed flowers and photo album came from a habit of