Andrea Arnold joins us for a Q&A and a screening of 'Bird'

We were delighted to have award-winning British director Andrea Arnold join us at the Into Film Festival 2024 for a special screening her new film Bird and a Q&A session with young audiences.

One of the most renowned directors in the UK, Arnold's films include Red Road, Fish Tank and American Honey, as well as numerous TV credits, including Big Little Lies. She received an Academy Award for her short film Wasp, while Fish Tank won her awards at both the BIFAs and the BAFTAs. She has also won numerous Jury Prizes at the Cannes film festival.

In a rare public appearance, Arnold joined us at the BFI Southbank to screen her new film, Bird, a coming-of-age story with a hint of magical-realism that sees a young girl on the cusp of adolescence finding solace from her chaotic living situation in the company of a strange person named 'Bird'. The packed screening was met with a rousing round of applause, and was followed by a Q&A session with an enthusiastic room of several hundred teenagers - many of whom are studying film and hope to follow in Arnold's footsteps.

The Q&A focused a lot on the art and practicalities of filmmaking, with an audience of budding young filmmakers keen to absorb all the advice they could.

"When I'm writing, I don't really have a plan; I just have something that I feel like I need to get out. It's like a sort of itch", Arnold explained. "I would encourage anyone who is a writer to be that way... to try and find out what is inside of you that you need to realise. I think that's where the real originality comes from."

Her advice on writing continued, emphasising the importance of embracing imperfections and not being tied down to a rigid plan. "I'm about to start writing something new… I know roughly what it's about. I can feel it, I can smell it, I can feel the shape of it, but I don't know what the details are going to be. The reality is… in your mind it's such a perfect thing, but when you start doing it and putting it down, you can't reach that thing in your mind. You have to accept imperfection. You have to. I would suggest that all of you do that now - I didn't when I was your age, and I wish I had."

Arnold's free-form approach to writing also applies to the rest of her filmmaking process. Often using non-professional actors in her films, Arnold spoke about the way the casting of debutant Nykiya Adams in Bird led to drastic changes for the entire film. "I usually try to cast quite close to the world, so that those people belong and feel close to that world. That's why I use a lot of non-actors, because sometimes they feel of the world, and they feel true."

"I had a picture of the character I wrote as a very wild, very mouthy kid… but when we were casting we never met anyone that was totally like that. Nkiya, when she walked into the room, I sat up and thought 'Oh, she feels interesting'. She wasn't what I'd intended, but I ended up casting her. She's different to what I wrote, but there was something really interesting about her, and I wanted to go with that. I'll always adapt the film to what I find, so I rewrote it with Nkiya in mind, and redid a lot of things differently because I'd cast her."

When asked about the way her films don't tend to spoonfeed the audience, Arnold detailed why she often takes a more subtle approach. "I really believe in cinema, and I believe in images. I believe in the intelligence of the audience. I believe people can read a lot into images - more than a lot of films often give them credit for. For me, the emotion comes when I leave space for you - the audience - to have a response to the film, and a reaction to the film, and a feeling about the film. So I won't tell you everything; I believe in your intelligence to make sense of what I'm doing. It means you'll have your own relationship to the film - and everyone's relationship might be a bit different, but that's okay too. I love that."

In Bird, main character Bailey often films moments from her life on her mobile phone, the footage of which Arnold shows us throughout the film. Asked about this by an audience of young people who are already well-versed in filming with their phones, Arnold emphasised what a good practice it can be. "Phone footage is so beautiful, honestly. I was looking at some of the things we did and I just thought ‘Wow, these phones are incredible, that you can film so well on them'. Tangerine by Sean Baker was made on an iPhone! It's amazing."

"When I started there wasn't so much film equipment. You've got more things at your disposal now, where you can just get up and make a film. That doesn't make it easy, by the way - I know it doesn't. Just access to equipment doesn't make it easy to make a film. But it means you can try - and fail - without spending too much money. And I would suggest trying and failing. Failing is so important; not being scared of failing. Just have a go, get out of your own way, and try things. Try them quietly if you need to; don't post them. Just try and see what you can do."

Asked what ultimately inspires her work, Arnold said: "Life, I think. I get my inspiration from what I see around me, all the time. I think a lot of creativity when you're driven to creativity is a lot about you working out your own stuff, your own life; how you see the world, how you've experience the world. It's a way of making sense of everything."

We're sure that just hearing from Andrea Arnold will have in turn provided a wealth of inspiration for the young people in the audience.

The Into Film Festival is possible thanks to the support of Cinema First and multiple partners across the cinema sector.