As we get nearer to the festival, we will be featuring the various filmmakers whose work will be screening throughout the festival.

Introduce Yourself: My name is Laerke Drews, and I am a student of film.

How did you become interested in filmmaking? I had never considered being a filmmaker before I took a class in filmmaking in high school at the age of 18. I had wanted to be a lawyer or a researcher, but when I began working on my fist timid student film project, a whole new world of possibilities seemed to open itself to me. Ever since childhood, I have had a great appreciation of art, but I had never before considered becoming an artist myself. Though I love painting, sculpture and the novel, I always thought that it must be frustrating for the artists that their work is exposed to, and appreciated by, so comparatively few people. But when I made my first film, I realized that films can be art as well. And whereas the other arts, that I love, play a comparatively minor role in most people's lives, film is the most appreciated and most dominant art form today. So, that which made me become interested in filmmaking, is the fact that art is very important to me in my own life, and that by making films, I can create art to myself as well as to an audience, who can actually use and appreciate the art that I create in their everyday lives. That, to me, is very motivating.

Tell us about your inspiration and vision for the film: With 'Laura – in Action', I wanted to create a film in which (1) the protagonist is passive, and (2) a central part of the plot unfolds within the protagonist's mind—all of this without the film ever ceasing to be entertaining to watch.

(1) 'Laura – in Action' tells the story of a passive girl who learns how to act. At a first glance, this premise seems incompatible with an exciting, causal plot, simply because passivity is boring. But passivity is a widespread phenomenon: very many people who seem to be active, actually avoid acting towards their real goals because acting requires that one takes chances and risks. Passivity is thus as widespread as it is harmful, and difficult to rid oneself of—and for this very same reason it is intriguing when someone succeeds in taking action. 'Laura – in Action' is thus an attempt to dramatize the passivity and the happy circumstance that it is possible to act.

(2) The decision to act instead of being passive is a decision that takes place within the mind of a human being. But to show a person who is merely deciding something is boring on film—unless the audience understand exactly what the decision is about. Therefore, I wanted to let the audience have access to Laura's thoughts and feelings. To achieve this, I used the technique of mixing real life action with animation, and because I wanted to communicate Laura's emotions and thoughts clearly, comprehensively and visually, I choose the style of classic cartoons, which traditionally dramatize their stories clearly and visually through physical action. By making Laura a cartoonist, I wanted to make it probable that her thoughts would materialize as cartoons, thereby tying the outer circumstances to the Laura's thoughts and feelings. My intention was thus to create a film where the protagonists' inner life is as concrete, and as visually expressed, as her 'real' life.

What were some of the biggest challenges in making and completing the film? I wish I could say that the only challenges in making the film were the artistic challenges of making the film just right. Luckily there were plenty of such challenges, and lots of wonderful, brain wrecking work had to be done to find the very best solutions in a great many different areas. However, the greatest challenges unfortunately came from the low budget of the film. But these challenges are inevitable in low budget filmmaking, and while they must be accepted as a fact, they are not important. What's important is the film itself.

In the spirit of Jackson, what's your favorite Western? High Noon (1952), because of its beautifully effective simplicity.

LAURA IN ACTION, writen and directed by Laerke Drews, will screen in Student Voices III at 4:45P, Saturday, June 7th at the Center For the Arts, Studio 4 and Sunday, June 8th at 10:15P at the Center for the Arts, Studio 4.