Introduce Yourself: Marianna Palka, I wrote/directed/produced and acted in GOOD DICK. Inspired by The Group Theater, Jimmy Dean and the Beat Generation, I left Glasgow Scotland at 17 to study at the Atlantic Theater Company in NYC.

How did you become interested in filmmaking? My mum's photography is a large part of my interest in film making. She was always taking pictures with her Nikon, which she still has and calls it her first child. My Polish parents did not let my elder sister, Nina, and I have a TV while we were kids, that is a big part of it. We were permitted to watch films that my parents had picked. My parents also funded a lot of Polish artists to come to Glasgow, Scotland during the 80s, while Poland was still Communist. Some of those artists were theater actors (influenced by Polish theater moments like Tadeusz Kantor's) and I realized that, because these actors were kind, tanned, intellectual and stood up very straight, I wanted to be like them when I grew up. Then at 16, I met Peter Mullan, a hero of mine, who opened my mind about what film at its best actually is. As a teenager I was obsessed with Ken Loach films because of the way they made me feel responsible for what was happening to their characters, Loach and screenwriter Paul Lafferty make you take a position as you are watching their films. I find that to be film at its best, when simply by watching a film it changes you, it enhances your humanity; and who you are, who you go on to be, is bettered.

Tell us about your inspiration and vision for the film: When I moved to Los Angeles from NY it was radical for me because I found my voice there, and began writing GOOD DICK which was my first screenplay. I frequented the real life video store Cinefile and got the idea for the film. I thought of the exchange between two people, that became the first scene in the film. I knew I wanted to write something that was actually sexy and not fake sexy. David Leveaux said to me once "How open can we continue to remain after pain?" I thought it was a great question for an adult character who had been sexually abused and for a lonely ex-drug user. I was interested in exploring how much light is takes to overcome such darkness. I was hoping to illuminate sex as a healing part of the story.

What were some of the biggest challenges in making and completing the film? It was a beautifully calm and vibrant shoot/ cutting process all at once. We all got through it by being polite and focusing on the positive, meaning on what we could do, instead; as opposed to what we couldn't do and why we couldn't do it.

In the spirit of Jackson, what's your favorite Western? The River of No Return and I gotta say, High Noon.