Asa Riton: a female point of view in filmmaking

Recently signing to RSA, Asa Riton sparked her love of filmmaking whilst at Central Saint Martins. Currently splitting time between home and the office, Riton reflects on how she probably should have pursued filmmaking from the start. ‘That’s been my main interest from the very beginning,’ she divulges. Initially, however, she chose graphics and admits having ‘had this idea in my head that it was really hard to find work as a filmmaker’.

Unsurprisingly she chose to almost exclusively produce film works; her final major project 90 Days On a Catfish was ‘a sort of propaganda video against genetically modified food’. Other films, she jokes, would be really hilarious to watch back. She was ‘burning Barbie dolls in an oven and stuff like that’. Fondly Riton notes that Saint Martins allowed her to do whatever she pleased, which paid off when she finally followed her true calling and went to study film at the Danish Film School.

She has since established herself as one of Sweden’s brightest directorial stars, rising quickly to work across a variety of genres including commercials for Phillips, music videos for Scandi-pop royalty, and sticking true to her art school roots by working on slightly more obscure projects for the likes of The Knife and . Our conversation continues below…

“I WOULDN’T WANT TO CO-DIRECT IF YOU’D HAVE TO AWKWARDLY MEET HALFWAY AND ALWAYS COMPROMISE, AS YOU HAVE TO STAY TRUE TO THE FILM.”

Let’s talk a bit about your recent work. You talk a lot about merging art and filmmaking. You’ve worked with fine artists on projects like The Avant Garde Diaries, and you have collaborated with various different kinds of artists over the years. I wonder how important collaboration is in your directing process?

Right now I am writing a short film script with a really close friend of mine, who actually also went to Saint Martins; he’s an artist. The idea of having a collaboration between an artist and a director is great because an artist doesn’t necessarily have the same filmic thinking that a director has got. Also they aren’t thinking about the production process as much, or the cost of different things! So basically, their mind is totally free from the things you have to consider as a director. On the other hand, my strength as a director compared to an artist is to think much bigger, because I know what you can do with a film crew! Whereas artists are probably used to running a one-man show making video installations. So that combination makes it very interesting because you’re coming from two very different worlds and you merge them into something beautiful.

We’ve just started and obviously these processes take a lot of time. I’m in the middle of writing it right now so that’s what’s exciting. It’s great when it really works, but it needs to be the right person. For example, I wouldn’t want to co-direct if you’d have to awkwardly meet halfway and always compromise, as you have to stay true to the film. Ultimately when you’re directing no one really cares where you fucked up, they only focus on the final product, so if you have to add in an element of compromise through co-directing, it will harm the film in the end and you can only blame yourself.

“YOUNG FANS ACTUALLY PROJECT THEIR OWN DREAMS AND IDEAS ONTO THEIR FAVOURITE ARTIST.”

You’ve also collaborated with a lot with musicians, for example The Knife. They famously bring together their music with various elements of performance and challenge what the notion of what a gig, a band or a DJ, should be. How did that come about and what was that experience like for you?

We did that during the period when they really didn’t want to be in front of the camera. They still very much don’t want to be in the media today. Anyway, my proposal was centering on the idea that young fans actually project their own dreams and ideas onto their favourite artist; which becomes an even bigger canvas to project onto when you have artists who are as secretive as The Knife. They don’t have a face and you don’t know much about them. So basically what you end up with is a mixture of your own imagination and the physical experience of the band. The project was then to pick a few young fans; ask them to make questions for The Knife, which were bounced back by the band, meaning they were then faced with their own questions.

Meaning that they must explore their own reverse-projection, in a way?

Exactly. I think that the interesting part of that project was to produce a space in which so much electricity and tension is created. The moments that arose where the fan meets their favourite artist were very beautiful but also very sensitive because the participants are at an age where they are so open.

“IT’S NOT MAINLY ABOUT THE WORK OF THE DIRECTOR, OR THE LABEL, IT’S IMPORTANT TO STAY TRUE TO THE ARTIST. IT’S EASY TO GET IT MIXED UP.”

How was this project different to working with musicians who are much more mainstream and commercial? Can you have that same control as a director; do you work more with the artist or does the label have a lot to do with it too?

I’ve realized that a lot of the work I’ve done is harder to comprehend, or maybe it didn’t have a high production value or finish. For me, it’s always been more about the idea and exploring things through the work… So when I made the decision to get into the commercial world I already knew that I would be able to work with these huge crews and high production values. So I thought I would make a music video just to prove that.

I shot a video for the artist Ola — he’s a very commercial Swedish artist, so I chose a Director Of Photography who is super arty and we made a video researching an artistic side of a very mainstream artist. We had kind of a therapy session with the artist and we talked about his childhood; ending up crying, and started digging really deep about what we wanted to communicate. It doesn’t matter if he is super commercial; he is a guy with a story, with baggage. So I asked him if he wanted to play with all of those different characters that he’d positioned in throughout his career and he agreed! We came up with the concept together. It has a background. In a long answer to a short question that’s how I like to work. I like to work closely with people and stay as true as possible to the work of the artist! That’s important to remember: it’s not mainly about the work of the director, or the label, it’s important to stay true to the artist. It’s easy to get it mixed up.

Let’s touch upon your more formative years again, I know you’ve cited Matthew Barney and David Lynch as two directors that you’ve looked up to and have been inspired by. I am interested in how you speak about your lack of female role models and you often talk about your responsibility as a female director. What has your experience in the industry been so far, and how is it changing?

I have been thinking about it a lot. My main influences, especially throughout my education, have been almost exclusively male! Today it is much easier, in the last three years it’s changed a lot for example, but at that point I only had men to look up to. It left me kind of confused and I couldn’t get my head around how I could do what they were doing. It was just really hard and things got mixed up, until I started to find female role models like Miranda July, Sophia Coppola, or Yoko Ono, that it became easier for me. I related to how they told their stories from a female point of view.

When working with Phillips on the Mando Diao film for example, I said, come on, there’s only going to be guys in this video, male protagonist, with his male friends ending with some pretty girls in the kitchen! As a female director, I feel like sometimes you have to be a little bit responsible! I suggested we swap the last artist, who was supposed to be a man as well, for a female artist who’d pick up the protagonist in a car and drive off.

Since I began to look for female role models I’ve felt like it has become easier for me to find my own language. For this reason, I want to talk about it to inspire others to do the same. For example, I like to have students from art schools to do work placements with me, especially younger women, because I didn’t have that opportunity and I want to give them that. I think all I can do now is to support young girls to pursue their dreams, in any kind of way!

It is reminding me a lot about all of the comments surrounding Cannes this year; the role of women in film is at the forefront of discussions in contemporary film.

It’s true that something big is happening! Dazed Digital is making a big move to support female directors, as well as the newly established Glass Lion in Cannes that recognises work that implicitly or explicitly addresses issues of gender inequality or prejudice, through the conscious representation of gender in advertising.

Also, I don’t know if you’ve heard about this ‘one in three’ initiative? The Swedish Film & TV Producers organisation KOMM have decided on a recommendation that at least one in three who are pitching for commercials should be a woman. It’s obviously just a guideline but it’s gained a lot of attention in the press.

“THE LENGTH OF A FILM ISN’T THE IMPORTANT PART, IT IS WHAT YOU WANT TO EXPRESS.”

You’ve said that feature film has never really been on your radar as something you’d be interested in doing. In light of some of your recent work is this something you’d reconsider?

The reason that I’ve never wanted to make feature films is because I haven’t seen any kind of feature film that I want to make! Of course I’ve seen a lot of great movies but they aren’t really my thing… On the other hand, a long time ago I watched the Cremaster cycle by Matthew Barney, which showed me that there is another kind of film you can make, it doesn’t need dialogue. I feel that the length of a film isn’t the important part, it is what you want to express. And that kind of movies might make me reconsider making features one day.

When you work as a director you need to know where the film is going from the very beginning — the exact length and format. You have a producer who knows exactly which festivals the film should be shown at, for example. It really is all about the plan. As you know, if you work in the art world, then of course you have a different process and system to follow with all of the gallerists and the museums. I guess I am a person who has a foot in both worlds. The ultimate film for me would be something that can be screened in a cinema and also shown in a gallery. That would be the ultimate product. We just need more art films. I’m going to Cannes in a few weeks so I’m going to start brainwashing people.

Let’s start a campaign! Pitch a tent and I’ll come and join you.

Exactly.

Words: Daniel Challis