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British writer and director Martha Fiennes is set to release her new film, Chromophobia, this December. A modern, disparate drama, and a far cry from her 19th century Russian epic Onegin (1999), it closed 2005 Cannes Film Festival, and stars Kristin Scott-Thomas, Penelope Cruz, Damian Lewis and Rhys Ifans. She is also currently on the judging panel for Filmaka.com's 'I Love London' competition, which supports and helps develop the careers of emerging Filmmakers. 

Dazed Digital: Paul Greengrass recently spoke out at The Bourne Identity screening, saying that emerging Directors are not supported in the way he was when he started out, that they aren't allowed to make mistakes. What do you think?
Martha Fiennes: It's great Paul Greengrass raised this issue. As anyone who does anything creative will know, there's something called 'The Process', where a huge amount of what you're trying to achieve creatively actually happens. The script is not the film, it's the vital start of a creative process.
It is said that on American Beauty, Sam Mendes went to the Producers after three days of shooting, to say that he hated everything he'd shot and that he wanted to start again. Apparently, they so trusted this young, talented Director that they agreed. The rest of course, is history.

DD: How does British film compare to America?
MF: There seems to be a greater range coming out of America because there's less inhibition. It's extremely difficult to raise money to make a film, it's a lot about commercial potential. There's a lot of fear and anxiety, and in the UK there seems to be a tendency to say, "No, it probably won't work, it's not going to fly" before anyone says, "That's really exciting and different." It's much safer for people to say no, certainly to anything outside the box, because it lowers risk. I had an agent who once said that we live in a "culture of no" and you're always working against that.
I read a film review the other day which said something along the lines of 'This is a simply marvellous, 'must see' film. It's beautifully drawn and wonderfully acted and as a result it probably won't be on the big screen for long and you therefore won't be able to see it.' The critic's point, I guess, was that it probably won't have the vital ingredient of enough appeal to compete in cinemas doing daily big business with mass appeal movies - pretty depressing when you think that we live in a sophisticated culture where we believe we have extreme artistic diversity but you can't get a beautifully made movie seen.

DD: You're currently involved with a competition to support emerging talent?
MF: I am on a jury, alongside Producer David Barron and Director Gary Love, for a film competition site called Filmaka. The theme is 'I Love London'. I often talk about the passion needed to be a filmmaker and you really do need passion. But Filmaka is all about empowering filmmakers to work to a deadline and to get out there and make films. I think it's a very important tool for young directors to experiment and be creative.

DD: So what's happening next for you?
MF: I'm casting a thriller called Blown with Thandie Newton attached. Another project is about the life of super sexy spy Mata Hari, which I'm developing a musical slant for. But it's all about process and fate, and I try to remain open to all kinds of possibilities.

Martha Fiennes' film Chromophobia is released by Momentum in December. She is on the jury for Filmaka's I Love London film competition with LoveFilm. www.filmaka.com/lovefilm