Agnieszka Wojtowicz-Vosloohas made the leap from student film to full-length features. Wojtowicz-Vosloo moved from her home in Poland to New York City to attend New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. After writing and directing her short film, Pâté, Wojtowicz-Vosloo wrote her psychological thriller, After.Life, which will be released in Chicago on April 9 of this year. The film stars actors such as Liam Neeson, Christina Ricci and Justin Long. After a terrible car accident, Anna (Christina Ricci) wakes up to find funeral director, Eliot Deacon (Liam Neeson), preparing her body for burial. Although she still feels alive, Deacon assures her she is in transition to the afterlife. Excerpts:
The Daily: How did you participate in film at NYU?
Wojtowicz-Vosloo: I only did one student film, Pâté. … Every filmmaker’s dream is to be at Sundance Film Festival, so I applied. I heard from Sundance that they loved the movie and that they wanted to invite it to be premiered.
The Daily: What challenges did you have while making your film at NYU?
Wojtowicz-Vosloo: My short film was really ambitious. Many students take a shortcut. When you don’t have money, it’s hard to put a production together that looks good, that feels like it has more money than you actually have in your pocket. … The biggest challenge for me was (having) very little means trying to create a film that looks as if it had a huge budget.
The Daily: How did you become interested in filmmaking?
Wojtowicz-Vosloo: Since I was a child I always knew I would do something in art. I loved so many things about art. Film for me was the best and most natural choice because it really combines all art forms. … I love American cinema, but I also have European sensibilities. I want to combine both. I want to make entertaining commercial movies that are also thought provoking.
The Daily: How long has After.Life been in the works?
Wojtowicz-Vosloo: I started writing After.Life in 2005, worked a couple of years on the script, and the production happened in 2008. … (In) 2009 we were in post-production editing, sound, music, visual effects, (and) the film was invited to premiere at the AFI Film Festival.
The Daily: What is the inspiration of your feature film?
Wojtowicz-Vosloo: I’ve always had this strange fascination with death since I was a child, but it’s not a morbid fascination. I’ve always wondered what happens after we die, and that’s what the movie’s about. Is there afterlife? Is there some sort of transitional period? These are the questions that I’m exploring in the film.
The Daily: What were some of the biggest differences between making your short film as a student and your feature?
Wojtowicz-Vosloo: When you make a short film, you are your own boss; you make it for yourself; you make all the decisions. When you’re making a feature, first of all there’s big money involved, and obviously the stakes are much higher because you have to answer to the producer and the production company. … This is my first feature movie so it’s nerve-wracking. But at the same time, you got to believe in your story and what you’re doing.
The Daily: How did you transform your screenplay from words to the film?
Wojtowicz-Vosloo: I’m very visual so my first step was to put together this huge visual design book. It was basically 400 pages. I collected pictures, photographs that I took, drawings and various things to show the crew and the actors the mood and the atmosphere that I wanted to create. This (film) is a psychological thriller so I was really after the sense of dread and unease.
The Daily: Did you have certain actors in mind when you were casting the roles?
Wojtowicz-Vosloo: Yes. They (Neeson, Ricci and Long) were my first choices. … I was very patient, and I believed that if they read the script they would respond.
The Daily: Did you ever feel overwhelmed with pressure?
Wojtowicz-Vosloo: I love it. You’re going on adrenaline. … Directing is both physically and mentally taxing. … It’s a lot to do in a very short time so you have to be focused. It’s very intense.
The Daily: What advice would you give to college students pursuing careers in film?
Wojtowicz-Vosloo: It takes years of hard work to get to where you need to be. … Filmmaking is art, but it’s also business. I think it’s a good dynamic between art and commerce and how to strike that balance. It is about collaboration, but at the same time it’s about sticking to your vision.[email protected]
