Interview with the Director - Elham Ehsas

Tell us about yourself and your background in film making

I am an actor who started making films in order to tell more nuanced stories about the eastern world that isn't limited to just the stereotypical narratives we see in western cinema.

How did Yellow first come together as a project?

I had always been fascinated by the chadaris and when the Taliban passed the recent decree that the film is based on, it made me realise that thousands of modern women would have to go and buy a chadari for the first time and that was the inception of the film and the idea behind it.

The framing of the film is fantastic, with the chadari remaining a constant presence. Tell us more about how you achieved this almost foreboding presence.

Working with my DOP Yiannis Manolopoulos, we decided that the chadaris would be a character in their own right and having them looming over our two main characters was a choice I knew would serve the film and the picture.

You also star in the film. How do you strike the balance between being a performer and director? Is it hard to be objective?

I think film is all encompassing and I want to drown myself into every facet and am very lucky to be afforded an opportunity to play a character within my own film. It's a delicate balance but if I feel I am wrong for the role, the film will always come first. In this case, I resonated with this story and being an Afghan myself - I felt compelled to star in the piece myself too.

I read in an interview that you didn't want the film "to read like a textbook" in terms of messaging and documenting real life events. Were there choices you made specifically to avoid this?

I feel that when making a film about such a huge theme like women's rights in Afghanistan - the worst thing you can do is make the film about that. Instead, I wanted to approach it from a a different angle where it's just a slice of life being shown on screen but there is an underlying pulse beneath the film which screams out the theme of being a woman in Afghanistan - the only country in the world that bans women from schools and universities.

What projects are coming up next for you?

I am currently in post for my next short film There Will Come Soft Rains which is about a daughter who is so haunted by rising sea levels that she decides to dig up her father's grave to move him to higher ground.

Any message for our Melbourne fans?

I spent the better part of a year in Melbourne in 2021 and it is a city very close to my heart. I am very excited to share our little film with cinema lovers in a city where I've made a lot of memories. Hope you guys enjoy Yellow!