Alice And Emily Stein

0:13So hi we are Alison Emily and we are sisters and we also make films together. And this is us hanging out on a holiday circa late 80s looking pretty doe I'm a filmmaker but I used to work in advertising and art direction.

0:31But I recently made the transition into film and documentary most recently I was commissioned by advice to make this film about the teenage gypsy bride markets in Bulgaria a very controversial tradition that takes faith every spring in Central Bulgaria where young virgins are paraded in front of theatres to bid on them I'm also currently working on a documentary feature called welcome home it is a film that follows the group of homeless teens on their quest to find home and acceptance at the hidden rainbow gatherings in America which if you haven't heard of we should check them out they're incredible the film is shot through the eyes of the self-proclaimed thirty kids as they track to the gatherings you see us.

1:19Actually the family and I am Emily and I'm a photographer with blink art and my backgrounds in photography and Street casting and everything pretty much that I shoot I find the people on the street and I always think it's pretty amazing because you just basically me all these people on the street and they have great stories and then by having a camera somehow they let you into their lives and you get into their homes and into their world and you get to know them. And it's just the most amazing experience and so with my wife I tried to think of my work as like a celebration of the people that I photograph or the things I photograph and I try and put like a lot of color and energy and playfulness into everything that I do and I put quite a lot of slides in there I mean people happily looking through them because I don't have my potato rassa and then we get to my plug which which came out the end of last summer which was by hops and mini press and it's called bubblegum and it's a series of portraits of kids and teenagers across the world attempting to blow bubbles with bubblegum and on beaches and so yeah.

2:37So we've been working together on a film project for a couple of years.

2:44Now the first thing that we shot together was actually an extension of Emily's bubble gum series which we shot one afternoon a holiday together.

2:52And it made us really realize how much we loved working together and that is something we just basically want the need to keep doing yeah. So and we are here to talk specifically about a film a small film that we made recently called hello and Nora which is about a mazing 73 year old and lady and this was her like parcel shoot guide to growing old gracefully so we are going to this was released on a nowness and just after Valentine's Day and we're just going to show you in case you haven't seen which you probably haven't my name is Nora I am a retired architect life has not been easy but I decided to be at peace with my inner child and you suddenly growing number of women suffer loss of confidence identity and self-worth once retired I decided never to give up to stay resilient witty charming deceptive I do my best to keep fit and healthy whatever discomfort it may cause and ladies do not panic beauty is not synonymous with youth and us can express yourself do care about your exterior and health this it is the reflection of your inner self ♪

4:41and do not be afraid to be different have mirrors everywhere take selfie don't ever give up ♪

5:04thank you. And so that's the amazing Nora and so the projects developed from a photo series that I shot last year of Nora and she was dealing with her own perception of aged beauty in existence unwilling to become invisible as society suggests she should I met Nora on like a street by my house I was just walking down the road you know it's all gray and boring and then there's Nora I was like holy she's amazing and then.

5:31I started chatting her and she was like you know she was just like fabulous.

5:36And I was talking to her about you know doing just kind of getting so her and maybe taking photographs of her and at the time she was kind of telling me about how she you know she had really hard she had pretty hard life and but actually what seemed to be the hardest was kind of getting older and feeling like she didn't necessarily have her role in society anymore although she kind of she didn't really feel like she had a place and that as she got older she became more and more invisible and so I wanted to explore this in a series and I started photographing her and as I was photographing her and getting to know her and she kind of seemed to become more and more alive and she she loves the process of being seen again I think was while she was being photographed so yeah. So it kind of started like that we knew that Nora would translate really well into film.

6:30And then we wanted to make a piece that was like an ode to Nora and her world and also a celebration of old age and the society obsessed with youth and as Nora put that Jewish skin it all started with Nora writing her own voice over which we then structured to film around and she actually plays a huge part in the whole filmmaking process she even made her own backdrop in her garage which is where she revealed her negligee so that was all built by her amazing she's also very particular when it comes and her storyboarding ideas and she wanted to make sure that the film that we made was totally true to her an authentic so it was really important for us to respect Norah's input and to make a film that she was happy with and that was was yes true to her it was basically work like working for like the most difficult client because she's incredible but she basically she you know she wanted this.

7:29This is her so you know it's not like she's being someone else's her being her so she really you know she wanted it to be who she was and that was what we wanted to punch on the words did get penetration.

7:40And so we collaborated with an amazing stylist for Jeanine even and she worked really hard with Norah's to put a wardrobe together with her which incorporated some of Nora's things. And some things that Nora felt were like an extension of her wardrobe to give the the to give more of a kind of dynamics for the different range of clothes that she wore throughout the film yeah the whole film was shot with like no budget basically so everything was kind of done all the clothes we've got those favors and everything was done with kind of just getting together what we could and shooting it we had and we had an amazing DOP which was great and slink my agent were brilliant that they set us up with a brilliant colorist and editor and sound person.

8:30So yeah.

8:34So when it came to the way that the film sort of looked and felt we work with our dop called Jack Reynolds who's amazing spending on what to hire him yeah yeah very good and gets on with everyone really well and does really really cheap rate if you don't have much question and here suggested that we revenues all speed planetary lenses which help to give it that like really dreamy 1970s feel that we felt highlighted the pastel hues of Nora's world when it came to choosing a track we had a very specific old series which is the which is our mind and if any of you remember in today's pretty old don't remember it Elizabeth Montgomery in so that was just a little taste Oh sister and remind you of it.

9:22But we really love the nostalgic playfulness of the track and we thought it reflected Nora's cheeky and magical character really well. So it was perfect for her. And so people asked how we get on working assistants because obviously when you're working with let your family you're not necessarily as polite as you would be with other people and and and yeah.

9:44So we basically we have both have a really similar aesthetic and things that we love and you know the kind of stories and the characters that we're really inspired by a very similar but when we're working together on projects practically when it comes down to shooting we tend to take on quite different roles so that we both kind of get on with our thing. And it doesn't end up with us like puzzling about something yeah Oasis's so on this because obviously I use Norah pretty well I I worked with her directing her in her in being herself whilst we were filming because what Norah tended to do was you know she was like well this invention here.

10:25I am she wasn't really big nor any more she was being like this kind of crazy like hyper kind of Nora who would like just like ultra passing and we were like whoa no we just want you to just be Nora and so we had to really really work with her to just get her to just be herself which is what's so amazing and she didn't need anything else but she's another she is and then. And so yeah.

10:46So basically I kind of con trait on that side of it whereas Alice worked with Jack really carefully arts directing everything when it came down to the film yeah after working with Laura she said she loves being in the cameras in front of the camera so much that she was keen to do more modeling so we set her out with grey model agency who have now taken her on as one of their models so she is destined on to bigger and better things so watch this big yeah thank you very much for having us thank you [Applause]