DIRECTOR'S STATEMENT

Sexuality and the erotic hold a unique place in human lives, and as such has always been an elusive and deep-rooted threat to any power, most iconically the church. But as formalized religion has lost its stronghold, our culture is still pushing to commercialize and trivialize what can - and must - hold sacred. 

Eroticism is the impossible trickster;  the very private that we also share with everyone - a daily reminder of something much bigger than ourselves at play in life. This is the core of Sister K; a chamber drama pressure cooker, where a complicated transgression is pegged against the oldest of institutions. A philosophical cage fight where the true nature of sexuality is literally put on trial. The script and cinematic execution has the film balancing between present day reality and the allegorical - a duality of form to embody the subject matter. 

The chamber drama setting was also a brilliant opportunity to develop a singular cinematic language. The confined space and lack of motion highlights each blocking and framing, every camera movement and edit-point -  making the craft of film deliberate as a series of artistic choices, not necessity. 

I trust that this Jungian celebration of sexuality shows Sister K as a modern Joan of Arc - a controversial heroine fighting for the one place Anton Chekov designated to all true tragedies: the bedroom. This is truly an independent film in a world of "studio independents” and light comedy posing as art because the budget is low. In contrast, Sister K is a war-cry to redeem what most of us don’t even know that we have lost, but so desperately need to take back.

Johan Liedgren, Pro Se.
www.liedgren.com