Red Lipstick, Blue Lips

The story about a young man with a deviant sexual nature he can’t express in his normal everyday. A cross dresser with a need for erotic asphyxiation. When writing the film I did not know the personal aspect of the story. Initially, I thought myself detached from story – but it became apparent that the film was not about sexual deviation, but about shame, something most people are familiar with. I know that the story of the film has a political aspect. The very core of the narrative uses the motives of a marginalized group in society. When writing the film I used this motive as a way of accessing something broader; something that is inherent to everyone. I tried not to judge, not to rely on pathos and be respectful towards the issues the story revolves around.

Already when writing the film, every scene was meant as a picture – every idea meant as a style of shooting. Being a young director means an adolescent and idealistic perspective of the cinematic language. I considered the film an experiment of my own language of image. I wanted to test out the confines of stylized reality. The narrative was influenced by this want of experimentation. The story, instead of being a fixed movement from A to B, is a collection of descriptive sentences, or images, which becomes story in their totality. In order to film the script in the way it was written, the production had to be free. We used natural and practical lighting, so the camera could move impulsively. The handheld camera was essential to the form of the film. It became the access to a form of ‘reality’. The stylized became the way we worked with color in accordance to the thematic. Together with the lead actor we analyzed the characters motivation and conflict; a dissonance between inner and outer worlds.

In the creation of the film everything was prepared with a sense of reflection – yet the outcome become something new. You set out to do one thing and end up doing another. Ultimately, experimentation sets you free but it also forces you to make tough decisions.
‘Red Lipstick, Blue Lips’ was a meant as an experiment. A test of style and my own cinematic language. It ended up being a way of processing something personal through the medium of film.