Experiencing Interruptions?

Where Colours Come From

Forced to spend the summer together in the French countryside, teens Mia and Heloïse navigate their mutual resentment, slowly discovering they have more in common than just their parents' deteriorating marriages.

  • Emma Schilders
    Director
  • Emma Schilders
    Writer
  • Annick Paternoster
    Producer
  • Tommaso Pazzi
    Producer
  • Anna Arthur
    Key Cast
    "Mia"
  • Pauline Vovelle
    Key Cast
    "Heloïse"
  • Project Type:
    Short, Student
  • Genres:
    Romance, Drama
  • Runtime:
    19 minutes 50 seconds
  • Production Budget:
    15,000 GBP
  • Country of Origin:
    United Kingdom
  • Country of Filming:
    France
  • Language:
    English, French
  • Shooting Format:
    RED
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    Yes - London Film School
Director Biography - Emma Schilders

Emma Angeline Schilders (born April 7, 1998) is a London-based Belgian filmmaker and YouTuber. At age fourteen she started a YouTube channel, then called Sarcastic Fish, where she creates videos on cinema, literature and lifestyle content. After completing a BA in Comparative Literature from King’s College London, Emma pursued a MA in Filmmaking at London Film School, where she wrote and directed three short films.

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Director Statement

Setting a sapphic coming-of-age story set over a Provençal summer felt like a given for me. As a teenager trying to understand their sexuality, much of the media I consumed centred on the violence and trauma of the queer experience. While a critical part of LGBTQ+ history, it also felt suffocating, that suffering was what I could expect from being myself.
For this film I wanted to see the world more gentle, beautiful and even forgiving. Call it aspirational or fantasy–for I am sure it is both–I wanted a story where the conflict and drama did not revolve around the perils of sexuality.
It was necessary to explore the film’s central WLW relationship through femininity and the female gaze, looking at different sides of intimacy. Historically in cinema (and particularly pornography) lesbianism has been heavily fetishised for male consumption. Secluded in away from prying eyes the teens of this story, Mia and Heloïse, are able to figure out their feelings away from prying eyes. There are no men in this film: there is literally no male point of view.
Where Colours Come From is at heart about discovering you have a home on the queer spectrum and the hope for a new generation of LGBTQ+ people who can be a little braver, a little stronger, and a lot more loved.