Director Katrina Saville and Producer Gurjeet Kaur Bassi
We had the pleasure to interview Director Katrina Saville and Producer Gurjeet Kaur Bassi about their powerful film that is based on a true story I Beat Up My Rapist. Check out the interview below.
Hi, Katrina and Gurjeet! Thank you for granting the interview. Congrats on your new short film I Beat Up My Rapist. The short is based on a true story of a young woman who decided to beat up her friend, once she came to terms with the fact that he raped her, after a night out of partying. Powerful! Why did you choose to tell this story?
Katrina: I read the memoir essay online that the film is adapted from when it went viral three years ago. The writing was so vivid and compelling, I immediately began imaging it on the screen. It’s almost like I could see certain scenes pop off the page right away.
Gurjeet: We started working on this in 2016, a few months after the Brock Turner case (a criminal case filed in a Californian Superior Court which convicted Brock Turner of three counts of felony sexual assault) was all over the news. We followed that case closely because we knew how hard it was/is for our culture to accept that a good person/student/son/friend/guy/swimmer was capable of rape. I Beat Up My Rapist was exactly this as well.
Katrina: More so, I wanted to tell this story because I appreciated the alternative ending it had. I liked that Leif decided to seek justice, in her own way. I wanted to show that.
In your opinion, what sets your short apart from others with similar themes?
Gurjeet: I think that although it’s a “rape” story, the film follows the main character through the aftermath of it all, as she decides to seek justice in her own way.
Katrina: Yes, and the fact that it’s a good friend of hers who assaulted her. There’s a sad, nostalgic tone to the short film, because not only is she trying to cope with having been sexually assaulted, she’s also mourning the death of a friendship.
The script is based on personal experience. Do you hope it raises awareness on the topic of consent?
Yes, of course, anything that’s out there that brings to light the nuance of specific situations surrounding consent is important.
Was it a challenge to produce and direct the short? If yes, how so?
Gurjeet: Every film is a challenge to produce and direct! Each project comes with its own set of inevitable obstacles that are both production related and/or story related. For instance, we had a party scene written in the script and finally came to terms that we couldn’t shoot it traditionally, so a few weekends before our official shoot, we got our actors (some of whom hadn’t met one another at this point) to come out to my cousin’s birthday bash and party-drunk-act in front of people they had never met while I shot it all on my iPhone. It was a super bizarre evening, and in retrospect, kind of amazing.
Katrina: And as far as the rest of the shoot went, off the bat we knew we had to approach this script carefully and with sensitivity. There were lots of meetings and conversations with our actors and our crew to make sure everyone felt safe and comfortable.
How has the production exceeded your expectations?
Katrina: It’s a miracle that short films get made period. It’s really hard and takes an exceptional amount of determination and passion to practice your craft as an independent filmmaker. As a painter or musician or photographer, you can pick up your brush, guitar, or camera and work on your craft readily and consistently. But as a filmmaker (even if you’re shooting with no budget on your iPhone) you’ve still gotta write a script, rally a crew and actors (hoping miraculously the people you want to work with are available on the same days), plan plan plan and plan, so that when you’re ready to shoot and shit falls apart (cause it always does) you learn to plan on the fly and trust in the process and your team and then get through post-production — the point is: It’s not easy. It’s really hard to film a story. It takes a lot of courage and energy. From everyone. Creatively and otherwise. And you only get a few (sometimes years apart) chances to exert that courage and energy. So – we exceeded our expectations simply by finishing it.
Tell us about what a typical day on the set was like.
Gurjeet: For film shoots, there really is no day that’s same. On I Beat Up My Rapist we usually began our days Katrina blocking a scene with the actors and then hoping we get off on the right foot, and then I wait for the inevitable production issues that will arise (both good news and bad!) and then figure out how to handle the situation best. I remember while shooting this short that our stunt bat didn’t match the prop bat we used earlier in the film, so we needed to improvise! We had to find a sander and then our wonderful Production Designer Christine spent over two hours sanding down the prop bat and staining it. Again, no typical day.
What is going to surprise people about the film?
Katrina: We didn’t use any blood for the scene where our main character goes to beat up her rapist. We made a creative choice and used an alternative substance. But you’ll have to watch it find out.
When looking back on the production, what resonated with you the most and why?
The camaraderie that the team behind the film formed during the project was very much felt. Everyone really came together to stand behind this film.
In your opinion, what scene in the film do you think will resonate the most with the audience?
There’s a scene where the main character asks her best friend to help her get a tampon out of her because it’s stuck so far up inside of her (because of the sexual assault) that she can’t get it out herself. It’s a really powerful scene because of its specificity. It’s our favorite scene too because it highlights the female bond in a very nuanced way.
What did you enjoy most about the production?
Do you have anything else you would like to share about the film?
This was a very creatively fulfilling episode for both of us. We’re super stoked to share it with whoever our audience may be.
Do you have anything else you would like to share about your careers?
We have another short film, UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN, funded through the Harold Greenberg’s Shorts-to-Features Program that will be hopefully hitting the festival circuit later in 2019. We also have a feature version of that short in development right now, and another feature in development called The Stillness of the In-Between Moments, that we’re planning on shooting in India in early 2020.
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