Caroline

Director's Statement

Caroline started when I was unpredictably put in the care of my older half sister. I was 9 and she was 26. Unbeknownst to us this would change the trajectory of our relationship forever. Marking the start of the long and strenuous decline of our sisterhood and her uphill battle tackling motherhood in an unconventional family dynamic. Growing up, my sister and I both felt this craving, a desperate need to fulfil this idyllic mother daughter dynamic, abandoning the mould of sisters that held us so tightly together, a word that soon felt so foreign to relate too. How else was she supposed to explain to a child that their parents are no longer here, that the feeling they share is grief and that the role she has stepped into is now so preternatural? In the eyes of the public we weren’t two sisters, we were a young mother and her mixed child without a present father figure, so we reluctantly took that shape, that uncomfortable mould. These impactful anecdotes formed a lot of the inspiration around Caroline when I was in my first rounds of script ideation. Aiming to find a story that not only rang true to my upbringing but would resonate with a lot of other women in similar situations. I believe Caroline sheds authentic light on a dynamic that has not been highlighted enough in films and narratives, even today. When it came to directing the film, I drew on the teachings of Judith Weston; she stresses that the more personally and intimately you know your story, your message and the intimate relationships you share with your cast, the truer the film and performance. In leading this production creatively, I drew from a mixture of articles, academic resources, in addition to the personal experiences of myself and the cast to build the world of Caroline. Employing these collective experiences to shape the feeling of Roma and Darcie’s dynamic, and bringing to life these complex women, proved to be an emotionally driven experience. Although Caroline is not a direct representation of the trials and tribulations surrounding the death of my sisterhood between my sister and I. It is a story from a bittersweet perspective that I desperately needed to see depicted on screen when I was a little girl. To know that our relationship wasn’t as alienated or scarily different from this idea of normal, but was instead an extension of what it meant to be a sister to each other. Knowing that we were never alone in this endeavour, but that there are many other women grappling with the same need. For Roma and Darcie their relationship may never hold the conventional mould of sisterhood, but instead they formed a unique shape of their own. Caroline will always be a fictional story. However, Roma and Darcie, their relationship and what they experienced together in the world of Caroline is nothing short of real.