One of the rising stars of the UK independent film scene is Ayvianna Snow, who appeared in two movies at this year’s Pigeon Shrine FrightFest, gritty, hard-hitting revenge thriller Derelict and vampire romp Bogieville. Fans will also know Ayvianna from such films as Video Shop Tales of Terror and How to Kill Monsters. We spoke with the busy actor to find out more about the films and her role in the actor’s union, Equity…
STARBURST: Could you tell us a little bit about the two films you’re in at this year’s Pigeon Shrine FrightFest?
Ayvianna Snow: First up is Derelict. Jonathan Zaurin is a very special filmmaker; it’s a sensitive, emotionally intelligent film. Jonathan has a real he has an artistry with the camera, which you’ll see. He’s got that ability to paint with light. It’s about, without being melodramatic. It’s about broken people and broken lives. In a nutshell, the plot is that a girl goes after the man who killed her father, but it’s got so much more death than that. In the wrong hands, when there’s a redemption moment at the end, it could be very corny and cheesy, but it’s treated with great respect. He’s a great filmmaker, and I mean that sincerely. With the right budget, he could make the next Shawshank Redemption. I’m very proud and lucky to have been involved with it. After that, there’s Bogieville, which is a very vastly different, tonally different, in that it’s vampires and set in the American South. I spent some time perfecting my Georgia accent!
You can’t get any more different than Derelict!
It’s a bit rawer, a romp, and fun. Director Sean Cronin is great. He’s doing great work in British independent cinema. This is a departure for him. The last two films he made were both about working-class Northern communities, whereas these are American vampires. It’s a new direction, but I’m up for it. It was a very physical role for me, so it was outside my comfort zone because I’m not the most physical actor! I was useless at stage combat. I can’t dance, and I had to do quite a lot of stuff. I had to jump off a platform and land on Sean’s back, and then he spun me around in circles, and I was holding on for dear life! Some actors take to that quite well, and I don’t really, so most of the time, I was just trying not to break a bone because I know what I’m like! I had Sclera contact lenses, which are bigger than normal lenses and probably cover the entirety of the eyeballs. Before I was on set, this poor woman had to roll them up under my eyelid while I was prone on a sofa! There was a lot of heavy prosthetic makeup, so it was a different experience. They’re both really good filmmakers making really good stuff.
Did you film that in the States?
I wish! We made it in Surrey in a barn, which was done up to look like the States. It’s mostly set in a trailer park, barn, and farmyard. A barn looks like a barn no matter where you are. It was filmed on Sean’s property, actually. He lives on a big farm in Surrey, so I was literally in Sean’s living room, having things stuck in my eyeballs, and then wandering out to his farm. That’s low-budget filmmaking, and you must make it work!
This isn’t your first time at FrightFest. What does the festival mean to you?
I’m really grateful that FrightFest keeps welcoming me back. It’s important. It provides a platform for low-budget, independent filmmakers. This year, it’s at the same cinema where Beyoncé had the premiere of her film a few months ago. I know because I was here that night. I was doing something else, walking through Leicester Square, and I happened to catch it. I was here when Taylor Swift arrived. And, amazingly, we’re in the same venue that those global, international stars use, and it gives us that opportunity to have our film on the same screen. It exists to give ordinary filmmakers a chance. They’re very warm. Everyone’s always very nice to me. It’s very welcoming.
You work a lot with Equity, the actor’s union. Can you explain a bit about what you do with them?
Yes! I’m the chair of London North. So I’m in charge of everyone living in London above the Thames, which is about 6000 members, a lot of people. The UK government’s expenditure on the arts is 0.4% with our previous government. The average European country spends 1%, so we don’t even spend half of what the average European country spends. In fact, the rare statistic that the entire UK government expenditure on the arts is less than that of the city of Berlin put that into perspective. At Equity, we try to campaign, lobby the government, and show them the value of what we do, the value of actors, artists, filmmakers, writers, and directors, culturally, artistically, and financially. If you want to talk about money, we earn a lot of money for the country. Think of the money we bring; people come to London to watch the shows. Then that increases tourism, hotels, restaurants, and taxis; it’s all good for the country. We’re hoping to convince the new government to invest a bit more in us. We also look after workplace conditions and the like. For instance, if you put your film on Amazon, the filmmaker receives one penny per stream our even if you’ve spent £10 to buy a film, only two pence is going into the pocket of the person who made it and the rest is going to Amazon and its subsidiaries, and that needs to change. There are so many things like that at the moment, Equity is negotiating with PACT [Producers Alliance for Television and Cinema]. It’s our version of what SAG [Screen Actors Guild] was doing last year – to try to sort out proper residuals from these streaming companies. Every time there’s a move to a new medium, they conveniently forget to put in the legislation that would allow people that make money. The first SAG strike was in 1960, and it was because they had moved from films being screened exclusively in cinemas into TV and home movie screenings, and there was no clause in the contracts that people should get paid when they’re shown on TV. We’re seeing the same thing again. The models have changed, and films are moving to be screened on online streaming services. We must get the legislation to keep up with what’s happening. The union does a lot of work, and we’re very busy.
Fingers crossed that they listen!
I don’t doubt that we’ll succeed. I knew that SAG would succeed and we will win too. I’m hoping that the screening of Derelict opens doors for us and takes the film to a new, wider audience. And a platform for Jonathan, and maybe, we can have more resources and a bigger budget for the next one, which he so deserves. And that’s what this thing’s about, really. It’s for the younger filmmakers to open a door. You know, as much as it’s lovely to dress up, I’m not so stupid as to think that that’s the point of the event. The point is to bring the art to the audience, get filmmakers together as well, and create that community.
That’s always a big part of FrightFest…
Jonathan, more or less, singlehandedly, made Derelict. He shot it himself. He edited himself. He didn’t do a score, but he did a lot about himself, and then, he’s sitting alone in a room a lot of the time. It’s good to build a community. We’re trying to create a film and TV network, an informal network at Equity. We have to be able to swap stories and share resources. So if something goes wrong on set in Wales, you might feel very isolated in the middle of nowhere. So you can go on your phone on a WhatsApp group and say, “This is happening”, and will realise that they’re not alone.
Derelict and Bogieville screened at Pigeon Shrine FrightFest. You can follow Ayvianna on Instagram.
