Miss Flicks

Laura Carreira discusses her feature directorial debut On Falling

After watching her remarkable feature debut On Falling, I had the pleasure of chatting with writer-director Laura Carreira all about the project on Zoom.

Her drama tells the story of Portuguese immigrant Aurora (Joana Santos), who works as a picker at a vast fulfillment centre in Scotland. Trapped in a cycle of menial labour that constrains and defines her, Aurora battles loneliness and loss of identity and yearns for meaningful connections. It’s a sad, realistic and relatable film that has earned Carreira awards at the London and San Sebastian film festivals.

As a Portuguese woman now living in Scotland, I was keen to find out if Aurora’s journey mirrored Carreira’s in any way. I also learned more about casting Santos, the 25-day shoot and that warehouse setting. Enjoy!

How did you find Joana Santos and how did you know she was your lead?

We saw something like 600 tapes in Portugal to find Joana. We looked for professional actresses, but we also opened it up to the public for anyone that wanted to send in submissions. It was a lot of hard work, but Joana very quickly stood out from the first self-tape she sent. I could feel that she had this kind of way of portraying the character that was very quiet, but you could see that a lot of what’s happening in her face. I felt like a first-time filmmaker, I needed an actress like that, you know, to make me work less.

With the warehouse, was that a working warehouse or was that a set?

A combination. So it’s actually not one single place; it’s a combination of about five different locations. The production designer managed to make (that) coherent. It’s a collage of different places, but hopefully, you don’t notice that. And we also used set extensions, so VFX, to expand some of the scale because it was hard for us to find the scale that we were looking for.

Did you have to do your own homework to figure out how these distribution centres worked?

The majority of writing was research really. I did a tour actually of a really large distribution centre, but I also visited different places, researched a lot online and then spoke with a lot of pickers. They influenced a lot of the script, sometimes even the practical sides like what the spaces looked like, how they were organised. Sometimes, I would also get help to figure out how that happens.

Was Aurora ever given a different job or was she always a picker?

She was always a picker. The story actually began from me discovering this job and what it entails and from then on, the world was kind of built from that job.

From that nugget of an idea, how long did it take for you to get into production?

I think probably about three years maybe, from the very beginning. I wrote a first draft by myself, like (I had) no producers, just went ahead and started writing it and started gathering support once I had that first draft. So yeah, about three years. Obviously, you know, just pre-production takes almost like a year from the moment that you realise you have the money to make the film to filming – that was at least 10 months.

Like Aurora, you’re a Portuguese person living in Scotland. Were any parts of the film autobiographical or at least inspired by your personal experience?

Yeah, for sure. When I started researching, I realised how many pickers are migrant workers, and so it made me obviously think back to those first years living in Scotland. I felt like there was a lot from those years that I could bring to this film. And obviously, it was the first time when I started working, so a lot of ideas on that and my own obsession with work and the idea of how much we work started there. But then also, you know, down to like the flat. The flatshare was a space that was so familiar to me. I knew I wanted it to be beige. Some of the flats were gorgeous but they were like so chopped (up) by landlords that are really uninspired and put in the crappiest furniture you can find. I was familiar with these spaces, so that was part of the inspiration. And then also like a colleague I used to work with, for example, used to always say that she’d love to work in an office one day so that was a line that stayed with me and I brought it into the film.

When you look back at the finished film, what is the scene you’re most proud of?

I really like the ending. I don’t know if it’s because of the song or if it’s because it’s happening at the end of the film, but I just feel really proud of what we achieved, I guess, as a team. I think that ending to me almost is not just a reflection of what are my hopes for the future but also, I don’t know, a reminder that this film was also part play and engaging in a way that felt collective.

*SPOILER QUESTION* Did you ever shoot any alternative endings or was it always going to end there?

It was always going to end like that, though we had more of Aurora, like seeing her going back to work. We ended up not using that shot, we ended up letting her (stay) in the moment of play, even though we can see that her expression is changing. I think in the script, a manager would come back and say the system is back up, you know, everyone return (to work). I felt almost like I didn’t want that to happen, so we cut it.

Since the Toronto premiere, you’ve won Best Director at San Sebastian and the Sutherland Award in London. Have you been able to process the success of the film in the last few months? What have the last few months looked like for you?

I’m basically trying to write my next films while I’m promoting this. That’s what’s next. I’m looking forward to it. When we were talking about how long this film took, I was writing by myself for years and years, and then it’s quite a contrast to all of a sudden be surrounded by people all the time. So I’m looking forward to continue making the next films and try to hold on to the film industry (laughs).

Have you been able to sit back and appreciate the positive reviews of your film?

I mean because I’ve been travelling with the film so much, it is very regular. I’m doing Q&As at the end of the films in different countries, so it’s been very rewarding to hear people’s thoughts on the film and also kind of depressing to see how universal the issue is. But it’s been really really positive to hear people talking about it and how they’re relating to it, so I feel like that’s the biggest reward really.

This interview has been edited for clarity and length

On Falling is in UK and Irish cinemas from Friday 7th March. Read my review here.