We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Ella Vance. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Ella below.

Ella, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

The Ever Hours is a short film I made in early 2022. In a dreamlike montage of tangible love, we follow three separate stories: Cleo and Noah, a mother and her young daughter, Elsie and Aaliyah, lovers, and Thomas and Kait, an elderly father and his daughter. We are touched by intimate moments of joy and peace in these love stories before transitioning to a lens of loss. The tone is not one of sadness but of hope as we transcend into an abstract interpretation of love as an ethereal and immortal energy that surrounds us even beyond death.

I felt drawn to make this film as we were at the tail end of the pandemic because we were all experiencing a collective loss in one way or another. The lives we used to live had been changed permanently and many lives were lost in the process. This film served as both a reflection and a reminder that love is energy, an eternal force and something that remains even after we pass away. It became important to me to show that there’s more than “the end” when we die and that love is eternal. Seeing people’s emotion when they watched the film showed me that this wasn’t just an idea. It was real. We truly do have the energy of those we love with us long after we lose them. Having a film that allows people reflect on that, particularly in a moment of such extreme loss was truly a gift.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

When I was 13, I dedicated an entire diary page (valuable real estate at the time) to an inscription that still plays on my mind daily: “Use film to help people discover who they are.”

I had been making films with my sisters for years at that point, from claymation recreations of H.P. Lovecraft monsters, to live action fantasy adventures that were only realized through the lackluster participation of every neighborhood kid. Back then it was about the magic of making something from nothing. There was a freedom in knowing the images in my head could be shared with others, and I quickly became enchanted by the reality I could bestow upon a story when I made it into a film.

In my early teen years I started to hone in on my inner images. As I began to experiment with making films that reflected my developing artistic vision, I discovered the unique connection between film and dreams. “Daydream” was my first film that would be shared beyond the comfortable sanctuary of my own home and screen at the Fargo Film Festival in 2008. I vividly remember watching it play on the big screen before a crowd of strangers. I had never felt so vulnerable and yet so fulfilled all at once. As the audience applauded and I saw the emotion on the faces around me, it dawned on me that these images and stories aren’t just mine, they are mine to tell, mine to share with those who want and need them to be told, as much as I want and need to tell them. I knew I had to do what I had written into existence two short years before: use film to help people discover who they are. Filmmaking quickly turned from a hobby to a calling.

I started studying the connection between film, poetry and music, finding that the features of each were often interchangeable. Tempo, prose, melody, verse…with each film I wrote and directed, I sought to create synchronicity between all of these elements, and let my intuition guide me through what “works” until it sings. In 2014, I wrote and directed “When We With Daisies Lie,” a short film about two young girls commemorating the loss of their sister; the title was a nod to Emily Dickinson’s poem “If I Should Die”. The film received a Merit Scholarship and was an Official Selection of the Minneapolis St. Paul International Film Festival.

Over the last five years I’ve applied for and received grants to make “Golden Afternoon” (2019)  and my latest short film, “The Ever Hours” (2022). “The Ever Hours” screened at 16 festivals worldwide 2022-2023, winning Best LGBTQ+ Short at the New York International Film Awards and the Paris Lady Moviemakers Festival, Best ‘Imagination’ Film at Short Film Factory and Finalist for Best Short Film at Boden International Film Festival in Sweden.

Ultimately, regardless of medium and forum, I don’t want to make films that people watch, I want to make films that people feel. I will continue to tell stories that change the way people see themselves and the world around them through making both narrative and documentary films. I will also continue to partner with brands to take on creative work that aligns with the aesthetic and stories I am passionate about.

Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?

The arts are not a choice but a calling. I’ll be completely exhausted when I’m pushing to complete a script or prep for a shoot in addition to the other full time work that I do but it doesn’t stop me because it feels more like a need than a want. There are stories I feel called to tell and there’s this drive that constantly calls me back to it until I’ve given this idea the time and energy it deserves. I’ve been asked before “why do you do it” and “aren’t you tired” and the answer is always “I have to do it. (And yes I am tired :)” I think anyone who has felt that deep inner calling just knows that it comes from a different place, it originates from far beyond any superficial goals we might have for ourselves and our future. Often times you don’t know exactly what you’re looking for, you’re chasing a feeling in the dark when slowly and delicately different corners or this dark space are illuminated and you’ve created something beautiful .

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

The most rewarding thing about creating art is seeing how it can move people. It’s an amazing feeling knowing a story that was once a figment of your imagination is now as real as a tear dripping down someone’s cheek or a belly laugh. Sometimes the stories we tell through art unlock hidden places within those who consume them and not only does it change the viewer, it changes the creator.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.ellavancefilm.com/
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/ellavancefilm
• Other: [email protected]

Image Credits
All are stills from films I directed