In this evocative and thoughtful interview, the film director Fiona Jane Burgess–represented by SMUGGLER–reveals her forward-looking and unconventional mind, gives us a glimpse into her personal thoughts, explaining herself and telling us a little more about the person she is and her working methodology, in which she manages each time, with mastery and confidence, to blend innovative visuals and daring ideas that challenge the status quo.

Filippo Raineri: I have noticed that in several of your works, such as Christina Aguilera’s music video and in several of your dance videos–but also more commercial works such as Calvin Klein–there is great attention and care for the human body, which is always narrated in a very sincere way as if every shot or choreography was a small exploration of the human body. What fascinates you about this subject and what do you think are the themes and discourses that can come out of it?

Fiona Jane Burgess: I’ve always been fascinated by the human form and the way each of us inhabits our bodies so differently. They express so much about us, about our past and our present, about how we identify and our emotional state. The way we walk, our body language and eye contact play a huge role in how we engage with the world and what we project outwardly of ourselves. All of this fascinates me. I love people watching, noticing the small incidental nuances in people’s everyday movements and interactions. But I also love dance, that was my first love in many ways. Trisha Brown, Martha Graham, Pina Bausch, Merce Cunningham, Yvonne Rainer, Michael Clark, Wayne McGregor–these are just some choreographers whose work I gravitated towards. For some reason dance spoke to me more than traditional theatre, there was something captivating about storytelling through the body and movement and music that enlivened me in a way that theatre rarely did. It’s hard to know why it had this effect on me, but my love of dance is rooted deep within me so I’m sure it influences my work, whether consciously or not. In terms of themes and discourses, I think bodies are fundamentally political, and I guess that’s what fascinates me. They aren’t one dimensional, they are fluid, ever-evolving vessels for the soul.

FR: One thing I really like about your style is that there is a beautiful research of the music. Very often you rely on instrumental tracks, but what I found very interesting is that you seem to choose real songs. The videos immediately acquire a style very close to a certain type of cinema that uses non-original music as soundtracks. Do you think these choices derive from your past as a musician? How has this background influenced and does it influence your work?

FJB: One of my most powerful childhood memories is the sound of my father playing the piano. He would play most days, and it was the sound of someone completely absorbed in the emotional world of the music. So I felt a connection with music from a young age, the way it could transform a person’s mentality or an environment. You can time travel with music. That’s what I love about music and specifically it’s relationship to cinema. Music has been a constant in my life, as a child but also as a musician and now as a filmmaker. I work with songs and compositions as a key storytelling component, a soundtrack can make or break a film. I have a strong sense of what music I am drawn towards, and it’s usually never about genre but always an instinctive and intuitive emotional response I get when paired with the visuals and the story. I usually like to create a playlist during pre-production to feel inspired and exchange ideas with my collaborators, but I also try to stay open-minded until the edit to see what’s right for the film. You can be pleasantly surprised hearing juxtaposing music to picture. That’s the beauty of the process, the happy accidents, the unexpected symbiosis. It’s funny because I would say most of the films I’ve made have been with original music as opposed to existing tracks, but the new compositions usually sound like fully formed tracks so I guess that’s why they sometimes sound like existing songs. But we all have such strong relationships to specific songs that connect to memories and moments in time, so it can be very satisfying to bring the collective consciousness of a song into the world of a film. 

FR: In all your most famous works it is possible to see the use of film and also a certain passion for elements and landscapes related to the world of nature. I really like this because the mix of these two elements creates these magical, dreamy atmospheres. What are the motivations for you to choose this kind of approach? 

FJB: I grew up in a rural town in the Lake District. It was pre-smartphones and we only had terrestrial TV, so no MTV or Sky or anything like that. So a lot of my freedom as a child came from being outside, because that’s where the entertainment was. So I guess without realising it I was inspired by the landscapes around me because that’s where I would dream up stories and fictional characters. I’ve never been very conscious of this until recently, but I think that I get a lot of inspiration from being outside in nature, and reflecting on the intensity of our digital dependence.

FR: I know that you are very sensitive to feminist issues and in some works such as Sisterhood it is particularly highlighted thanks to the voice-over that guides the narrative. Are there other works in which these themes have emerged? And how do these themes come together in your audiovisual works? 

FJB: I like to think of my work as “living in the question”. Never trying to find all the answers or solutions, but rather interrogating the female experience, exploring female desire and emotion. I believe we should try to write about things we don’t understand, the things we are fascinated by but can’t quite make sense of. As a female filmmaker I am drawn towards stories that spotlight complex and complicated women. I see this as an opportunity to walk female subjectivity right into the centre of the world and into people’s consciousness, because the female gaze has always interested me. The way that women interact with the world, and the fact that so much literature and film has been, and still is, written from the perspective of men.

FR: I also really like how in your works there is a contrast in how the choral and group scenes are treated, compared to those where the protagonists are alone. It almost seems as if they start out alone and the stories flow into several group scenes where the protagonists find help, strength and new balance precisely from their relationship with others. In this sense, I find the ending of Beautiful and the ending of the Lacoste x Zalando campaign very beautiful. Is this something that reflects your idea of relationships with people? 

FJB: There’s a lot to be said for the power of human connection. Being in the real world with people is much harder in many ways than being on our own, or connecting with people online. There’s the awkward pauses, the physical chemistry, the eye contact, the body language. I think it’s become very easy to isolate ourselves, to disconnect from reality and exist predominantly online. I see within myself how difficult it can be for me to be present in the room when my phone is nearby, it’s definitely an addictive behaviour. But humans need physical connection, we need to share stories and be challenged and supported and grounded by the people around us. We need laughter and sadness and all the emotions that accompany collective shared experiences. We need solitude just as much as we need communality. One can’t survive without the other.

FR: While preparing for the interview, I discovered that you only became a filmmaker after some time and that it was not something intentional or wanted in the beginning. In this constantly evolving path of yours, what do you think your next step could be? 

FJB: I’d like to finish some longer form narrative work I‘m developing. I have a long list of things I’d like to do, but who knows if they’ll happen or not. So I don’t really know what’s next, other than continuing to challenge myself and grow from each new experience and question everything. To borrow a phrase from Spike Milligan “I don’t have a plan so nothing can go wrong”. I’d like that on my gravestone.

Fiona Jane Burgess is a film director specialising in fashion films, music videos and commercials. Fiona has directed music videos for acclaimed artists, and fashion films for some of the most renowned brands and editorial platforms such as Gucci, Calvin Klein, Burberry, Lacoste, Vogue, Nike and Adidas. Her experience as a performer and musician is an integral part of her work as a director, and has helped define her style which is based on sharp art direction coupled with a real sense of visual storytelling. She received a Silver Young Director Award at Cannes Lions 2019 and was named Campaign’s “Pick of the Week” for her first ever commercial with Mother London. She has since sustained her momentum, and received multiple awards in 2021, including the Gold award for Direction at Shots 2021, Best Advertising at Aesthetica Short Film Festival 2021 and the Commercials and Branded Content award at Berlin Commercial 2021. She was also featured in the 2021 Top 10 directors voted by Campaign magazine.

SMUGGLER is a Film, TV, Commercial and Music Video production company representing a roster of award winning directors and some of the world’s most exciting talent from Barry Jenkins, Kathryn Bigelow to Fenn O’Meally, Jonah Hill and Ebeneza Blanche.