#1: Can you describe your movie and why somebody should see it?

"Mama" tells the story of a father getting confronted with the fear of losing his mother, which his daughter observes through children's eyes. We all suppress our fears and feelings through masks. Wouldn’t it be liberating to be honest to our emotions and show them? Even as a parent.

#2: What do you want the Borrego Springs Film Festival audience to know about your film that isn’t obvious from its title?

It is the story of a child. The child inside a father, that became older and separated itself from the past. Became strong and learned to hide vulnerability, especially as a man. And as life goes - as a father. Now the man gets confronted with his past and also with the child inside himself because he could lose his mother. In the moment his emotions break through he looks in the most honest eyes, his daughters. The one he couldn’t be honest and couldn’t be vulnerable to before.

#3: What is your movie making background? Tell us about yourself.

I found my passion for filmmaking through acting, which I started doing at the age of 8 mostly on stage but also in national film productions. Since then, I´ve been working on short films and music videos, which have been screened at national and European film festivals. In the summer of 2018 I attended a film workshop at the Prague Film School. Since autumn 2019 I am studying directing for fictional films at the Filmacadamy Baden-Württemberg in Germany.

#4: What was the biggest lesson learned in getting your film made?

I think the biggest lesson I’ve learned through working on „Mama“ was how beautiful it is to be surrounded by a team and what this does to the realization of a script. A team of fascinating creative people who believe in the project and find fun and love in their task on telling this story. The shooting was under extremely conditions in winter. It was very cold and tough but our young team members never complained. It felt crazy and it felt right; there was no chance that we would give up. This is a very inspiring experience for a director. You see what is possible, against every expectation. Beside the production it was great to work on this story, on the characters. It was the first time for me to work with a child and it was fascinating how our actress understood the story, was absolutely emotionally aware of the situation. Beautiful to see and a gift to capture her play in this film.

#5: What does the future hold for your film and you?

Well; who knows. Regarding "Mama" I hope that there will be a successful festival journey and responses of all kinds to it. And my future is hopefully full of great stories, which I am able to tell to a lot of people in an honest way, together with talented craftspeople of the film world.

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5Q's w/Simon Maria Kubiena "Mama" Director