SHE SPOTLIGHT: Sahra Bhimji on Horror, Motherhood and Making Animal Heart

Sahra Bhimji

Director / Film ProfessorBased in Berkeley, California, USA@sahrafilms

In this SHE SPOTLIGHT, with Sahra Bhimji, a director and film professor whose work explores the space between reality and the surreal.

With a love for stories that feel grounded yet impossibly strange, Sahra creates work that questions capitalism, patriarchy, embodiment and the ways we understand birth and death.

She is currently stepping into her debut feature, Animal Heart, a horror film exploring motherhood, bodily autonomy and transformation.

Sahra, tell us about your journey into film and the kind of stories you want to tell.

I grew up without a television, but my parents would take me to see foreign films at local film festivals and I became obsessed with films of all types, from fantasy to mumblecore.

I was always writing little stories and trying to direct plays with my cousins and friends. I finally made my first little 16mm film in college and was hooked.

My stories are “reality adjacent”. I love things that feel very real but impossibly weird, like transforming your body into another creature, being able to access dream worlds or having magical powers. I want to make stories that challenge all sorts of things: capitalism, patriarchy and even our concepts of what birth and death mean.

I have been making short films for years alongside my work as a film professor. I love combining teaching with my own learning, especially exploring new techniques in visual effects and virtual production. I am pretty geeky, and I love diving into tutorial videos about software or discussing camera specs.

I am currently obsessed with the intersection between our digital lives and our physical lives. My latest film will blend these worlds together, using virtual reality, game engine storytelling and mixed reality.

Now I am a tenured professor and I am taking my first sabbatical year to make my first feature film. Animal Heart was selected by the Fantastic Pavilion for their round robin of projects in development.

What are you building right now, and why does it matter to you?

I am making my debut feature film, Animal Heart.

As a mother, I felt honestly so shocked by pregnancy and childbirth, and deeply troubled by the experiences women go through in order to become mothers. There is some sort of group code of silence, not to discuss it, lest we scare the next generation.

I love being a mother more than anything, but I believe women’s pain and suffering is often ignored or minimised as the price of motherhood.

I am making a horror film about a woman who wants to become a mother and sacrifices her body and mind in the process. It is terrifying and exciting. We are shooting in June with Diane Guerrero in the lead role.

What is something about your journey that people may not see from the outside?

I thought I was going to be a marine biologist at one point. I have done field work collecting butterflies, dissecting mussels and sorting out invasive weeds.

All the while, I was taking theatre classes or making little movies on a camcorder. I almost started a master’s degree in environmental management, then dropped out at the last minute, knowing inside that I wanted to be a storyteller more than anything.

What does Cannes represent to you at this point in your journey?

One of my first jobs in the industry was as a production assistant on Miranda July’s Me and You and Everyone We Know, which went on to win the Caméra d’Or at Cannes.

At that time, I was so young, inexperienced and broke that there was no way I could attend. But it was inspiring to see the pictures from the red carpet and watch that film launch into the world and become such a valuable part of the indie film canon.

Now I have been to my first Cannes, not with a finished film yet, but with an invitation to join other genre filmmakers at the Fantastic Pavilion.

It was amazing to connect with other filmmakers on their journey, especially first-time female directors, as well as sales agents, festivals and distributors to partner with us as we get my film into the world.

What does building collective power mean to you in practice?

Collective power is so important for artists. It is how we can find power not through marketing budgets, but through supporting each other, sharing information and resources, spreading learning and amplifying our voices.

Collective power means not gatekeeping information and contacts, but generously opening up our networks and sharing advice.

In practice, I am looking to connect with people who are willing to discuss distribution with me. What are the pitfalls I need to look out for? Can self-distribution work? What do I need to know as I prepare my new film?

I also want to build power with other female horror filmmakers who want to make the space more inclusive and accessible to all voices.

“Collective power means not gatekeeping information and contacts, but generously opening up our networks and sharing advice.” - Sahra Bhimji