We recently had the pleasure of speaking with Divine Intervention’s Co-Creator and Director, Ravenna Tran (MA Filmmaking), and Writer, Rebecca Ozer (MA Screenwriting), where we discussed their journey from the initial partnership to completing the incredibly successful film. Divine Intervention was nominated for Best British Short at the 2024 Iris Prize LGBTQ+ Film Festival. It was subsequently broadcast on Film4 and is available to stream on Channel 4 for a year following the festival. Get watching!
In addition to that, Ashley Goh, who played Kai, won the Beyond The Binary Best Performance at the Iris Prize – huge well done! The film will also be screened at the next edition of the Mardi Gras Queer Festival and will be available to stream on demand on the festival platform Australia-wide from 28 Feb-10 March. Some big wins to say the least! So, with that being said, shall we dive in…
How did you partner with each other and create the story?
Ravenna:
The film was co-created by myself and Rebecca. Being an international student, I was going through a lot. I had a change of career from being an illustrator and concept artist and was going through a divorce, so the random people I met, like Uber drivers who would randomly light up my days, and random strangers who would make my day better, really meant a lot to me. So, I thought, what if I elevated this and made a film about the influence of angels in our world. I tossed these ideas to Rebecca, who is also in the LGBTQ community, and I love Rebecca’s writing and wanted to make a fantasy romance film with more queer representation.
Partnering with Rebecca was a good choice because I had the worldbuilding aspect from working in the video game world and Rebecca writes characters from a more grounded place which creates an incredible balance in our storytelling. I wanted the people and angels to feel more grounded with human characteristics and the fantasy elements had to be visually and cohesively grounded in a way where the scope wouldn’t out do the idea so we could visually make things work within our means. We both wanted a strong script that was believable and took the everyday mundane into the fantasy element.
Rebecca:
Ravenna and I met at the beginning of LFS - she reached out to me after we learned about each other through our zoom directing strategies module (go to those classes!!). We worked on a few projects together early on - I acted in an LFS project of hers and she was the DOP on a short I directed outside of school, so we had been building a working relationship for a while before she asked me if I’d want to collaborate on this.
Initially Ravenna knew she wanted her grad film to be about angels but didn’t have a rigid direction with it, so I was pitching a range of ideas I had been thinking about. Then she mentioned she was curious about two middle aged, or older, ex-lovers being brought back together by an angel. I was interested in a specific sapphic dynamic of ex-best friends with a complicated co-dependent past rather than ex-partners. She was happy to go in that direction and then we had loads of different discussions around Xena’s role and how she influences people, the system of the angels, everyone’s ages and emotional maturity, how we could contrast the various worlds, and building clarity on the personality dynamics of the ensemble. I’d write a new draft and then we’d discuss thoughts back and forth all the way up until the shoot, starting from about a year beforehand.
You had some stunning locations! For the one that symbolised heaven, could you tell me about how you found it and how did you secure it?
Ravenna:
If you’re just starting out in general with filmmaking, I think it’s nice to build a story around your own experiences and everyday life and with the locations it was kind of like just paying attention to your surroundings and drawing from own experiences. I was paying attention to Instagram and social media and seeing where other people, my peers, were shooting. So with the heaven location, I saw someone else shooting there and thought, oh my gosh, this would be perfect for this part of Divine Intervention. It’s actually a golf course in west London, I think just the members area, and you can rent the rooms for wedding receptions and things like that.
But it’s not just the locations, a large part of it is elevated through production design, which was led by Ali Al Akel. With the big typing room, that was really planning restrained colour palettes to compliment the environment and the tone, and getting a sense of heaven being a beautiful place but that there is also a sense of a line of duty there and a network of angels where not everybody is on the same playing field. The intention of the locations was to get something with a reasonable budget and trying to make as much of it as possible to fit the story. The Bedford Pub, where the wrestling match took place, was found through another life experience. I’m a really big wrestling fan and I went to a match in that pub, so I knew The Bedford would allow people to bring in a wrestling ring. The process of obtaining the locations was to get places with a reasonable budget and try to make the most of it to fit the story.
It would be great to learn more about the wrestling match scene and how you secured so many extras? What was it like directing such a big group?
Ravenna:
The wrestling match was a wild card that we injected into the story. A chaotic action element was something I wanted to try directing-wise, in terms of story and character development, it was a good opportunity to show the range of Xena’s powers. On the wrestling days, we had over a hundred people on set that day! We had a 1st AD, 2nd AD, 3rd AD and a floor runner, so it was the biggest day for the AD team. They helped me crowd manage all the s. We did have a lot of people, but we didn’t have enough people to fill both floors of the pub at the same time, so whenever we had to film coverage, we had to make sure everything looked filled up by redirecting the crowd to fill the spaces. It was fun and challenging in that we had to make sure that no one looked too familiar and there was continuity between shots, and having a really great AD team helped with that.
Ravenna mentioned you were originally planning on making the story episodic and long-form but for the purpose of the film had to cut some things like Xena’s back story. Would you be willing to share a little more on the larger story like the magical system, the guardian angels and why Xena was in trouble?
Rebecca:
One of the biggest things we spoke about was how Xena attacks assignments whole heartedly and moves to the beat of her own drum. Sometimes that works out well for her and sometimes it completely blows up in her face. As an angel I think there are countless instances she’s experienced both sides of this, so that was something that we could’ve pushed in any number of directions depending on the length of the project.
Were there aspects of this world you wanted to dive into more? If so, what?
Rebecca:
I would be especially curious to dive into Xena and Koros’ relationship more. They approach their work, and lives, in such different ways and this dynamic was one of the earliest things that popped into my brain. I think there’s a lot of fun that could be had with exploring the colours of their frustration, playfulness, possible flirtation, genuine annoyance with each other, and yet ultimate support of one another.
Divine Intervention is an incredibly well-made film, could you share how you secured funding and what the process was like?
Ravenna:
We raised £45K, I’ve done Kickstarter campaigns before, and it was my fourth one, so I have some experience with crowdfunding. For the sake of transparency, one of the reasons why it reached that number is because I’ve done them before and I have a good social media following between Instagram and Twitter. Because I’ve been doing film for a few years now, there are people who contributed in the past who have come back, so I feel very fortunate in that. Outside of that, we made sure to film a lot of BTS and shoot photos throughout the filming process to have materials to use as marketing throughout the Kickstarter campaign and would regularly post and share content about the crowdfund.
What did you enjoy most about the whole process? And what was the most challenging part, or something important you learnt?
Ravenna:
I really enjoyed being able to work with brilliant creatives who I felt like was the dream team for me and people who cared about the project and the fact it was a fun story to work with. My goal for grad film was to make something light-hearted and fast paced. Usually, my films are slow burners, so I wanted to challenge myself by making something really fast paced and fun. I always wanted to try doing something with magical realism and fantasy. So that was a fun exercise as a director, but I also wanted to work with a very diverse cast, so we have people of colour, various members of the queer community. As someone who is Asian American, it has always been a goal to put more representation both in front of camera as well as behind it. For this, in particular I’m really proud of diverse the cast is in this fantasy, romantic setting. One of our performers, Ashley Goh, won the Beyond The Binary Best Performance at the Iris Prize which is really cool – so it feels really good.
It was very challenging to manage everybody and to make everybody happy. I feel like directing and being in any type of leadership position, if you care about it and want to be good at it, means being empathetic and being sensitive to your team’s needs. I think the challenge is making sure everyone is happy on set from the crew, to creative HODs, to the cast. But also, making sure the vision and intention of story still holds true and protecting your own mental health. Everything went very smoothly technically, and everyone was very on top of it and professional but sometimes there are disagreements here and there and you have to learn the soft skills to manage that. Also, knowing when to compromise both with people and on the scope of the project and cutting things that might’ve been a good idea but turned out not to be.
Rebecca:
Something I was particularly excited about with this process was the fusion of ideas that Ravenna and I could foster since we have really different backgrounds. She has a phenomenal background as an illustrator/concept artist so is especially talented at world building, among many other things. My background before filmmaking is in writing and acting so I naturally approach things with a huge focus on character and story. For me, writing with our different styles as filmmakers in mind felt really joyful and playful through the process, alongside the discussions we were having.
I also loved bringing in so many different characters that I had been thinking about building from my own experiences in the queer community. Like with any film, an important reminder through this project was the need for open communication and chatting through expectations around everyone’s process as early on as possible. Everyone works in such different ways so learning about each other’s needs and communication styles is a huge element to creating a trusting and fun environment. It can also expand our thinking a lot as collaborators which is a beautiful thing.
Are you working on any new projects that you’re excited about? What’s on the cards for you next?
Ravenna:
I’m writing my first feature right now and directing short-form dramatic content. I also have some projects coming up that I’m DOPing that I’m excited about!
Rebecca:
I’m currently at the very last stage of post for a short I wrote and directed called Tumtum! We were thrilled and so grateful to get BFI Network funding last year. With this support, feeling the growth in scale from previous shorts I’ve directed has been amazing. The way so many people have come together to make this film possible has meant a lot to me and I’m excited to be at the finish line soon.
What advice would you give to student filmmakers?
Ravenna:
Make something that you really want, that you really believe in, that excites you. Don’t follow any trends, don’t do something because you think someone else did or because you think it will get into a film festival. The perception from the outside is, film school: oh you have to make something serious and dramatic to get into film festivals, but for me, I wanted to try making something someone would want to watch again and again. You’re going to spend a lot of time and money and other people’s time, so you might as well make what it worth it.
Rebecca:
Throw yourself into the program as much as you can and focus on nourishing your artistic friendships. With UK courses that are quite fluid, it’s really a case of building an experience for yourself depending on what you want to get out of it. Help your peers however you can through giving feedback or taking on different roles for their projects - be open and curious. Especially focus on working with people that you naturally gravitate towards, genuinely connect with, and are excited to be around.
Is there anything else you would like to add or any closing comments?
Ravenna:
Everyone has different approaches to making art, I think it’s meaningful to think about the why of making something - coming from a background where I grew up not having a lot and not being around that many people, I wanted to make a film that was escapist in a way that would take boring, mundane, everyday slice of life and elevating it to something more magical and beautiful that people feel they could get lost in. I think the wish for escaping from time to time from the stress of life is universal. With Divine Intervention it’s the concept of something magical happening even if it’s in a normal place and you can’t see it. What is the message? What do you want to say?
Rebecca:
I think one of the most meaningful things you can do in this industry is create community and support your peers. Filmmaking is inherently collaborative in every sense and focusing on building a space for people to feel safe and respected is essential to tap into real exploration. I’ve heard about certain scenarios in film school that push intense individualism and a big focus on ego - I think it’s extremely important that we don’t buy into that. Go make films with your friends woooo!
Want to get in on the action? Then head over to our MA Screenwriting and MA Filmmaking pages for all the details on how you can apply.
Photo credits:
Divine Intervention, Co-Creator-Director: Ravenna Tran, Writer: Rebecca Ozer, Producer: Aditya Jain, Megha Bhaduri, Nathan M. Legger, Filippo Bernardini, Production Manager: Juan Antonio Barroso Lopez, Editor: Ryan Ling.
Divine Intervention BTS: Vittoria Avigliano, Greg Randolph, Mike Glynn.