Julia Roeselers is a Dutch freelance documentary maker and illustrator, with a focus on politically engaged and activist subjects, often with a personal point of view. She studies Film History and Cult Film at Utrecht University and Brunel University in London, but decided she preferred making films instead of studying them.
She started in 2016 with a very personal documentary about Restorative Justice, which was broadcasted on public Dutch television (“Als ik je zie dan groet ik je”/”If I see you, I’ll Say Hi”, 2016) and screened in several international film festivals. She also made a film on education and chance-inequality about a school in Belgium (“Je mag altijd bij me komen”/”You Can Always Come to Me”, 2017). This film was screened both in Belgium and in the Netherlands on public television. Julia just finished a poetic documentary about single mothers in the first nights after giving birth (“’s Nachts word je moeder”/”At Night You Become a Mother”, 2023). It was screened and awarded in several national and international film festivals. At the moment she is working on a new film plan in which she tries to combine both her passions filmmaking and (illustration) art.
Her Story, Her Future: How did you get interested in documentary filmmaking and why did you choose this path?
Julia Roeselers: I started studying film and television studies, but that was at university, so it wasn’t really practical, it was a bit more academic or theoretical. I have been always interested in film. But for a long time I saw myself doing more theoretical work around film or more film analysis. And I did for a while, but slowly I started working. I was always working with people who were actually making films and I started to be a bit jealous in a way, because I realized that this was actually what I wanted to do. So I just bought a little camera for myself and started practicing and at some point I realized this is really what I liked. I did some courses, basically a camera journalist course and a documentary course and some more technical courses and started to also teach myself some editing. Slowly I kind of rolled into it. I’m an autodidact, as you call it, because I never went to film school. Sometimes I regret that. But on the other hand, I had a lot of other experiences which are also helpful in my work now. I started making a video report for a local renters’ organization and then I also realized that I really wanted to do something non-commercial. And that’s how I basically rolled into documentary making.
HSHF: Your documentary films have a personal gaze. Can you share how you start building up on an idea and transform it into a documentary?
JR: They usually, or most of the time have a very personal gaze. I think that’s how I just come up with plans. I dig into my personal experiences and then sometimes it’s super personal. Sometimes it’ a little less. Yes, I guess it’s actually something that it’s hard to make a coherent story about it because it just happens. I would say there’s just things I experience and, and sometimes I see a story in it. And then I think this would be interesting to make a plan film plan about. And then I start from there, I guess, and sometimes I also realize that it’s too personal and I actually don’t want to make a film about this. So that’s also something that I always take in account-how much I want to involve myself in my, in my film. So sometimes I’m really part of the film and sometimes not. I think also when you’re super interested in a subject, it becomes personal. So it’s not always that it starts with a personal story and then you’re interested in it. Sometimes you start to be interested in something and then realize that it’s pretty personal. Or you make it personal because when you’re interested in it, it’s personal. Usually, in a way like, it doesn’t always have to do with a personal experience or something. This may be a bit vague answer. I’m not sure how to answer this.
HSHF. Your latest documentary film “’s Nachts word je moeder”/”At Night You Become a Mother” portrays a few single mothers in the Netherlands. Can you talk a bit about how you worked with these women and how the film process developed from research to final cut?
JR: Here I really wanted to have the earliest as possible date of a single mother who just had a baby. So I went to search for pregnant single mums first. And I talked to some organizations who are working with them and asked them if I could put a call out on their Facebook groups. This way I came in contact with a couple of single pregnant women and I asked them if they might be open for being filmed after they have given birth. Of course, I went to visit them and talk to them. I knew it was a very big thing to ask. So I also really made sure that they didn’t have to decide then. They could always cancel because I would understand that. And also, of course, because this was definitely a personal experience of me as well. I knew it was a big thing to ask. And you never know how the birth is going and how you feel after giving birth. It was quite exciting and also a bit scary for me, because I never knew if they wanted it. I did have some moms also who backed out in the end because they felt too overwhelmed by everything. But in the end, there were two left, who were fine with it. But not in the first day.
It was in the first two weeks that I was allowed to come by. I asked them to tell me when they have given birth and then they did. And then I asked them: let me know when you’re ready for this. I know they were both around two weeks after giving birth when they were ready to let us, the crew, in. I made sure it was all women crew. I told them also beforehand because I thought that might be important in this case, because it was so intimate. There was only three of us: camera woman, sound woman and me as a director. We filmed all night, so we were in their bedroom, and it was all super intimate. And they were very vulnerable in their pajamas, being super tired and emotional. It was quite something. I always share quite some personal things with the people I film to make them feel comfortable and also to show that it’s not only something I’m coming to get from them, but I also give them something in a way. Of course, I brought some presents for the baby and stuff. After I finished filming, I also tried to keep in contact with them.
And the same I did also with the women I filmed in a studio, because there are also quite some women I filmed in the studio, just to tell their story. And they had kids of one year old, more or less. But to all of them I offered to see the final cut and also have influence. This is something I don’t always do, because it’s quite a big effort to let everyone have their say in the editing, but because it was so personal and emotional and vulnerable, and I really didn’t want them to feel uncomfortable with this. So I wanted them to be really happy with what they saw. And all of them were. So that was really nice. They were just really happy with it. And they also really felt it was something really nice to have for later, to show to their child. And because the babies are really beautiful on the screen, so this is how it worked with them.
I had a voice over of a poet and this was something really new for me to work together with the spoken word artist and to see how to do this. We made a first edit and first showed it to her. She wrote a poem on the basis of this first edit. And then we started editing with her poem and she just made a quick recording of it on her phone. And then when the film was completely finished, we went to a studio with her to really make a beautiful voice over.
HSHF. How do you distribute your films? And were you ever surprised by the audience response or the impact that your films made when shown?
JR: I usually work together with a Dutch broadcaster, like the public broadcaster. Then you know that your film will be screened on television, which is really nice. Because then you know there is an audience, and it will be seen. This is something I really like. On the other hand, they also want to have a say in it then.
My latest film “At Night You Become a Mother” was made independently with just funding from the film fund, but no influence of them. And that was really great. I could really make it how I wanted it. But on the other hand, after it was finished, then the public broadcasters weren’t very interested in it. I didn’t expect that, to be honest. And I’m quite disappointed by it. And I sent it to a lot of festivals. It was also screened in some festivals. It even won some awards, which is great. It also got rejected by a lot of festivals. It did quite well. I think I also got a lot of really beautiful reactions of the audience, of people or women of moms, which was great.
Right now I’m actually working on a new film plan with a broadcaster again, because it’s like a security thing, you know? If you know that it will be screened on TV, you know that there will be at least quite a big audience. And there’s also like a platform where it’s always available. I prefer that to be honest, because I find it really hard to work for so long on the film and then not being sure if it will be seen by people. I find it also really a waste of energy and money and time and everything.
And sometimes also for my first movie, for example: I had no clue about making documentaries. I just did it and I don’t know, like technically or visually, I don’t think it looks very good at all if I look back now. But it was, I think, my most impactful movie because of the subject, I guess. I don’t know. So that was really a movie that got some press even, while my other films never really had a newspaper ever that wanted to talk to me about my films. But for this film they did. So that was interesting to see how this works like that. My next one after that I found much more beautiful, but it had way less impact. So you never know how it’s going to work out.
HSHF: Can you talk about your experience in accessing funding for your documentaries and the challenges encountered in your experience? Are there some key take-aways that you think are important to share when starting a new fil project?
JR: That’s really a tricky thing, I have a lot of experience with it. I had a lot of rejections, to be honest. I made a lot of film plans that were rejected by film funds and the broadcaster funds and all kinds of funds. That really sucks. And it also, to be honest, made me really insecure at some point. It really made me feel like maybe I’m just not very talented or I’m not a real filmmaker or I should find another job. And it goes with ups and downs, because then if I have funding, because sometimes I do get funding, it lifts me up again. I’ve been working already on films for so many years, but still it goes really with ups and downs. I still really suffer from this kind of imposter syndrome that a lot of women, unfortunately, suffer from, I would say. And I really hate this, but it works like this. Every time my film plan gets rejected by a fund or even my films by a festival, I really feel this kind of imposter syndrome creeping up on me, which I hate really.
Tips and tricks to get your film funded…At least with the Dutch public broadcaster fund I know by now that they want an extremely detailed plan. I think that’s actually ridiculous if it comes to documentary, because making documentary, of course, is also filming like it develops during the making. Everyone who makes documentaries knows this. That’s how it works. But I know they want an extremely detailed plan, with all the details basically. So what you do in the end is just make up details. You just make up a complete worked out story and just realize that it will probably be totally different afterwards when you’re finally going to make it. But because they want this, you’re going to write it down. And I think that sucks. And that’s a bit ridiculous and it shouldn’t be like that. I really think that the funds, at least here in the Netherlands, should look more at the maker and the experience and also at the former films that someone made also just decide to give people a chance. It is kind of a risk. You never know if the film is going to turn out good. But yes, I don’t think you can ask this much from the makers also, because this is usually unpaid work and it’s a lot of work.
I live from filmmaking more or less, which means that I do a lot of little film jobs in between for people who ask me to film and I do some editing. I give film workshops for kids and all these things I do in between because otherwise it’s really impossible to live from it. And I have a very low income, so I live from it. I have a child also I take care of alone. I am a minima, as they call this in Dutch. I have all the advantages also of being on a minimum income, but it really means that I have just the lowest income you can have basically. And I manage, but it’s also a bit frustrating. Then if they ask you to apply again and to apply again and to change something and to rewrite a plan, and it’s like months and months and sometimes even more work. And you do it all for free and it’s hard.
I would say, if I would give a tip, is to try to be as detailed as you can, even though sometimes you feel that you are making up things. It doesn’t matter. Just write it down, because afterwards you can always change things. And also try to explain everything, every choice you make, because that’s really what the funds want. And I understand that. If you say like: I want this to have a dark feeling, explain why the scene has to have a dark feeling. What is it going to do? So just explain everything.
HSHF: Can you share a film that you recently watched that impressed you in a particular way?
JR: Yes. A recent film I watched a documentary that I was really impressed by, called “The Mother of All Lies” by a Moroccan maker, Asmae El Moudir. I think it’s beautiful. I really was super impressed by it. She made basically a documentary about her family history, connected to the history in a big city in Morocco where she grew up. And some things that happened there, like some riots. The social justice theme is very big. She worked all of that out with puppets, clay puppets and décor.
First of all, I’m super interested in this because I’m working on a project now where I also want to work with puppet animation, puppet play, I would say. So this definitely took my attention. But I was also just blown away. Basically, it was so beautiful. And also, it wasn’t like clay animation. It was like puppet play. So it was very simple in a way, and it worked. It totally worked and I was just really amazed by it. Her father made all the decors, and it was beautiful, and the light was beautiful. And there were some very intense scenes with her family where you weren’t sure if it was fiction or documentary. It was all documentary. I read some interview with her also and she said it’s totally documentary, but she filmed it in a very like, filmic way and directed it very well, I think. I just really loved it. Go and see it.
HSHF: Would you like to share something about one of your upcoming projects?
JR: I am working on a documentary now. I’m working on a plan, so I just got funding to develop it, which was great. And now I just actually, today I’m handing my big plan to realize the film. I mean, if I have the money, I’m going to make the film. If not, I really don’t know where to get the money from. I’ve been working on this plan for a year now. So I really hope to fund it. And I can say that it’s about exhibitionists in a negative way, so not like a sexy way. It’s about actual exhibitionists and victims of exhibitionism. I’m working on some clay puppet play animations. This is really something new for me.
I’m also an illustrator, I’m drawing. It’s not something that is very far away from me because I’m definitely, I would say, more of an artist than only filmmaker, although filmmakers are also artists, of course. But this clay animation thing is definitely new for me, so I’m developing this now and I really love it. I really hope I get the chance to make this film and develop this kind of new skills. And I really, really like to do some crossover things: to mix animation with documentary. I’ve done this before like small animation in a documentary. And in my last film, I worked together with this poet and poetry. I’m trying to develop myself a bit more and see how I can experiment a bit more with the documentary genre.
Filmography
“Als ik je zie dan groet ik je” / “If I See You, I’ll Say Hi”, 2016
“Je mag altijd bij me komen” / “You Can Always Come to Me”, 2017
“’s Nachts word je moeder” / “At Night You Become a Mother”, 2023