Source: Collider

Cate Shortland established herself as a serious filmmaker with her impressive feature debut, Somersault, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in 2004.  Her second film, the visually stunning Lore, which opens February 8th, follows the harrowing journey of a fourteen-year-old German girl (Saskia Rosendahl) who leads her four siblings across a war-torn Germany after her Nazi parents are imprisoned by the victorious Allies at the end of World War II.  When she meets a mysterious young refugee, Thomas (Kai Malina), she must put her trust in the very person she was always taught to hate in order to survive.

Shortland talked to me about the challenges of making a film that delves into gray areas and raises questions about every concept we have of family, love and friendship.  She discussed the book that inspired the film, her collaboration with screenwriter Robin Mukherjee, portraying the characters with objectivity while also giving them a sense of humanity, researching the historical era, and creating the look and visual language of the film.  She also revealed how the film affected her personally, her reaction to Lore being selected as Australia’s official Oscar entry for Best Foreign Language Film, and her upcoming project — a love story set in Bali…