FEMME

“The seed of Femme came from our desire to flip the classic hyper-masculinity of the Neo-noir thriller on its head. By putting a queer protagonist at the heart of our revenge story, we aimed to put our own stamp on a genre that we love but from which we have often felt excluded. However once we started work on the film, the idea began to evolve into something that felt much bigger in scope. We realized that a queer reframing of such a hetero-centric genre was the perfect way to explore – and explode – conventional ideas of sexuality, masculinity, patriarchy, and identity. Our conversations around these topics brought up a lot for us as gay men about things that terrify us and things that make us rage.” (Sam H. Freeman and Ng Choon Ping)

Sam H. Freeman and Ng Choon Ping co-wrote and co-directed the BIFA-winning, BAFTA nominated short Femme starring Paapa Essiedu and Harris Dickinson, which premiered in competition at SXSW. Sam H. Freeman has worked extensively in television, most recently writing the pilot for his own original series with Bad Wolf and HBO Max. Other television work includes Industry, This Is Going to Hurt and The Power. His first original series Unmasked sold to Disney. Ng Choon Ping recently directed a new adaptation of Strindberg’s Miss Julie at the Hong Kong Arts Festival as well as Macbeth at the Bristol Old Vic. He has directed over the last decade at the National Theatre, Royal Shakespeare Company and Young Vic, and is the recipient of multiple prestigious awards in recognition of his theatre work.