Filmmaker Saara Lamberg and the Risky Cinema Podcast

I hope you either love or hate my film.
Saara Lambert – Melb Made Film Festival

Saara Lamberg steps on stage. “I’d like to be able to diversify Australian cinema,” she tells the audience at the Melbourne Made Film Festival. The fiercely independent filmmaker is a unique figure in Aussie cinema, a female writer/director/producer in an industry mostly dominated by men. But what intrigues me is that she also takes the lead role in her films. This includes The Westermarck Effect her most recent. A story about a woman who falls in love with her biological son played by Jayden Denke. I became aware of Saara via social media, and during Melbourne’s lockdown found myself watching her first film, Innuendo, on free-to-air TV.

Westermarck Effect- Saara with Jayden Denke

I loved its unapologetic Aussie/Euro style…and its psychosexual themes. Lamberg’s work can at times make the viewer uncomfortable, it’s risky cinema. But to quote David Lynch, “Don’t make a film if it can’t be the film you want to make! It will kill you.” Saara Lamberg is making Australian films she wants to make and she’s making them her way. But what makes her tick?

In this podcast, Saara Lamberg and I chat about her journey from Helsinki to becoming Melbourne’s best-known indie filmmaker. We also chat about “attraction” and why Saara doesn’t care much about gender!

The Risky Cinema Podcast is hosted by Noel Anderson with special guest Saara Lamberg