How do you tackle the overwhelming, visceral anxiety of teenage body image? If you are 20-year-old award-winning British filmmaker Ava Bounds you write a script, point a camera and shoot. The battle against advert tee body image is fought in an an empty public pool into a battleground. The weapons of choice are martial arts, multivitamin-firing machine guns, vs Irish-dancing demons.
For Season 3 of our podcast, we sit down with Ava to unpack her wildly inventive 7-minute short film, The Witches of Pool Bottom (read our full review). Starring Anja Cilia (Call the Midwife), the film follows shy teen Rachel, who dives into a public pool only to find it drained. Standing in the empty depths of the shiny tiled pit are three demonic manifestations of her own physical insecurities (body hair, zits, and weight). Cue an onslaught of outrageous, slapstick-infused action showdowns that confronts the angst of teen angst over body image and absurd pressures of the beauty industry.
In this exclusive interview, Ava shares:
- Transforming Personal Struggle into Genre Storytelling: How she channeled her own teenage insecurities into a darkly comic, action-packed thrill ride.
- Storytelling Without Dialogue: Directing lead Anja Cilia through heavy stunt work and expressive physicality to tell a complete emotional story with few spoken words.
- Festival Success & What’s Next: What it’s like taking the film to the Oscar-qualifying HollyShorts Film Festival and the BIFA & BAFTA-qualifying Bolton Film Festival, plus her upcoming feature development
Don’t delay head over to your favourite platform for podcasts and join us at the start of our third season.
📺 Watch on YouTube
Catch the full video interview with Ava Bounds, on YouTube.
🎧 Listen on Spotify & Apple Podcasts
Prefer to listen on the go? Then why not stream the episode now on Spotify, and Apple Podcasts.
Have you seen The Witches of Pool Bottom? What’s your favorite genre film that tackles real-life anxieties? Let us know in the comments below! You can also connect with us on Social Media – Bluesky, Threads, Instagram, and TikTok