Talented Harrogate filmmaker Ava highlights 'body positivity and anxiety' in latest well-received movie
A 20-year-old former Harrogate student is celebrating her latest cinematic work being selected for a Oscar-qualifying film festival in Los Angeles.
Writer and director Ava Bounds, who attended Ashville College in Harrogate, says she is delighted that her latest short film, The Witches of Pool Bottom, has been selected for the HollyShorts Film Festival in LA.
A Oscar-qualifying festival, Ava’s inventive 7.5-minute long dark comedy on the theme of body positivity and anxiety was selected from more than 7,000 submissions.
Written, directed, produced and edited by Ava, The Witches of Pool Bottom follows a shy teenager named Rachel confronting the physical embodiments of her body-image insecurities at a public swimming pool.
"I made the film because I grew up believing there was always something to fix,” said Ava.
"My skin, my body, my face, my reflection - it felt like there was always another product, another trend or another impossible standard telling me I wasn't quite enough.
"As a teenage girl, you learn to pick yourself apart without realising you're doing it.
"Social media, the beauty industry and the pressure to be 'perfect' can make this feel completely normal.
"I wanted to take those everyday thoughts and push them to the point of absurdity.
"So much of what we're sold is ridiculous."
Blending magical realism with sharp humour, The Witches of Pool Bottom culminates in an outrageous poolside battle using shaving-cream cannons, Accutane ammo, and a tape-measure lasso.
Produced by Bounds Films, the Indie film production company she set up, the film will receive its US premiere at HollyShorts next month, introducing Ava's Yorkshire storytelling to an international audience.
The selection for such a prestigious event marks the culmination of five years writing and making independent short films for Ava while developing her distinctive voice as a filmmaker.
Alongside filmmaking, Ava is also a qualified Qigong teacher, one of the youngest people in the UK to be able to say that.
Her study of Chinese medicine and Qigong influenced some of the themes of the film.
Ava is currently developing her debut feature film with support from Channel 4 Skills.