SURPRISE
Written, Directed & Produced by Anoushka Zena
Three women arrive at a surprise birthday party for their girlfriend, only to discover it was thrown to reveal they're all dating the same woman.
ABOUT THE FILMMAKER
Anoushka Zena is a London-based director and screenwriter whose work centres on naturalistic, character-led storytelling with coming-of-age themes and the intimate portrayal of nuanced female characters.
She has written and directed four independent short films, Going Nowhere, Fast (2021) , The End of Love (2023), Surprise! (2026) and Until Morning, Margaux (2026). Anoushka is currently in pre-production on her next short film, Skin, which explores self-identity, adolescence, nostalgia, and queer love. This film is supported by Producer Molly Blumsom, House On Fire Productions and SkyeAngel Productions. Anoushka serves as both writer and director on the project.
READ OUR INTERVIEW WITH ANOUSHKA
Welcome to our Weekly Pick! We first saw your film at our Open Screen event earlier this year. Can you talk about that experience?
I love the concept, it's so refreshing having a free submission, first-come-first-served lineup. Everyone who makes a film deserves a space to bring their cast, crew, and friends together to see their collective work on a big screen. The event had such a nice atmosphere, and I saw a lot of films that night that wouldn't have come across my radar otherwise.
What are your thoughts on the need for more accessible spaces for emerging filmmakers to screen their work?
Accessible spaces are so important for the morale of emerging filmmakers. There’s something incredibly motivating about physically screening your work, feeling the energy in a room, hearing the film through proper speakers, giving it the showcase it deserves after the huge amount of hard work put in from everyone in bringing it to life. It's such a rewarding part of the filmmaking process.
Apart from Kino, have you tapped into any other creative spaces who take a similar welcoming approach?
Genesis Cinema in Bethnal Green often runs a Shorts Showcase, as does ReDavolt in Hackney Wick. It would be amazing if more small cinema’s opened their doors, even once a month, for these kinds of showcases. In a dream world, I’d love to screen at Close-Up Cinema in Shoreditch or The Nickel in Clerkenwell.
Tell us a bit about the genesis of Surprise!
From the start, I knew I wanted the story to centre queer characters and explore a slightly absurd concept, while keeping the execution grounded in realism. I currently have three other films in various stages of development, all of which lean more toward the genre of drama. I wanted a project I could tap into as almost a palate cleanser, and a dark comedy felt exciting. Surprise! ended up being exactly that. I found it so refreshing to write.
Where did the idea come from?
Not personal experience, unless my girlfriend is leading a triple life behind my back. The punchline of ‘My sister’s a whore’, cutting straight to the title card Surprise! , was actually the first idea that landed, and everything else grew out from there. I was drawn to the idea of revealing the big surprise at the start, rather than building up to it. What interested me most was how each character might respond differently to the same news, depending on the nature of their relationship.
How did you develop that idea into the short that's now made its way out into the world?
I wanted the evolving conversations and relationships between the three women to be the heart of the film. Casting the lead girlfriends felt like the biggest challenge, finding actors to naturally embody that dry, sarcastic humour. Jordanne Jones came first, recommended by another filmmaker. Elsa Mills is, incidentally, both my flatmate and a great actress. And finally, Maaike Ter Woort, a close friend of mine, who had actually never acted prior to this film. I was struggling to cast her character and suddenly thought, hang on, she would be absolutely perfect. And she was. She rocked up on the day wearing that party-animal tie, and I knew straight away that she was the right call. The shoot was so much fun, we shot the whole film in ten hours with a skeleton crew of four, and the three girlfriends had such good chemistry that I had to stop myself from sitting down and chatting with them the whole time instead of actually making the film.
While introducing your film at our Open Screen, you mentioned how many LGTBQ+ stories rely heavily on interweaving experiences of trauma into their storylines, but how you wanted to take a different approach. Can you expound on that?
While telling stories of trauma within the LGBTQ+ community will always be essential, I think it’s equally important to centre queer characters in narratives where sexuality isn’t a defining element of the story. Restricting queer relationships to arcs of tragedy or redemption risks conditioning audiences to associate queer cinema with these themes.
What advice or hacks would you give to other short filmmakers?
Don’t wait for someone to tell you that your script is worth shooting. If you want to watch your own film, that’s reason enough to hit the ground running. Self-funding or financing a project is always daunting and demoralising, but have faith. There are talented and kind creatives all around who want to see your story brought to life just as much as you do, even if it takes a while to find them. Send emails that feel unrealistic. Be persistent if (when) they don’t reply. Message that DOP. Message that Producer. Message everyone you’d love to work with, even the ones you admire that feel unattainable. Have faith in your work, have faith other people will too.
What are you working on now?
I’m currently shooting a film at the end of the month called Until Morning, Margaux, which explores themes of connection, loneliness and expectation. The film stars Rachel Fielding and Raffaello Degruttola. Alongside this, I’m in pre-production for a coming of age short film titled Skin, the story explores identity, nostalgia, adolescence and queer love. Skin is being brought to life by Producer Molly Blumsom, House On Fire Productions and SkyeAngel Productions. More details can be found at @skintheshortfilm on instagram!
Any film recommendations that we should add to our watchlist?
The Eight Mountains, an Italian film co-directed by Belgian filmmakers Felix van Groeningen and Charlotte Vandermeersch. I first watched this last year and have thought about it every day since. It’s such a visceral and melancholic film. A lot of the soundtrack is also unbelievably beautiful, with music by Daniel Norgren, particularly the tracks ‘As long as we last’ and ‘Everything you know melts away like snow’. I recommend this film for fans of Aftersun (2022), Close (2022) and Boyhood (2014).
