Career Confessions: The film director who draws inspiration from her multicultural roots

Do you like your job? Or wonder what it would be like if you’d gone against your parents’ advice and pursued your dream career? Her World’s Career Confessions column spotlights the professional journeys of its subjects and reveals how each individual’s career path and the choices they have made can have an impact on their personal finances, psychological health, and interpersonal relationships.

As a child, Nicole Midori Woodford had always been quite imaginative. “I grew up in a Chinese and Eurasian-Japanese household so you can imagine how culturally colourful my childhood was,” shares the director. 

Her early exposure to stories from books, graphic novels, and films fueled her creative pursuits in writing and drawing. “If I were to describe myself, I’m introverted but independently minded, which made me the quiet nonconformist in my family.”

Becoming a film director wasn’t a career path that she initially considered. “I’d never imagined I would become a film director growing up,” she muses. “I had the impression it required a very different personality type from mine – I used to be quite solitary in my creative pursuits.” 

However, her passion for storytelling led her to enrol in the film program at the School of Art, Design and Media at NTU, where she discovered the collaborative nature of filmmaking. “I decided to try out directing after excelling in short film projects. I realised that directing actors and shaping their performances came very naturally, like I had an innate instinct for it.”

Her first feature film, Last Shadow At First Light, premiered in May this year. The film offers a complex portrayal of how trauma affects interpersonal and familial bonds across generations, geographies, and time. It unfolds through a coming-of-age road trip led by a teenage girl determined to uncover the truth behind her mother’s disappearance in Japan. The film explores both physical and emotional journeys as the protagonist and her uncle grapple with loss and the echoes of the past.

Last Shadow At First Light is Nicole’s debut film, which took over seven years to produce, partly due to the pandemic. Filming occurred in Singapore and Japan, at the site of the tsunami. Nicole deliberately cast a newcomer with a backstory similar to her character’s to achieve a raw, organic depiction. The Japanese-born actress was personally mentored by Nicole to perfect her Mandarin. 

“Overall, it was a lot of tenacity and discipline that was demanded from me and my cast, and I’m grateful we were able to get through with each other’s support,” reflects the director.

In her career confession below, Nicole tells us more about her debut feature film, what being a director is like, and the challenges she has faced.

Name: Nicole Midori Woodford
Highest Education: BFA (Hons) in Filmmaking
Job Title & Industry: Film Director and Lecturer 
Years of Work Experience: 15

Congratulations on your debut feature film, Last Shadow At First Light. Could you share with us the inspiration behind the story? 

I was struck by encounters I’ve had within my family and with strangers that inspired me to write this story. When I travelled to Tohoku to conduct field research, the road trip there influenced the script even more.

At the heart of it is a story of a daughter who seeks to find her mother she has lost while also trying to reclaim a part of who she is and facing the reality of loss. Exploring that dynamic was at once universal because we were depicting family ties which are incredibly personal, as well as the complexities that are unique to families, countries and emotional terrains. 

What were some of the challenges you faced during this lengthy production process and how did you managed to overcome them? 

It was a lengthy journey and rather daunting for me and my producer, Jeremy Chua. From waiting 2 years for Japan to open its borders for us to film, dealing with securing funds, right down to having only 13 days to shoot the majority of the 95 page script in Japan.

We had to take everything one step at the time and he eventually found solutions to finance the film through co-producing with multiple countries. I also had the added challenge of rehearsing with my lead actress through Zoom owing to the pandemic – the role requires her, a Japanese native, to speak Mandarin like a Singaporean would so we had to guide her delivery throughout these sessions. 

The film was shot across Singapore and Japan, particularly at the site of the Tsunami. How did the geographical locations influence the narrative and atmosphere of the film? 

I wanted the locations to evolve from a very urbane and dense setting like Singapore to something more raw and eventually more barren in Tohoku to create a stark contrast. The locations set the groundwork for the sound design, music and visual which in turn, influenced the atmosphere of the film. 

Could you tell us more about the casting process and how you worked with the actress to bring authenticity to her role? 

It was a decision I made early on that I wanted to cast someone who had never acted in a film before but had similar experiences to the character’s life. I believe that was necessary for me to create an authentic and visceral depiction of her journey. I saw close to 100 girls and travelled to Japan to audition Mihaya Shirata after an initial shortlisting process. The Japanese casting director had recommended her and I gave Mihaya the role on the spot after a 3 hour audition process. I could tell, even from the short amount of time spent with her, that she had the intrinsic rawness that plays well on-screen. I like mixing non-actors and experienced actors so I knew that I wanted ‘Ami’ to be played by a non-actor or someone who has never acted in a feature film before. 

What themes or messages do you hope audiences take away from the film? 

I wanted to question the notion of our existence – whether any part of us remains if our physical selves are gone. Each of the main characters are forced to confront the memory of what they have lost and are trying to retain. Beneath it all I sought to depict the push and pull of the mother-daughter relationship. Almost like two identical poles of a magnet repelling each other.

It was important for me to allow the audience to feel the void of the landscapes we traverse through Ami and Isamu’s eyes to perceive for themselves this sense of loss as evoked through the barren.

Do you feel pressure to have a successful career, or to earn more money? If you do, is it mainly internal or external pressure? 

I think no one can dispute that most would strive to excel in their career to earn a living. However, for myself, I definitely didn’t go into filmmaking for money. Anyone who goes into film to make big money should think again. I’m driven a lot by pressure from within to push myself as a director to the next level. The desire for artistic success, to have your film connect with audiences and critics alike, that’s a powerful motivator. It keeps you up at night tweaking the script, visualising scenes, and obsessing over every detail. I feel like I’ve already set a higher bar for my second feature film and I want to be able to hit that.

What are some societal pressures and stigma that have arised from your unconventional career choice? 

Sometimes friends and family members mistake my being a filmmaker as a glamorous career – they see the glitz, the red carpets, the celebrities. Not many know that it is truly blood, sweat and tears, some would even expect to catch it for free when I share the news that it’s in theatres.

Filmmaking is all-consuming. It requires long hours, dedication, and constant hustle. Some folks also think filmmaking is a hobby of mine instead of a profession. There can be a tendency to consider creative pursuits as less serious or important than careers in other sectors. Even though filmmaking is deeply personal and requires true passion, part of it is still like any other job out there. 

Anything else you would like us to know?

I just wanted to reach out to ask folks to keep supporting local films and talent! Post-pandemic, I noticed more people around me having the tendency to rely on streaming platforms like Netflix instead of catching films in cinemas. Personally, cinemas are the best avenue because films take so much painstaking work to craft and it is a lot more rewarding to savour something on a big screen. 

Every filmmaker wants an audience for their film and for the audience to watch their film in the medium it was intended for and the truth is, like any business, financial success allows you to keep making films and to tell more stories. I hope, as audiences, we can continue to support local theatres and keep investing in the cinema-going experience.