-Where does your desire to express yourself through art come from?

Ever since childhood I’ve always struggled with expressing myself in a cohesive way, and that’s because I don’t always know or understand what I want to express through words. Then when I started writing my own stories, whether it was screenplays or fairy tales, I noticed that it was much more natural for me to express myself through creativity. It also made me feel more at ease with expressing my feelings. I’m the kind of person who scripts what I’m going to say before I do it, but then when the time comes I can’t, because I think of a billion other things that I want to say, and that results in me getting tongue-tied. I guess that in essence my desire to express myself through art stems from not knowing how to do it in everyday situations, and because not doing it through art is terrifying for me.

-What are your goals as an artist?

My goal as an artist is to be able to get people to know me through my work, but most importantly to tell deeply personal stories that will touch a nerve in one way or another. I always hope that through creative work I can tell some kind of universal truth. Only time and an audience’s response will tell if I succeed in doing that or not. Doesn’t matter what the genre is. I want to express myself in a wide variety of genres – especially in horror, action, drama, comedy and thriller, and I truly hope that I will get to do that.

-What is your opinion on the cultural industry?

My opinion is that right now the cultural industry is too divided. I think that not nearly enough independent artists get the chance to prove themselves to a worldwide audience. There are so many out there doing amazing work, but it goes largely unnoticed, which is an enormous shame. If we want to experience something new and exciting, then we have to start being a lot more inclusive and welcoming.

-Do you think independent artists today have enough opportunities to share their creativity?

While I do think that social media is a great way to connect with other artists, and Youtube is great in getting your work seen, it’s still not enough. Film festivals are good as well, but the problem is that they cost a lot, even with invitations and discounts. So all in all, I do think that independent artists have some opportunities to share their work, but not nearly enough.

-What new project are you currently working on?

I’m currently writing a feature length screenplay. It’s a romantic horror drama about a German woman who travels to Helsinki to meet a man who she has texted and FaceTimed with for some time, but never met physically. Without going into too many details, let’s just say that she gets a lot more than she bargained for. I started writing it in mid December, and the goal was to have a first draft in February, but because of a myriad of different reasons it didn’t happen. However, lately it’s been going very well, and I’m excited about it. It has been going in directions I never expected, and it keeps developing and, honestly, I don’t know how it will end, but I am very anxious to find out.