by Dov Kornits

Immortalised as Aunt Elizabeth in The Great, the Australian actress returns to a story from more than 20 years ago for her directorial debut, short film Glove.

Glove has a weird origin story,” says Belinda Bromilow from London where for the last 6 years she has been appearing in cult TV show The Great, by showrunner [and Mr Bromilow] Tony McNamara. “I basically came up with the idea about 24 years ago, fresh out of drama school. I attempted to make it in Norwegian, with some buddies from drama school, but it never came to fruition.”

Born in Perth and attending the highly respected WAAPA drama school, Bromilow had become enamoured with the Norwegian language after spending a year there as a student.

“I’m writing a feature at the moment, and it’s tonally similar to Glove. I had just finished work on The Great, and I was like, ‘maybe I’ll make Glove and this time instead of acting, I’ll just write and direct it’. I was also curious to see how much I could convey with no dialogue.”

Made in London, Glove stars office drone Florence Keith-Roach as Isobel, doing the dating rounds, but unable to find anyone that fits like the proverbial. Enter sheep herder Elijah (Harki Bhambra).

“I’d just come out of my big formative relationship,” remembers Bromilow about the inspiration for the story. “I was wondering if I would ever find anyone who would embrace my kookiness, my idiosyncrasies…

“Now, of course, I’m married, I’ve got kids, I feel very embraced and accepted for who I am, but the idea still stuck with me…

“This is quite woo woo, but I do feel like sometimes stories just need to be put out into the world. I don’t really need it anymore, but it’s a universal story. Everyone just wants to be loved, we all want to be accepted.”

Like its creator, Glove is filled with quirky creative flourishes. “I had a really strong idea for the look of the film and the feel of it. I felt very clear about that.”

And despite no dialogue, the acting is perfect. “I’m just thinking about where that character’s coming from, what they want…” Bromilow says about directing actors. “Coming from inside it, as I would if I was acting it, but hopefully not too prescriptively. People bring you their interpretation of it, and it might not be what you had originally thought you wanted, but it actually brings more. That’s the whole joy of collaboration if you can be open to how much things change.”

Speaking of the actor’s lot, Glove had been rejected from a number of film festivals before it was selected to world premiere at the prestigious Flickerfest. “I’m so nervous,” says Bromilow. “On one level, I’m super nervous only because I don’t care if people don’t like it. I think my greatest fear would be that everyone’s just chatting whilst the film is playing. That to me would be awful. If people watch it and go, ‘yeah, I didn’t like it’ or ‘I didn’t get it’, or ‘that’s weird’, that’s all fine, because in a sense, the most important thing for me in the process was just making it.”

And what about that feature that Bromilow intends to make next? “When I was making Glove, I was like, ‘I am never fucking doing this again. This is awful’. The joy of an actor is that everyone else takes responsibility, and you are only responsible for your part. It’s such a different experience being a director, producer, writer, it’s a lot. But I would definitely do it again. I think I just have to find a way to manage my stress a bit better. I really wasn’t sleeping, and it was doing my head in a bit. So yes, I think there’s a future for me in this beyond just acting.”

Glove screens at Flickerfest, 17-26 January 2025

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