Meet Rowan Hall

Today we’d like to introduce you to Rowan Hall.

Every artist has a unique story. Can you briefly walk us through yours?
As the story has been told to me, I spoke in full sentences from an extremely young age – my parents joked that I was born talking. By age two, I was rallying all the neighborhood kids into complicated and dramatic games across the rambling woods where I lived. I had discovered that words were power, so it was no surprise when my family nicknamed me “The Loud Noise”.

When I was eleven, my friends decided they were too grown up to play pretend games anymore. This was a HUGE crisis for me because my love of the imaginary was nowhere near its peak. They sprocketed off to the mall, but the forest remained my creative space.

Luckily, my parents are full-time artists. They’ve always had specific studios devoted to different kinds of creating and we dedicated lots of time to making art in many different genres.

In middle school, I got involved in theatre, starting out behind the scenes operating the lighting and soundboards. I developed a strong love of photography and filled notebooks with dark and mysterious stories, all of which I took very seriously.

When I met a new group of creative friends, we began organizing complicated photoshoots and traded off being behind or in front of the camera. I got in a regular rhythm of creating and collaborating. I still make art with this inspirational menagerie of creatives, who elevate each other’s ideas without any elbows out.

Eventually, I left the woods to study in both New York and LA at The American Musical and Dramatic Academy. Now, I know that filmmaking is the perfect confluence of my passions for acting, storytelling, and capturing narrative images.

Please tell us about your artwork.
‘And Will’ is a short film, which I wrote, directed and performed in. We shot it entirely in Doolin, Ireland on the Cliffs of Moher. My producer (Mike DeMille), DP (Louis Normandin) and I follow a simple structure on all our shorts: hire local actors and crew, shoot entirely on location, all in a whirlwind of creativity within 72 hours.

This film explores the universality of grief by following a young woman named Emily, who is deeply mourning a loss. While the film never fully reveals the source of her struggle, her grief is palpable and relatable. A recent loss fueled my understanding of the slippery slope between wanting comfort and cherishing privacy. So, I invited the audience to feel empathy for Emily, with very few shared words of dialogue.

The Cliffs of Moher have a centuries-long history of people traveling from all over the world to take their own lives. The power of this legacy can be felt like a tidal force while standing within sight of the cliff’s edge.

On our 72-hour shoot schedule (one day for scouting two for shooting), we had to be precisely on task and also open to the muse changing perspective. One of our most striking locations in ‘And Will’ – the cemetery – our DP found while driving around Doolin, Ireland. While shooting that scene, a herd of loud, fluffy cows came up behind the camera to convince the crew to share a snack. “Hold for cows!” became our joke throughout the shoot whenever rain, waves, wind, and of course cows, were getting the better of us.

I was privileged to take ‘And Will’ to the Marketplace at the Cannes Film Festival. There, we met with the Armenian Film Counsel. The result took my same cohesive team around the world, joining creative forces in Armenia to make a film that featured the beautiful city of Yerevan. I am currently in post-production for this film.

As an artist, my focus is to connect my viewers to the basic elements of humanity – the experiences that make us all the same. I want to follow stories of characters that are unique, deeply flawed, and yet simply, human. No matter where we travel in the world of filmmaking — from our own homes to “a galaxy far, far away” — the focus of my work will always be the universal dreams: discovering love, freedom, hope, security, and strength.

Given everything that is going on in the world today, do you think the role of artists has changed? How do local, national or international events and issues affect your art?
We look out at the world and see that it is more connected than ever before, and by virtue, we as a people are ever more responsible for the state of our connected world.

Even so, the role of the artist has remained the same throughout time. The setting may look different now: it might be on a stage, in a frame, or behind a computer screen; but we are still the same storytellers, pulling everyone around the campfire for a tale that balances our humanity.

It is our responsibility to remind people of their shared stories: that triumphs and heartbreaks are universal, unavoidable, and even poetic.

How or where can people see your work? How can people support your work?
People can view our film ‘And Will’ on Amazon Prime or on YouTube at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0RBEMuY4Hn4

The best way to support independent filmmakers is to show that their body of work has been positively received by the community. By reviewing or commenting on the ‘And Will’ YouTube, you’re helping me get to the next stages of pre-production for the feature I’m developing to shoot in Toronto.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.rowanhall.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/therowanhall
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rowan.bishop.hall
• Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/TheRowanHall
• Other: https://www.imdb.me/RowanHall

Image Credit:
Tracey Harrison Photography, Mike DeMille, Louis Normandin

Suggest a story: VoyageLA is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.