‘The time of abjection is double: a time of oblivion and thunder, of veiled infinity and the moment when revelation bursts forth’

                                      (Julia Kristeva, The Powers of Horror)

Miranda Bowen’s films constantly strive to turn things inside out. She explores the conflict of the individual within a world where they are uncomfortable, ill at ease and how the experience of that environment exacts change on them. Whether it be a glass and chrome office, a bleak and un-peopled rural landscape or a service station late at night, she is interested in characters who find themselves cast out from the security and familiarity of their habitual environments.

How does the dread or fear of being out of control, on un-firm footing, alter the perception of these characters? And how can one then slip from a more objective third person view of the world into something more interior, more myopic? Our emotions alter our perception dramatically. When our fears and desires get the better of us, our perception becomes unstable, breaks down. The thin membrane that divides fantasy and reality is jeopardised. Abjection takes hold, the social being slips into a psychological nightmare where boundaries fray and collapse; the real morphs with the imagined, the space-time continuum is undone and the hidden becomes visible.

To return to the beginning, the inside comes out. The internal mechanisms of the emotional mind, shocked into reacting out of fear or desire, is projected externally, made manifest, thus forcing the characters to either confront their fears head on or disappear forever into the protected cocoon of fantasy.

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Having lived abroad as a child (Zambia, Austria, Germany, Namibia, Sierra Leone) Miranda Bowen came to London to complete a degree in fine art film and video at Central St. Martin’s. In 1998, Miranda formed an arts organization called ‘The Glue Factory’ which dedicated itself to promoting fine art and film and staging exhibitions in disused factories across London. Since then she has been concentrating on writing and directing short films and commercials. She is currently developing several feature scripts and is represented by 2am Films for commercials.

She was short-listed for the Broadcast/BBC B+ awards as best new young director of the year, 2003.

Miranda also writes short stories and is currently working on a debut novel, ‘Bloody Histories’. Her short stories have been included in various anthologies (including ‘Talking to Strangers’ edited by Toby Litt) and on-line magazines.