LZ: The film is a brilliant mind-teaser which will keep the audience guessing until the end - and then surprise them with an unexpected answer to all their questions. How did you get the idea of playing with an ecological disaster and the human mind going astray from this peculiar angle?
PF: There were two aspects of this - one was that War-rag (the collective that created ‘The Lark') initially planned to work within a horror genre. In the end we didn't make a genre film, but the horror certainly stayed in! The combination of not being able to trust the world you live in and at the same time having cause to doubt your own perceptions of it represents the ultimate horror. The other major factor was the location. It was a huge 19th century derelict building that had once been the headquarters of Holmans, an engineering company. The building was enormous with two staircases and many passageways and two very large spaces, one of which had been fitted out as a nightclub, complete with bar and dance floor. We divided up some of the many other large rooms into smaller spaces and partitioned off extra corridors. When we were exploring the building one day, we found a new wing [...] where we placed Niamh's and the children's rooms - the nearest they had to a safe home. We filmed everywhere from multiple angles so a large location came to seem infinite. And these are the corridors and spaces of Niamh's mind. It was easy to create a hell in the camera when you were living in it sixteen hours a day. The building was a wreck - it was cold, wet and dark - the electricity had been turned off in most of the building. Apart from our creation of the ‘messages' and ‘maps', the building was exactly as it appears in the film and once you had been in there a few hours it was easy to believe the end of the world had already happened.
LZ. The audience is given a unique chance to see the world from the mind of a disturbed individual, surviving in the world of poisonous air, respirators, hallucinations and nightmares. What did it take to create this world - first in the script, then on the media?
PF: The script was created very fast out of necessity - once it was made available to us, there was a limit on the time the location would be available before its scheduled demolition. We had about three weeks altogether to get into production. [..] I went away and wrote the script in a holiday chalet in Teignmouth, on the coast up in England. I circulated drafts by stealing Wi-fi outside the window of the site office or in the town square. It was autumn and the weather was dark and stormy, which helped to maintain the atmosphere of the script.
LZ. Every filmmaker has things that he/she would do differently if they were to make the movie all over again. What are yours?
PF: We scraped together money and eventually went into production with £10,000. This meant we couldn't get paid and this pushed The Lark down people's priority lists. We needed more money - we also needed practical commitment from those charged with developing the film industry in Cornwall but they seemed to develop a bit of a blind spot when it came to The Lark. The result of all this was that, although we know this is an extraordinary film in all sorts of ways, it has been really hard to get it in front of its audience.
LZ: Was this script, by any chance, written from a true story?
PF: The history of Niamh, the main protagonist played by Mary Woodvine, horrific as it is, was derived from true events. I cant go into details without giving too much away, but the terrible truth is that this really happens....
LZ: While working on the movie did you ever find yourself wandering through the black-and-white shadows of The Lark's labyrinth? Did you ever picture yourself having to survive in a post-ecological disaster world? Did you ever imagine yourself going insane?
PF: Yep! The horror existed in the real world as well as the imagined one. We lived in that labyrinth for several weeks, often from early one morning to the small hours of the next. Sometimes it felt like you couldn't get away. At night you could lose touch with the other people in the building and feel very much alone. And the atmosphere of the film was bound to leech into our everyday interactions.... We did end up living the film.

Interview with Mary Woodvine
LZ: What was your opinion of the script? Did you like the part?

MW: I was very excited when I was approached for the part, and when I read the script this excitement increased as I loved the ambiguous nature of it. The whole story is such a guessing game for the audience, but for Niahm, it is clear. She has her own reality, and as an audience we have to take what we're given and try and find the "truth". I loved playing the part, and as an actor having the luxury to spend two weeks to really immerse oneself in a character is a rare opportunity.

LZ:. While working on the film, did the black-and-white world of The Lark's became real for you? . Did you ever picture yourself having to survive in a post-ecological disaster world? Did you ever feel you were losing your mind while being in character? For the rest of us, who hopefully will never have to experience that journey - how does it feel going insane?

MW: As Paul has mentioned, the disused building that we filmed in really was like another world, you did feel completely cut off from the outside world. It was filthy and bleak and very unwelcoming, so yes it did feel real. There were times when I did feel I was losing my mind [...] For Niahm and for me as an actor, it was a very real journey and moments like when she has loses her friend Doc, is desperately trying to save her children, and when she talks to them ( to camera ) at the end, I felt very raw and vulnerable.

LZ: A few personal tidbits: where were you born, what made you choose acting as your career, what are your aspirations, what's the next big project and are you ,by any chance, planning to join us at the festival?

MW: I was born in London and both my parents were actors. so it was always a possibility for me, although my parents were desperate for me to get a "proper" job! My sister also trained as an actor and then as a voice teacher, so we have both ended up in the same theatrical and creative world that we grew up in.
I went to drama school in Wales and shortly after leaving, got my first profesional job with a theatre company in Devon, then from there I became a member of Kneehigh Theatre in Cornwall, who now have a fabulous international reputation and following . I still work with them and still live in cornwall with my partner and two sons. I have worked extensively in television,and made 3 feature low budget films and several short ones, but have only just landed my first role in a major movie.