It's so easy to say "evil Nazi monsters," but as soon as we do that, we take away the fact that it was individuals committing individual acts of murder. They had children, and what does that do? As soon as you generalize, they become monsters. It doesn't allow you to understand it in any kind of sophisticated way.
Cate ShortlandI studied fascism when I was at university. My husband's family are German Jews. I'm very close to his grandma and she left Berlin when she was 19 in 1937. So, it's kind of all around me.
Cate ShortlandI'm a really judgmental person, and it just dumbs everything down. It doesn't create any room for interrogation or investigation.
Cate ShortlandThe biggest challenge was to make sure that we are looking at things honestly and truthfully. We weren't making an apologist film. That was the toughest part.
Cate ShortlandKathryn Bigelow is a really good example of somebody that has maintained her truth and she makes the films she wants to make and she hasn't let other people affect her too much. Her last film is to me so inspiring and the way she sees war, the way she set up those really intimate relationships in and amongst this carnage.
Cate Shortland