I do tend to take time off. A year and a half ago I went to film school, and before that I had taken years off at a time to be involved politically or this or that.

I am aware that I've generally been more attracted to introspective roles, but it's sort of bizarre, because it's the opposite of who I am in many ways. I think I'm quite an extroverted, loud person. So it interests me that that's sort of the place that I go all quiet, is when I'm onscreen. It's a bit strange.

It's amazing how the world does actually go on in the middle of things that should stop it for us.

I feel like we want women to be simpler, less complex, so we project a lot of versions of simplicity onto them to fit that.

So I decided to make a film about our need to tell stories, to own our stories, to understand them, and to have them heard.

I've always been such a fan of short films - in fact, I never considered that I would actually make a feature. I just thought I wanted to make shorts for the rest of my life. They are a lot harder to have shown and a lot harder to find and see as an audience, but I don't know. It's just a form that I really love. I was just making them for the process, but ultimately, I did get them into festivals, and they did end up on television, and they had as much of a life as short films can.

Plus, doing a zombie movie is quite liberating. It's fun not to take myself seriously all the time.