As a storyteller I’ve always been fascinated by that particular group of street artists that calls themselves ‘living statues’. Standing stock still for what sometimes feels like hours at a time, dressed and made up to look like stone or bronze, the idea of someone wanting to do this intrigued me to no end. I started imagining what would drive a person to take up this calling, what their life would look like and what a society of these performers could be. ‘Hearts of Stone’ became the result of the exploration of the life of such a person, but I also saw it as opportunity to tell an impossible love story, perhaps one that would seem the most impossible of all, but also somehow perfectly fitting. For me it made perfect sense that a person that acted like a living statue would fall in love with a real statue.

‘Hearts of Stone’ thus in essence grew to become a modern fable, where I wanted to explore modern loneliness and the universal longing to be loved, a longing that even a statue could have. For when during the course of the story the statue called Agatha, the object of affection of Paula, the living statue, does come to life, I wanted to portray what the life of a real statue would be like and how they would look at the world around them. I tried to use all elements of cinematic storytelling, be it music, anamorphic cinematography, make-up, costume, production design and visual effects to create a fragile, dreamlike tale of longing and brokenness, of two beings lost in their own way that somehow find each other. Me and my team tried to take special care to make every detail matter and make the shots feel rich and painterly, matching the performances by a cast I’m very proud to have been able to work with. I hope we succeeded in our mission to transport the viewer into world where the fantastical can feel real, be it even for a short while.