“During the past couple of years, I have been developing this project with an inner, unstoppable urgency. Without coinciding one on one with my own path, this story tackles the themes and emotions that made me the person I am today.  I have three brothers, that’s the starting point. The dynamics between brothers and sisters determine someone’s development. With them, you learn about boundaries in a unique way and how loving can be unconditional. 

As a teenager, I was searching for the box in which I would fit. Today, I found my path through the jungle. I’m happy with my female body, I’m in a relationship with a woman. But youngsters nowadays are still going through that same shattering fight for acceptance from society and themselves.  During puberty, everything happens for the first time. The intensity of that phase in life fascinates me and I pursue this in the film. It is a rollercoaster from one emotion to another. 

Skiff starts from a teenage girl’s search for identity. In the case of our 15-year-old main character Malou, this search materializes in questions concerning her gender and sexuality. The ambition of this story is not to deliver final answers to these questions. On the contrary, I want to let the audience experience that every search is evolutionary, changeable, and very personal. In Skiff, Malou falls in love with her older brother’s girlfriend. That places the story on a crossroad between siblinghood and the search for identity. Malou’s loyalty towards her brother is tested through the exploration of her feelings towards Nouria.  

 Malou is at the very core of this film. The story is told from her perspective. I don’t judge as a director, I don’t look at Malou with the knowledge I have today, as an adult woman. I want to be on equal footing with her and create a truthful story. Malou is not perfect, I show her flaws, which make her real. The film has an organic and natural feel, light in imagery as well as in structure. In addition, I looked for extremes in the images as well, which creates visual variation. A morning on the water is light years removed from an afternoon in a fluorescent laser shoot, the wellness centre contrasts sharply with the cold gas station. It is those contrasts that belong to Malou’s life.”