‘Piaffe’ filmmaker Ann Oren has opened up about the psychology between women, horses, botany, and intersexuality in her experimental film debut.
Oren talked about the connection between riders and horses in an interview with Movie Web where the director explored the psychology of riders being primarily women and how that connects to the exploration of gender and intersexuality in her movie ‘Piaffe.’
Oren talked about the sociologist, Jean O’Malley and the book “Horse Crazy” which looked at the connection of women being caretakers and leaders of the horse.
“This kind of psychology between rider and horse was something that really interested me, and I wanted to bring that into the relationship that [the character] Eva has with herself and then later with other characters.”
When her trans sister Zara (Simon(e) Jaikiriuma Paetau), a foley artist, is suddenly institutionalized, anxious film archivist Eva (Simone Bucio) takes over Zara’s project reproducing equine sounds on an advertisement for a pharmaceutical ‘mood stabilizer’ called “Equilibri.” Eva gets more in tune with her animalistic side throughout this journey, even growing a horse’s penile-like tail at the end.
Oren also talked about the connection of Eva meeting the botanist Novak (Sebastian Rudolph) in her journey, saying that it was “intentional” that a botanist would fall in love with her because they have a desire for plants that don’t move or talk, just like Eva.
