Meet Hannah Oliver, The Creator Behind The Short Film Waste

Born and bred in South London, Hannah Oliver is a filmmaker and writer currently based in Australia. Most of the work she creates focus on discovering a way to tell the stories of the voiceless. Waste was her first funded short and has screened in London, Bristol, Hamberg, Berlin, and LA. Now, you can find it on Allies of Mother Earth. 

What is the inspiration behind your short film Waste? 

I became obsessed with where waste goes once it disappears from our easy, bubble-wrapped lives. After my company moved to a much bigger office, their idea was to take away desk and middle-floor bins, so you had to walk further to get rid of your rubbish. The bins were huge, and I became more than mildly obsessed with just how much waste we were generating collectively, and what happened to the inevitably contaminated recycling.

Waste as an initial concept was going to be a journey into where waste goes when it's gone; to answer not only my questions about all of this, but also everyone else's. I struggled to gain access to the relevant facilities, so the film became more abstract. 

Additionally, can you tell us about the process of creating Waste? What was it like for you and your team? What were the highs, and were there any lows? 

Waste was my first proper short film – I'd done travel videos and personal projects before, but never with the backing of a recognised institution, or funding. The Roundhouse in the London Borough of Camden has an amazing programme for 16-25-year-old artists. I pitched Waste to them and was fortunate enough to get selected. Having mentorship, a little bit of money, and a deadline were all crucial, along with more than a little help from some incredible friends who used their various expertise. Everyone has their piece to say and their passion regarding what waste is and where the problem lies, so it was easy to get people on board.

Of course, once you start thinking about the concept of waste, it's turtles all the way down. It's everywhere, and it's nowhere. Totally insidious. The biggest challenge was definitely off-setting the waste generation that tends to come with filmmaking. From props to transport of equipment to feeding everyone on set, it's all really difficult to balance, especially when funds are limited, and we had to do tonnes of planning and be very careful.

Do you have more films in the works that depict environmental issues? If not, what do you prefer to highlight/focus on? 

I do have another short film in the works (still very much in development stages) about climate change and specifically its part in the recent, horrific fires in Australia. I don't strictly focus on environmental issues, but I do find that my art tends to need a sociopolitical focus for me to really manage to see it through – and that tends to be whatever's currently obsessing me. My second short is in post-production and deals (again in an abstract/poetic way) with mental health – the feeling of sinking/drowning. And as I mentioned, my writing is concerned mostly with giving voice to the voiceless – as it has been emphasized a lot in the latest iteration of Black Lives Matter, history is told by the oppressor. So how do we find a way to re-historicize and rediscover the stories of the oppressed?

Do you practice an eco-conscious lifestyle? If so, how do you practice it and what are your motivators? 

I do. I do my best. I'm a vegan, but not religiously. I take public transport.  I grow things.  I'm currently volunteering full-time at a bushfire recovery camp in New South Wales, Australia, to help farmers rebuild after the horrendous fires earlier this year. My main concern in tackling climate change, as you may guess, is with waste. I'm a firm believer in choosing your battles, and that's mine. It's pretty easy once you get into the swing of things. There's always more – I need to get better at lobbying. 

What's one small change humans can do to show a little love for Mother Earth that they may not realize? 

Don't prioritise material things. It's a big lifestyle shift that can be realised step by step, by opting out of buying stuff you want but don't need. There's a line in Waste that goes, "our consumption is consuming us." Material stuff won't make us happy; it weighs us down. The stuff that does make us happy – people, nature, sunshine... they come for free.