“Anna and the Inexpressible Feeling of Being Lost was my final year tertiary project, at Toi Whakaari: New Zealand Drama School. I wanted to make a film that simply expresses and dwells within the complexity of being lost, lonely, or anxious as a young adult. To bring up conversations about what happens when we isolate ourselves from each other behind the closed doors of our communities. I think the creative process to make the film itself enabled me to actually explore my own loneliness and mental health at the time. The project in that way was self-healing as It gave me the opportunity to engage in questions the film poses with my friends and other students. What I didn’t necessarily expect was how the finished film also enabled me to reach out to the wider circles of my community to connect over the mutual experience of feeling alone, lost, or stricken with anxiety. For that reason, I feel humbled to be invited to share our film with the community of the UnLonely Film Festival and hope it continues to break down the stigma around alienation and anxiety.”

Philip Gibson is a young 23-year-old film designer and director in New Zealand, who recently graduated with a Bachelor of Design (Stage & Screen) at Toi Whakaari: New Zealand Drama School. He grew up rurally in the South Island of New Zealand but currently lives in Auckland.

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