Lauren Maya Davis flies high with Songbirds

When did you realise you wanted to become a director? What were your first steps towards making it a reality?

I specialised in moving image at art school, where I developed a curiosity for cinematography while studying Lynne Ramsay, David Fincher, and iconic photographers like Bill Henson and Ryan McGinley. 

I spent a lot of time in bookstores between London and Paris pouring over photography, developing ideas, then testing them out in the studio. 

My intention was to create an immersive piece, so it felt instinctive to develop the visual poetry based on my own similar experiences.

Craft is important to me, so I later honed my skills in cinematography, writing and acting in Los Angeles, where those disciplines felt easier to access.

You’re a self-taught writer but also studied cinematography at AFI. How do those two skill sets feed into your process as a director?

Writing helps me both compose and deconstruct story structure and character, which creates space to explore different ways of narrating scripts. 

It means I have a wider toolkit to draw from when creating an imagined world on a blank page - more ways to add layers of meaning and unique visuals.

Songbirds was partly inspired by the novel Theft and your own experiences. How did you weave together personal truth and literary influence in the script?

I had a personal connection with the book. A lot of the relationship dynamics in Theft felt familiar to me, including my connection to nature. The complex feelings we experience through relationships are ultimately universal. 

My intention was to create an immersive piece, so it felt instinctive to develop the visual poetry based on my own similar experiences.

You spent three months in the Mississippi Delta scouting and casting. What was the most surprising thing you discovered about the community during that time?

The Delta is full of contradictions - both beautiful and terrifying, both warm-hearted and heartbreaking - making it a poignant place to capture on screen. It’s a very specific community within American history that endured some of humanity’s worst violations. 

The casting process brought me a lot of joy. 

In contrast to this, it’s a community whose creativity thrives, celebrating the beauty of their identity.

Casting over 400 children sounds overwhelming! Did you find your lead early on or right at the end of the process? What led you to him?

The casting process brought me a lot of joy. Spending a few weeks in local schools was an incredible experience — meeting so many bright souls. Based on that, I have another film project I’m prepping, which will take me back to Greenwood, Mississippi.

Landon Davis and A’Dya Hunt are our leads. I met A’Dya on the first day — she’s a bright light — and I met Landon on the last day, when our acting coach invited him to one of our final classes. Landon and A’Dya had an instant ease working together, which stood out immediately.

How do you think collaborating so deeply with the local community shaped the tone and authenticity of the film?

A crew of local filmmakers, families, location managers, the local mayor, the fire department - they all made it happen. And for many of them, Songbirds is their story. They felt very connected to the piece, which is why they gave the project their time and passion. 

Together, we created a very special film.

You’ve mentioned drawing inspiration from Japanese black-and-white cinema and historical Southern photography. Which specific references or filmmakers had the biggest impact on Songbirds’ visual style?

Rashômon, Sansho the Bailiff, and photographers Earlie Hudnall, Ernest Withers, and Baldwin Lee, to name a few.

How was the shoot itself? How long did you spend on location and what were the first bridges to cross?

It was a nine-day shoot with many challenges, from custom rig builds with missing parts, to unexpected weather shifts. After several weeks of scouting in 110-degree sun with beautiful shadows, we had cloud and rain on our first shoot day.

After several weeks of scouting in 110-degree sun with beautiful shadows, we had cloud and rain on our first shoot day.

Children, animals, underwater sequences and pyrotechnics all required a lot of coordination, adjustment and patience from crew and cast who endured every obstacle in good spirit. 

I was immensely proud of everyone’s commitment to the vision.

Above: Some behind-the-scenes shots of the nine-day shoot.

Was there a favourite shot or sequence in Songbirds that you knew from day one had to make it into the final cut, no matter what?

There were so many. Jack McDonald and the team captured beautiful sequences using the Sony FX3 and Japanese Kowa lenses. 

The kitchen night interiors were one of our last shots that day, and we knew they were special. Our underwater shots - filmed in a nighttime swimming pool - gave us some wonderfully ethereal frames.

Looking back at the production, what was the biggest learning curve for you?

Nothing felt like a big curve, but casting from so many children and working with non-actors - essentially on the road - was a wild, once-in-a-lifetime experience.

If you could give one piece of advice to filmmakers wanting to shoot outside their own cultural experience, what would it be?

Live a culturally diverse life, so it’s not outside of your cultural experience. Create with a culturally diverse team. And judge softly — that’s the title of a poem by Mary T. Lathrap from 1895. It’s a rendition of Indian tribal teachings and the origin of the phrase “walk a mile in their shoes.”

Storytelling and film are about stirring empathy in others.

Storytelling and film are about stirring empathy in others, and there are so many beautiful ways to achieve that. I think it’s important for creators and artists to understand their own limits, to tune in to when something feels truthful, and to respect what feels outside their personal realm of understanding.

Manufacturing Dreams For Strangers, an inspiring essay by Tim Rhys, says: “We stick with [filmmaking] because we have a deep empathy for our fellow travellers. People fear what they don’t understand. They fear the ‘other’. At our most idealistic, we moviemakers are on this planet to tear down walls between people, walls both imagined and proposed.” It’s worth a read to remind ourselves of a greater objective.