The setup for Nancy Webb and Emelia Hellman’s comedy short “Bangs” is disarmingly simple: A young woman, played by Hellman, cuts her bangs just before a party, and waits for her friends to notice. But they don’t.
Webb and Hellman’s grounded, subtle exploration of this paranoia-inducing disappointment has made the film one of the standouts of Montreal’s latest Fantasia film festival, where Webb won the Québec Directors Association (ARRQ) Emerging Directors prize. It’s also a strong launch for Webb and Hellman’s new filmmaking partnership, Hellgirl Productions, and their new podcast, Total Relaxation, which be all about fear, but also funny.
Though Fantasia draws films from all over the world, “Bangs” is a homegrown affair: The two met through the Montreal comedy scene, and have performed at the city’s famed Just for Laughs festival. Webb is a Montreal-based writer, director and comedian whose previous short, “Becca” has played festival’s including Boston’s Wicked Queer and was showcased as part of NewFilmmakers LA festival’s Canadian Cinema program.
Hellman is an actor, filmmaker, and photographer from Montreal whose acting credits include “Becca,” as well as the film Game of Death and the TV series Bellevue. She wrote and performed sketch comedy as half of the duo Employees of the Year from 2015 to 2020, and had main stage solo shows at Montreal’s Just For Laughs/Zoofest.
We talked with them over email about co-writing “Bangs,” expectations, and fear.
MovieMaker: What was the first inspiration for this film, and how did it change?
Nancy Webb and Emelia Hellman: While Emelia (as a lifelong bangs-haver herself) originally proposed the idea of a film centering around a woman cutting her bangs, the bulk of the film was inspired by our conversations about the various anxieties we have as women in our thirties.
The protagonist is very much a mix of the different stresses, fears, and insecurities around the expectations we have for ourselves about career and life milestones and where we “should” be by this age. We were inspired by the indie sci-fi film Coherence, which was made with a really tight budget in one location using practical light and improv, but tells such an effective story. The script went through a bunch of revisions, but we stayed pretty true to the original ideas.
MovieMaker: It’s such a great joke. Were you tempted to go bigger or broader, which may have ruined it?
Nancy Webb and Emelia Hellman: Funny you should mention that, we actually started out writing a much more sprawling story involving over 10 cast members with a tech dystopia-meets-Rosemary’s Baby-style ending. We wrote detailed character breakdowns and got really excited about it, but ultimately landed on a much cleaner, shorter script, which we thought would be more effective.
That said, we will make the longer, crazier version if anybody wants to give us money.
Nancy Webb and Emelia Hellman on the Biggest Challenge of Fantasia Winner ‘Bangs’
MovieMaker: What was your biggest challenge?
Nancy Webb and Emelia Hellman: Our first biggest challenge was not laughing through takes (cast and crew) because much of the dialogue is improvised and everyone on the cast is hilarious. The second biggest challenge was getting through post-production on a minimal budget.
We didn’t receive any external funding for this project, so it was really a DIY situation, with the help of extremely talented and generous friends behind and in front of the camera. We had to learn how to color grade and decided we’ll never do that again!
MovieMaker: What’s next?
Nancy Webb and Emelia Hellman: We’ve started a production company, Hellgirl Productions, and will be releasing a podcast this summer. It’s about fear, will feature comedians as guests, and is called Total Relaxation. We also just wrapped a music video and will be acting side by side in a feature being developed by our pals and fellow Fantasia filmmakers James Watts and Kelly Kay Hurcomb. We want to develop more film projects this year as well.
5. How did you meet and start working together? How did you assemble your team on this film?
MovieMaker: We met through the comedy scene in Montreal around 2015, doing stand-up and sketch comedy. Nancy ran a monthly alternative/queer stand-up show with Montreal comedienne Tranna Wintour called Stand Back and created a wellness parody live show series called Kelp: A Self Help Hour with frequent collaborator Travis Cannon (Jared in Bangs).
In 2020 we made the short Becca starring Emelia and Andi E. McQueen (Cam in Bangs) and it was like magic — we just wanted to keep making things together. Although the pandemic slowed things down, it feels like the comedy community we forged nine years ago is once again coalescing, finding new mediums of expression and creation. It’s really exciting.
You can learn more about Fantasia here and visit Nancy Webb’s website, www.nancywebb.lol.