Saskia
Saskia is a filmmaker. She wrote the short film Type of Rain in 2024 with her friend Maddy Hookway.
Their friend Rosie died in 2015.
“When you’re 15, life is so confusing. At that age, your friends are everything. Your life revolves around them.
For someone to pass away, it throws everything up into the air. We didn’t talk about it properly for years.
The narratives we see about adolescent grief are often…I wouldn’t say it romanticised, but it can feel…cosy. That’s important and it can be helpful, of course. But grief lingers.
There are going to be times when you’re by yourself and you suddenly feel sick and cold. Those are the times that aren’t often captured in films.
I wanted to depict the rawness; I wanted the audience to feel a little bit uncomfortable.
I catch myself thinking things like, ‘What right do I have to speak about this?’ and I have to check myself.
That’s literally the message of the film: there is no hierarchy to grief.
I really like films where you feel like you’re watching art. Like you’re at a gallery and you’re taking in everything around you. I love big wide shots and female-led narratives.
I get inspiration from all over the place. People-watching is a big one. I love seeing how people interact with each other, how they interact with their space.
Before Type of Rain, I saw a documentary about cold water swimming. Weirdly, Maddy and I had both used cold water therapy while we were at university. It opened up a wider conversation.
Then I went to see a Marina Abramović exhibition. I fell in love with the facial expressions in her work. I knew straight away that I wanted the audience to see the actor’s face adjusting to the temperature of the water as she got into it.
Grief was probably always going to be our focus - we’d both been through that experience. At the same time, I wanted it to feel universal.
If you’re grieving or depressed or having a panic attack, you can run yourself a cold bath and get into it. It’s accessible to everyone.
We’re not saying it’s going to solve everything. But it might provide a bit of relief.
“But film became a symbol, too.
It represents the seconds we have, how they’re literally counting down.”
We shot Type of Rain in a day - two half days across two days - and there was a mad panic to get all the shots. It got towards the end of our second shoot and we had very little 16mm film left.
We did one take of the final scene - the last shot of the day - and I just knew it wasn’t right. I don’t even know if we’d be able to go for a second one, but we went for it.
Millie’s character gets into the cold bath and you can hear the film in the camera ticking. I was just hoping we’d get enough footage. We did one continuous take.
The camera clicked off right at the point where we had what we wanted.
The water in the film is about relief, but also the way grief ebbs and flows. The fluidity and unexpectedness of it.
But film became a symbol, too. It represents the seconds we have, how they’re literally counting down. The preciousness of it all. ”
Type of Rain was premiered at the BFI Future Film Festival 2025.
Find out more about Saskia’s work on Instagram or via her production company Blue Lobster Productions.
Written by Laura McDonagh