The most emotionally intriguing genre films often thrive on telling a haunting narrative that immerses viewers in a tale of secrets, injustice and the resilience of the human spirit, particularly through the female gaze. The new horror mystery drama, ‘Nightsiren,’ does just that by exploring the search for truth, the power of friendship and the fight against prejudice of female protagonists through the remnants of their painful history.

The psychological horror movie, which was directed by Slovakian filmmaker Tereza Nvotová, who also co-wrote the script with Barbora Namerova, offers a unique exploration of dark themes and unsettling atmospheres. The project features a thought-provoking and emotionally resonant cultural context within an intimate, character-driven story.

‘Nightsiren’ is now playing in select American theaters, including in Los Angeles’ Glendale Lamelle, New York’s Film Noir and Kansas City’s Screenland Armour, courtesy of Breaking Glass Pictures. The project’s official release comes after it won was an official selection at several international film festivals, including Sitges, where it won Best Actress and Best Feature Length European Film; the Locarno International Film Festival, where it won Golden Leopard – Filmmakers of the Present; and Fantastic Fest.

Set in a secluded mountain village, ‘Nightsiren’ tells the story of two sisters who endure a tumultuous upbringing under the tyranny of their abusive mother.

One fateful day, a tragic accident occurs when the elder sister, Šarlota, flees into the surrounding woods, closely followed by her younger sister, Tamara. The blame for their disappearance falls upon Otyla, a Roma woman residing on the outskirts of the village. Accused of witchcraft, Otyla becomes a scapegoat for the sisters’ vanishing.

Twenty years later, Šarlota (Natalia Germani) unexpectedly returns to the village, stirring suspicion and unease among the locals. Determined to uncover the truth about her past, she begins delving into her history, prompting the villagers to grow increasingly distrustful. Amidst this atmosphere of suspicion, the only person willing to befriend Šarlota is Mira (Eva Mores), a young and eccentric herbalist.

As tensions rise within the community, a mysterious affliction befalls the village’s animals. Blaming Šarlota for conjuring the spirit of Otyla, the locals become convinced that she is responsible for the worsening situation. The film delves into themes of prejudice, superstition and the consequences of collective fear, exploring the complexities of human nature and the long-lasting impact of past events.

Nvotová generously took the time recently to sit down for an exclusive interview at The Lobby Bar at Ace Hotel New York to talk about scribing and helming ‘Nightsiren.’ Among other things, the filmmaker discussed how research into societal beliefs held small villages in Slovakia, as well as her family’s past with their cabin in one such remote village, in part inspired her to co-pen and direct the feature.

Film Factual (FF): Along with Barbora Namerova, you co-wrote the script for the new horror mystery film ‘Nightsiren.’ What was the inspiration in scribing the screenplay for the drama? how did you approach co-penning the script together?

Tereza Nvotová (TN): The first idea from the movie came from my friend and colleague, Barbora Namerova, who’s also a screenwriter. We wrote it together.

It came from two sources: she read this scientific, anthropological book about how people in certain villages in Slovakia still believe in witches. This was discovered through research into modern small towns.

It was quite surprising to us because we’re from the city and see Slovakia as a modern society, like America. So we were like, “Oh wow, we didn’t know we’re still so superstitious.” Of course, that comes hand-in- hand with the misogyny and patriarchy that’s in our country in a pretty high level, I would say.

The second source that served as the inspiration for the story’s idea is that we have a cabin the woods that our parents bought when they were young. It’s like a common horror setting; it doesn’t have any electricity or running water. You also have to walk up the hill for one hour to get there.

While we were researching who was living in that cabin before, we found out that there was this woman who would walk around barefoot. There were a lot of myths about her in the village; villagers were always afraid of her and thought she could be a witch.

She was very much living in harmony with nature. She would approach bears and snakes in very friendly ways, as far as we know.

So that was the inspiration in where to set the story and what to talk about. But we set it in the present time because we wanted to talk about issues that are present today. These problems are pretty terrible, and even though they’re ancient, our society’s still dealing with them and can’t get rid of them, for some reason.

FF: Besides writing the screenplay, you also directed the movie. How did scribing the script influence how you approached helming the film?

TN: I usually like to get into the process quite early. I already worked on another movie with Barbora before, my feature debut (the 2017 drama, ‘Filthy’). It was very natural.

When you’re a director who also writes a movie, you’re going through a challenging process of how it should be told. It’s a completely different experience when you direct a movie that you also wrote than when you direct a film you didn’t also write.

I usually write my movies with someone else and then shoot it. I then realize that it doesn’t work at all in the editing room (Nvotová laughs). So then I basically rewrite it in the editing room.

So it was a long process on this film because it was hard to find the language of its story. We wanted to play with genre and play with horror and thriller elements. But at the same time, I also wanted it to be authentic and show a realistic, almost cinéma verité reality of this village in the woods.

So for me, it was really hard to find the balance. It took me a year in the editing room to figure it out, but I’m pretty happy with the result.

FF: ‘Nightsire’ stars Natalia Germani as Sarlota and Ela Stanová as Tamara. What was the casting process like for the drama?

TN: The casting was hard because when we were writing the script, the only actress I had in my head was this young actress who I’ve worked with before. I knew she would be great for the role of Mira.

So I started casting all the other characters for the movie with her in mind. It took almost a year in preparations. Then the actress died and it was sad. It was such a shock because she committed suicide.

So it took us some time to get back into the process. With her, I was still able to cast the main character of Sarlota. I asked my casting director about this actress, Natalia Germani. She said, “Well, she’s pregnant, so she can’t shoot the movie.” I said, “Wait, there’s a limited time to pregnancy.” (Nvotová laughs.) “What month is she? We’re not shooting tomorrow!” It turned out that she was in her eighth or ninth month.

It was so funny to see the stereotypes right in front of you. It was her decision whether she wanted to be in a movie or not when she had a small baby, and she wanted to because she could manage. She had her family with her on set, so it was nice. She came to audition totally pregnant, but it wasn’t about that. So I’m happy that I was able to find and cast her. She also mentioned that she hopes a genre film like this one will encourage viewers around the world to discuss injustices against women and social discourse.

FF: Once the actors were cast, how did you approach building the characters’ arcs with them throughout the movie?

TN: I like to work with actors prior to shooting, especially when they have complicated characters who have secrets and trauma. Once you start shooting, you don’t really have much time to talk about the characters’ histories and psychology. But you need the actors to understand where their characters are in the story.

So what I usually do is meet my main actors a few months before the shoot begins. It was the same with Natalia and Eva. I met them about three months before we started shooting. We talked about the script, as well as our personal lives, and how we could take stuff from there to inform the characters.

I also took them and some of the other cast to the cabin for a team building exercise, so we could learn what the environment is about. So we spent a few days there, chopping wood and reading the script and talking about the story.

FF: Besides working with the actors to build their characters’ emotional arc, how did you approach helping them build their physicality throughout the production?

TN: ‘Nightsiren’ has quite a bit of nudity. But the way I wanted to work with the nudity was to not be exploitational. I wanted there to be nudity if there was space for it.

When the characters in the movie were connecting with nature, they were also connecting with their own bodies and accepting them, as that’s a whole issue in the movie. I didn’t want to just look away because I wanted to be with them and tell the story through them. So it was quite natural for me when we were showing their bodies.

This was also approached through conversations with the actresses. We discussed how comfortable they would be with nudity. I would never push anyone to do anything like this, or surprise them with it on set. They knew quite well when we were going to have these scenes, and they prepared for them. I also told them I was there for them, and if they felt nervous or waned to stop, we could. In the end, it was quite nice.

There’s also a scene with naked extras who were serving as dancers. It was a great experience because these people were really enjoying themselves. They wanted to do it because they believed in the scenes and the visuals, and what they were representing. It was a lot of fun to shoot those scenes.

FF: The story is set in remote village in Slovakia, where you shot ‘Nighsiren.’ How did you decide where you would shoot the film?

TN: One of the motivations to make this movie in the beginning was that I just wanted to go to the forest; I didn’t want to make another movie in a city setting. So the location scouting was great because we were basically trekking through the woods and looking for the right locations.

I also knew quite quickly that I needed pine trees because they’re dark green and more mysterious. If you have pine trees, you also know subconsciously that you’re higher up in the mountains.

So I started looking for that. I then started looking around my cabin, as I knew this was the sort of woods that I was looking for. We ended up shooting not far from there.

Also, the village that’s in the movie is the actual village that I know quite well. It’s not far from my cabin, and I’ve been going there since my childhood.

The villagers were also playing extras and smaller roles in the movie. I like to combine actors and non-actors. I also look at locations as another kind of character.

FF: Besides the feature’s locations and visuals, the drama’s score also helps create the story’s environment. How did you decide what kind of music would work best in the movie?

TN: I actually had two composers for the score. I started working with a French composer, and he did about half of the music for the picture. Then there were some co-production issues, and he had to move on to other work.

But I was still looking to bring some darkness and a feeling of evil into the movie’s music. I knew that one of the composers who I had worked on some of my previous work could bring this movie to that dark space. He often works with, and brings together, electronic and analog music. He’s also a cello player. So I also took a lot of significant tracks from him.

It was quite a journey because the movie has a lot of music. I personally don’t like music that tells you how to feel. I instead like music that brings you the atmosphere and lets you feel what you feel.

But creating the score for this movie was very new to me because this is genre, and I’ve never had experience with genre. So I was searching where to put each different element of music in the film.

FF: Like ‘The Witch’ and ‘Midsommar,’ ‘Nightsiren’ is a folk-psychological horror film that delves into themes of prejudice, superstition, and the consequences of collective fear, exploring the complexities of human nature and the long-lasting impact of past events, especially on female protagonists. Why was it important to you to explore that theme in this movie?

TN: Unfortunately, we’re still living in times when women are talking about women injustice. In Slovakia, which is very conservative, people are like, “Give me a break,” and don’t really want to hear about it anymore. So I would say the social discourse there is quite closed. #MeToo didn’t really happen there.

So we were thinking about using this genre to talk about these issues because genre films are great at bringing in audiences and letting them go through crazy journeys. These films let audiences feel the characters’ fear and contrasting emotions.

I also love elevated horror movies. I felt that if I could work in this genre, I could be more open-minded and use different visuals. It was hard to make this movie, but this is what I love about filmmaking – there’s always something new to play with and discover.

FF: ‘Nightsiren’ is (now) playing in select theaters across North America, including here in New York City, courtesy of Breaking Glass Pictures. What does it mean to you to be promoting the drama across the country?

TN: Well, New York is my second home because my husband’s American and is from New York. So when I heard the movie was sold in America, I thought, this is great! I can actually be there and say hi to the audiences. So this is the first time that I’m actually doing work here in the U.S.! (Nvotová laughs.) So I’m very happy, and I think it’s very awesome that the movie is (playing) in theaters here in America.