Why we bleeding love Emma Westenberg

‘Total Football’, exceptional cheese and the Olympic flame are just three of the finest exports to come from the Netherlands (bet that last one surprised you). Another you may well be aware of, certainly if you’ve read our glowing review of her big-screen debut Bleeding Love (and if you haven’t, why not?), is director Emma Westenberg, with the movie out in UK cinemas on Friday.

In order to be closer to her loved ones, Britain is where she currently resides. Born in the US to Dutch parents, the family moved back home to Holland where Emma was raised. A Stateside return beckoned, culminating in graduation from the Cooper Union School of Art, New York, then it was back to Amsterdam after gaining notoriety at the Dutch Film Festival.

Following this, Emma earned her stripes through music and commercials. A stint in LA followed, as well as the hit docu-fiction hybrid Stranger’s Arms, but now she’s well and truly London-based in order to be a relative stone’s throw from her family. “I love to work in different places – wherever the wind blows me,” she says in the happy, laid-back tone that’s become a hallmark of her filmmaking. As for the Netherlands itself, it may not spring to mind as a cinematic hotbed, but Emma’s extremely upbeat about the state of the industry there. “It’s a small country but there’s a lot happening. We’re lucky because there’s funding available for young filmmakers, just like there is in the UK.”

Globetrotting aside, and getting back to the impending UK release of Bleeding Love, it’s a truly unique project in more ways than one. It stars none other than one of Scotland’s greatest exports, Ewan McGregor, alongside his daughter Clara, an upcoming screenwriter and actor in her own right. In it, they play an estranged father and daughter whose relationship has seen better days due to substance abuse, amongst other things, but did this daddy-daughter collaboration make it all plain sailing for the woman at the helm?

“You never know until you get on set,” says Emma. “They eventually let you into their relationship and it made the movie richer. They were able to improvise so well because of this lifelong bond.” However, it wasn’t just the cast who brought valuable life experiences to the table. “I had destructive patterns of my own, growing up. Your relationship with your own father is the most formative, and substance abuse tells it in the most demonstrative way.” As much as the script resonated, the opportunity to work with the Trainspotting star was, of course, too good to resist. “It was an incredible opportunity, as I grew up watching him. Moulin Rouge, Down With Love, Little Voice, I love them all.”

But in a still youthful career that has included a Grammy nomination and a Superbowl commercial, no less, is it possible to pick out the best bit so far? “Bleeding Love is the highlight,” says Emma, without any hint of hesitation. “It’s a dream of mine, and making it with Ewan McGregor has been surreal. He’s an icon, craftsman, and I was a little nervous to come on set. But he’s lovely and such a talented storyteller. I’ve only got good words to say about him.”

So what’s in the pipeline for this naturally-gifted filmmaker, who’s surely destined for success in the grandest of circles? For starters, there’s her second feature, Angels, a musical set in Amsterdam, half of which will be in English with the other in Dutch. Another project, Buffalo Flats, is taking a bit longer to get off the ground due to the infamous Hollywood strike. “We’re still trying to get the green light,” Emma explains. “It got sold to MGM but then it was shelved. The strike was a very quiet time for me, but I’m lucky to work in Europe.”

And Europe’s lucky to have her. America may have hosted the world premiere of Bleeding Love at last year’s South by Southwest Film Festival, but she’s (kind of) back where she belongs. Could ‘Total Filmmaking’ become a thing? If so, you can bet Emma Westenberg will be somewhere near the forefront.