“It’s about how grief manifests and plays hide-and-seek with you over time”: Luna Carmoon, Hayley Squires, Saura Lightfoot Leon and Joseph Quinn on Hoard

If, like many a cinephile in 2024, you may feel that the large bulk of cinematic material being put out in the world is sanitised, superhero-tale-heavy and increasingly no-doubt AI-written, debut feature filmmaker Luna Carmoon is here to refresh your memory on truly original silver screen ideas.

Taking as her springboard elements of her own childhood, Carmoon’s Hoard delves headfirst into intergenerational trauma – not just through narrative, but visceral storytelling: sights, smells, sensations, sounds. Proceedings begin in 1980s London, and the chaotic yet strangely beautiful world seven-year-old Maria’s hoarder mother (a phenomenal Hayley Squires) makes for her in their cramped house. Fast forward sometime after a fateful event, we find teenage Maria (Saura Lightfoot Leon) estranged from her mother and living instead with a foster parent. Then, she meets Michael (Joseph Quinn, lightyears away from Stranger Things), an older guy whose presence brings the past hurtling into the present. With a punk aesthetic and raucous energy, the film takes its audience on a rollercoaster of emotions and sexual awakenings via its protagonist. Raw, eccentric and provocatively disgust-inducing at various intervals, it’s an experience that lingers on the skin and senses after the credits roll.

The Upcoming chatted with Carmoon and Squires about how the film explores womanhood and grief through an idiosyncratic lens. Carmoon shared her personal connection to the story, which was inspired by sensory loss during lockdown. Squires described bonding over shared backgrounds and creating a magical set. We further discussed the feature’s emphasis on authenticity and rejecting bleak portrayals of working-class life.

We then spoke with stars  Leon and Quinn, who shared the deeply personal and surreal nature of Hoard, their initial reactions to the script, the complex characters and the challenging yet rewarding scenes. They highlighted Carmoon’s unique vision and the film’s raw, unfiltered emotional experience.

 

Sarah Bradbury

Hoard is released nationwide on 17^th May 2024.

Watch the trailer for Hoard here: