Overview
First films are special. With Aftersun as her feature debut, Charlotte Wells knows this. Ahead of dedicating time to writing her second movie, a project eagerly awaited by the cinema-loving world, the Scottish filmmaker is deep in celebrating fellow directors starting out — leading the jury for the Bright Horizons competition at the 2025 Melbourne International Film Festival, then jumping to Venice afterwards to do the same for its debut film accolade, the Luigi De Laurentiis Award. She's an apt choice for both, given Aftersun's dream run from its premiere at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival onwards. Widespread acclaim came the coming-of-age gem's way, and deservedly; so did a strong bond with viewers who saw themselves in a picture that Wells drew in part from her own experiences.
When Concrete Playground first interviewed Wells at the beginning of 2023, as Aftersun was about to enjoy its Australian theatrical release — after its local premiere the year prior in MIFF's the Bright Horizons competition, fittingly — she advised that she "had naively not thought about what came after making the film". She continued: "it's been really special. I don't think you set out to make films to get that type of award recognition, but it's been really nice to see the work recognised, and the work of my collaborators recognised".
At the time, Wells and Aftersun had been nominated for four BAFTAs, but hadn't yet won Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer. (Among the prestigious award's other recipients before and since: We Need to Talk About Kevin and You Were Never Really Here's Lynne Ramsey, Senna and Amy's Asif Kapadia, Pride & Prejudice and Atonement's Joe Wright, American Honey and Bird's Andrea Arnold, Shame and Widows' Steve McQueen, Moon and Source Code's Duncan Jones, Four Lions' Chris Morris and, most recently, Rich Peppiatt for Kneecap.) Speaking with Concrete Playground again now, Wells is grateful for the opportunities that Aftersun's recognition gave her to share in that success with its cast and crew, and with her family. "I kind of took each of them as an opportunity to recognise different people who had a role in the shaping of the film," she explains.
For portraying Calum, father to 11-year-old Sophie (then-debutant Frankie Corio), in a movie that sees the adult version of the latter (Celia Rowlson-Hall, Vox Lux) look back on the dad and daughter's 1999 holiday to Turkey, Paul Mescal (Gladiator II) earned his own acclaim for Aftersun: an Oscar nomination for Best Actor, and the same recognition from the BAFTAs, Gotham Awards, Film Independent Spirit Awards and a wealth of critics' associations, plus winning the field at the Irish Film and Television Awards. Speaking about the experience to GQ in 2024, he shared that he was keen to have "a De Niro–Scorsese relationship" with Wells. She's eager to collaborate again as well, she tells Concrete Playground. "I'm excited to work with him again."
Casting Aftersun wasn't simple, Wells stressed to us in 2023. "I think when before I worked on things that were inspired by experiences that I had or people that I knew, my instinct was always to cast away, as far away as possible, and that was my instinct here — and yet I was constantly drawn back, apparently, as Barry Jenkins [the Moonlight, If Beale Street Could Talk and Mufasa: The Lion King filmmaker produced Aftersun] likes to point out in public when we're together, to people who were fairly close in resemblance to their sources of inspiration. And that was really challenging in the casting process," Wells told us at the time.
"And Lucy [Pardee], our casting director, was really patient with me as I was constantly articulating wanting something and then responding to something very different, and I think that's just the push and pull of one's subconscious throughout this process. And some things were easier to separate from myself than others. Casting proved to be really quite tricky in that way. But ultimately, I don't think it was a physicality that I responded to most of all, but I think it was an energy more that I was looking for. I think it was the stability that I feel in Paul, and the vulnerability that he's able to portray."
Back to 2025: in Melbourne for her Bright Horizons Jury President stint, Wells also chatted with us about Aftersun's BAFTA, the film's resonance with and love from audiences, becoming closer with Mescal and Corio while actually taking the movie around the world, and, yes, what's next.
Stuart Wilson/BAFTA/Getty Images for BAFTA
On Aftersun's Widespread Recognition, Including Winning the BAFTA for Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer — and Its BAFTA Scotland Award Wins
"The special thing about home screenings and home awards was the opportunity to share it with my family. My mum and brother were there that night, and the film team. Any time I was anywhere with our crew, in whatever configuration that was — that night was with my producers and Paul and Frankie — it was just a really special place to be. I just enjoy all of those people so much.
And that felt like in many ways — I think that was the last event that Frankie, or maybe there were a few in the US after, but if felt like one of the last events with kind of all of us there, and it felt like very much the peak, I think, collectively of that experience for the three of us, Paul, Frankie and I.
It was a really special night, and it definitely helped the film continue to be seen and pick up momentum with audiences. It played really well in the UK, which was a really special thing.
But more than anything, I think about that night, I think about having my mum there and just having the opportunity to acknowledge her. I think that's what was so nice about many of the award ceremonies is, I kind of took each of them as an opportunity to recognise different people who had a role in the shaping of the film — either directly, like our team, or indirectly, like family."
On If Wells Has Any Thoughts on Why Aftersun Resonated So Strongly with Audiences
"Yeah. Maybe. No. I don't know.
I think there's something about a parent-child relationship that is a lot more relatable than I maybe thought. I had always thought personally of Aftersun as Sophie story, I suppose because to the degree it was a personal film, that was my story, and I saw the film as being through her eyes — and the overarching point of view of the film was Sophie as an adult looking back.
I didn't really count on so many people connecting with Calum, which I think really broadened people who felt like the film was also about or for them.
But I think ultimately, themes of grief, specifically parental grief and that pivotal coming-of-age moment — not just for Sophie age 11 or so, but also for Calum kind of tipping into his 30s, just connected with a lot of people.
I think the alchemy of those things together just gave it a certain reach. At least, that's how I think about it. But I'm always curious on other people's take on this, because it's just a special thing, I think — a moment in time where people happen to connect with something that you've made.
I think it's always hard to identify exactly why, but those are the things I tend to think of when I reflect back on it — and I consider that every film I make will not be about themes or characters that can connect with so many people."
Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images
On Paul Mescal Saying That He Wants to Have "a De Niro-Scorsese Relationship" with Wells
"I love Paul. I'm excited to work with him again, and definitely giving present consideration as to what that next project will be.
It's kind of funny, because I think on set, Frankie and Paul really had the closest relationship between the three of us — and that was what was important. That was the most-important thing to me, was that those two were connecting and that they had a foundation on which to build the performances on-screen. But really afterward and through the distribution and sharing of the film, I really got to know both of them a lot better.
So it's kind of a funny thing. I feel like the three of us became a lot closer in the sharing of the film than we were on set, just because we were pulled in the directions of our respective roles there.
So it will be really nice to get back on set with Paul at some point and have that foundation, and I think we were able to have a certain trust in the making of Aftersun that you're able to have in a feature that is very difficult in a short. The idea of building on that in future projects is really exciting.
Yeah, I'm all for it."
On How Taking the Film Around the World, Including Festivals and at Awards Ceremonies, Brought Wells, Mescal and Frankie Corio Closer Together
"I think for a film, the vast majority of it is not production — unfortunately, because production is, in so many ways, the most-fulfilling part, at least for the director. It's the part I would like to be experiencing a lot more often, but it's really the shortest part.
You're editing for two, three, four times as long. You're writing for many times more than that. And then you're promoting the film for more as well.
So yeah, it's a funny thing. I think people tend to think about production itself, but it's just a small, although very important, obviously, part of the process of making a film."
On What's Next for Wells — What She Can Share Right Now, At Least
"Can? Want to? I think I went into this post-Aftersun process wanting not to be in the position I'm in right now again, which is to say not knowing exactly what comes next.
I think I had a fancy of when I got into the edit for Aftersun I would start writing again, which really turned out to be not so much a fancy as a delusion as to what's possible — because the edit process was so consuming.
And I took a bit of time. It was nice to have that time just to live my life a little bit again. And I wanted to know not just what's next, but what's next after that, so inevitably that takes a little bit of time.
So now there are a few things in the works, I suppose, is all I'll say — a couple of which are kind of New York-based, where I've lived for a long time now, which is exciting."
The 2025 Melbourne International Film Festival runs from Thursday, August 7–Sunday, August 24 at a variety of venues around Melbourne; from Friday, August 15–Sunday, August 17 and Friday, August 22–Sunday, August 24 in regional Victoria; and online nationwide from Friday, August 15–Sunday, August 31. For further details, visit the MIFF website.
Aftersun is available to stream via SBS On Demand and iTunes. Read our review, and our interview with Wells from 2023.
Aftersun images: Sarah Makharine.