Interview With Nicola Rose, Writer and Director of "Magnetosphere"
Nicola Rose joined me for a chat about her latest film, a fun and tender look at the intersection of synesthesia and puberty. Learn more at Magnetosphere.com/movie.
00:00 Adolescence, Identity, and Synesthesia
03:55 Embracing Synesthesia's Unique Gift
08:18 Dance Moms Window Watching
11:58 Portraying Synesthesia and Self-Discovery
16:22 Film's Core Audience: Neurodivergent Families
19:36 Maggie's Subplot Character Connections
21:14 Finding "Magnetosphere"
Watch the trailer here:
Here’s where you can find your favorite place to see the full movie with your family:
http://freestyledigitalmedia.tv/film/magnetosphere
Nicola wrote an article for Talkhouse about synesthesia and how it led her right back to her own ‘weird brain’:
“Music in the Key of Blue: How Making a Film About a Teen With Synesthesia Helped Me Discover My Own Neurodivergence”
“13-year-old Maggie, shy and awkward, moves to a new town. She gets bullied, falls in love, struggles with herself. She suspects, rightly, that she experiences the world differently from others, in a more heightened way – by turns pleasurable, troublesome, and sometimes even ugly. A cautious kid by nature, she tries to keep her sensory differences a secret. But they’re there all the same, and she doesn’t know why.
“Of course she doesn’t; like most of us, she doesn’t have a word for synesthesia. Simply put, synesthesia is a neurodivergence where two or more of your senses are combined. A person with synesthesia might hear color, see sounds, smell music, or experience any number of other sensory fusions…”
“Magnetosphere’s connections to neurodivergence (synesthesia and otherwise) ultimately went even further. It turned out a number of the cast were neurodivergent. Shayelin Martin and Patrick McKenna both have ADHD, which I am certain influenced their performances.”
Watch it and let us know your thoughts in the comments.
There’s an element of bullying in the film, and the difficulty of making new friends as someone who is neurodivergent. These themes are sensitively handled and child-friendly.
Let’s end with a quote from our conversation about why Nicola chose to treat this topic as a comedy:
“I think there's an inherent absurdity in a lot of life, and life is a lot of highs and lows and tragedy and comedy, and it seemed silly to depict adolescence without depicting the silliness and ridiculousness that goes with that time.”
A kinder future for our kids begins with kindness toward ourselves.
