Harry Potter star shares magic of film-making ahead of Lincoln premiere

Actor and director Bonnie Wright, known for her role as Ginny Weasley in the Harry Potter films, will premiere her new short film in Lincoln this week.

It’s part of new cultural programme Mansions of the Future, which is drawing national and international artists to the city.

Bonnie chose the new arts centre to launch her UK premier of Medusa’s Ankles, which features two fellow Harry Potter actors, and will be played for public audiences within a working city centre salon.

The piece is based on a short story by Man Booker prize winner AS Byatt.

It’s a story which explores the relationship of a middle-aged classics professor Suzannah (Kerry Fox) and a salon owner Lucian (Jason Isaacs – aka Harry Potter’s Lucius Malfoy).

Suzannah’s image and desire for a ‘natural hairstyle’ is central to the story, which points out the differences in the way we view ourselves.

The international premiere presented in Sincil Salon in Lincoln is a free, public premiere over three days, Thursday, May 24 to Saturday, May 26.

Bonnie Wright worked from 2001 to 2011 playing the part of the fiery-haired Weasley sweetheart who won the affection of the most famous wizard of them all.

In all eight films of the Harry Potter series, she worked with Christopher Colombus, Alfonzo Cuaron, Mike Newell and David Yates.

Her directorial debut was Cannes Film Festival premiered Separate We Come, Separate we Go (2012), followed by two music videos. She followed with a documentary short about the craftsmanship behind her parents’ jewellery business.

Wright’s latest works include a series of 12 short films under a full moon and a web series set in New York called Phone Calls, exploring the way people talk to one another.

Bonnie Wright said: “As a director, I want to make films which make the most fleeting moments and intimately felt emotions universal rather than lonely; the points in life where you think “maybe I’m the only one thinking this?”

“I want to reveal emotions and beliefs which lie obscured by the barriers we put up, from fear of being judged or abandoned. Exploring themes which resonate with me; landscape, love and loss, redemption and the process of realisation, perfect or partial.”

The Mansions of the Future project is run by the Lincoln Cultural and Arts Partnership, working with Thirteen Ways, Lincoln Arts Triust, the University of Lincoln and Open Plan.

The three-year scheme was made possible thanks to Arts Council England’s Ambition for Excellence funding and a wave of local support.