Each week we'll be profiling one of the six finalists in this year's Orange FilmFour Prize For Short Film.

This week: Miranda Bowen, Writer/Director of Stagnate

Upon leaving St Martin's in 1998, Miranda (pictured left) set up an Arts organisation called The Glue Factory which aimed to promote fine art and film. She began working in the film industry in the Art Department and subsequently has concentrated on writing and directing in a more commercial capacity.

Miranda's credits include:

Daisy Chain - Writer/Director - 4min super 16mm. Distributed by the British Council. Selected for the Greenwich Film Festival.
La La Land - Writer - feature film script in development.
Fish Out Of Water - Writer/Director - Music video for MTV. Artist: Ejay.
Pitstop - Writer/Director - short film 10min super 16mm. Screened at the Manhattan Film Festival, Raindance Film Festival and the Manchester Kino Festival
The Myth Of Amphisbaena - Writer/Director/Actress - short film 6min super 16mm. Screened at the Bradford Film Festival, Manchester Kino Festival, Rushes Short Film Festival, Greenwich Film Festival, Seattle Film Festival, spot on dazed & confused TV, Channel 4 and various art galleries.

Miranda has many interests outside film including photography, art, food, books, swimming, theatre, dance and politics.

Miranda's shortlisted film is called Stagnate. Mildred sits in the foyer of the corporate home of Funtime, the holiday PR company. She has to answer calls and greet clients, but nobody even looks at her as they breeze through. She carefully, precisely tends to her plants and sharpens her pencils, until one day she finds a huge pink flower on her tongue...

We asked Miranda to tell us more about herself and Stagnate.

I graduated from Central St Martins what feels like a very long time ago, but is probably more like three or four years. Not really sure where the time has gone. Quite frightening in fact. I tried quite hard to be 'an artist' for a while but gave up when overnight fame didn't work out! Since then I have been making funny little films that very rarely see the light of day (not that films generally do in the literal sense!). Oh and I quite enjoy cooking. And eating.

Did you think that you had a good chance of getting onto the shortlist for the Orange FilmFour Prize?

I genuinely hadn't a clue. You never know what you're up against regardless of your experience or (if you're lucky) talent. Never doubt the competition!

How long did it take you to write Stagnate?

A fair few years of research went into Stagnate before pen was put to paper. Perhaps three years of 'research' doing soulless office jobs is a little excessive for a five minute film but at least no one can accuse me of not knowing my subject matter! It took many years of martyring myself to the corporate merry-go-round to conjure up an utterly convincing depiction of a receptionist literally receding into anonymity.

What was your inspiration for Stagnate?

Arnold Schwarzenegger blowing away evil doers in just about every film he's ever been in. Or the equivalent from a receptionist's point of view. Doing mundane jobs with a repetitive nature day in day out over a long period of time makes you really pay attention to any aberration from the normal routine. So the smallest, most insignificant incident: a fluffed up, self important businessman tripping over a piece of carpet in the reception area, someone losing a contact lens, a wrong number, can take on action hero proportions when the highlight of your day is licking a stamp or two at 5pm.

What is your favourite film or short film and why?

That is a very mean question! I've tried hard to come up with one film that embodies everything you fall in love with cinema for, but how do you compare Leone's Once Upon A Time In The West and Kieslowski's A Short Film About Killing? Or Melville's The Samurai and Jane Campion's Sweetie. Or Roeg's Don't Look Now and Baz Luhrmann's Romeo and Juliet? Too difficult I'm afraid. Although if it's any concession I find that I can have film 'flings' where I'll unearth a film and become briefly utterly intoxicated by it - at the moment it's the 1978 version of Invasion Of The Body Snatchers with Donald Sutherland. It is curiously philosophical for a horror film and has utterly unexpected uncanny details that make it very original and fresh, even 25 years later. A simple moment like a leaf falling off a tree is imbued with more terror than all the Nightmares on Elm Street put together.

Who is your favourite director?

See above. Although directors vary according to their projects, I think David Lynch consistently makes original and compelling viewing. I even really love his 'flops' like Fire Walk With Me. Haunting images that remain with you long after you've forgotten the plot. Nic Roeg's films are also entrancing - amazingly stark and sensual imagery and, like Lynch, great use of sound that really penetrates your subconscious.

What are you most looking forward to about having your film made?

Attempting to apply all of the above!

What will you do with the money if you win the prize?

Eradicate famine and bring about world peace. Probably spend the next five years worrying about what to spend it on! Perhaps just on survival until I get 'a proper job' - Stagnate will ensure being sacked from my temping career I should think!

How did you find the day of the interviews ?

Threat of rain. And I got very lost and flustered and arrived eventually and spent the first ten minutes of the interview trying to remember the name of my project. Obviously no one noticed!

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