Anastasia Olowin is making a name for herself by starring in theatres in New York. Olowin is now stepping away from the stage to in front of the camera in her latest project 'Ben & Suzanne: A Reunion in 4 Parts' playing the lead role of Suzanne.

Olowin talks to us about her new project, filming in Sri Lanka and she gives us a sneak peek of what to expect from her next project 'Dead Dad Road Trip'.

We understand that your new film Ben and Suzanne: A Reunion in 4 Parts has been ten years in the making. It recently premiered at SXSW and was just at Bentonville and will soon be premiering in Munich, what has it been like finally getting to share this long time labor of love with audiences around the world?

It's been really, really special. Like you said, it's been a long time labor of love, so part of me was just content (and relieved!) that we were able to make it at all. And then to find out that we would be making our world premiere at SXSW was a total thrill. It's been so much fun to get to share our film there and at all of these wonderful festivals - the audiences have been really lovely; both our Brooklyn and Bentonville Film Festival screenings were sold out! And it's been very touching - and sometimes very funny - to read the Letterboxd reviews. I love that people are engaging with our film. 

How did you initially become involved with the project and could you have ever dreamed that it would take this path?

Oh wow - when I responded to a casting call for a short film ten years ago, I definitely could not have imagined we'd be here ten years later. The short was always meant to be a bit of a prologue to a feature, so I knew it would be part of a larger piece. What I couldn't have anticipated was meeting such smart collaborators who have also become dear friends, and that we would go on to make two other short films about Ben and Suzanne before finally shooting that feature last summer. Shaun Seneviratne, our director, was committed to us as actors and collaborators and really allowed these characters to evolve with us over the years - that is such a rarity in our industry and has been a real gift. 

You filmed entirely in Sri Lanka, what was it like spending all that time over there. Any suggestions of some out of the way places people should visit?

I loved Sri Lanka. I have to say first that our production crew was entirely local - only our cinematographer Molly Scotti came over from the US with myself, Shaun, and my co-star Sathya Sridharan - and they were so fantastic and such a pleasure to work with. Our film is a road trip movie so we were constantly on the move, traveling throughout the country to 40 locations in 17 days. The countryside itself is very beautiful and lush, and we had a lot of fun going out in Colombo. Sigiriya is an ancient rock fortress in the middle of the country which is stunning, as is the Dambulla cave temple nearby - both are featured in our film. We didn’t film here but ended up at Matawa beach (at the very south edge of the country) on an early location scout, and that was really gorgeous and peaceful.

What are some other foreign countries where you’d love to go film a movie?

This is a bit of a cop-out answer, but I’d love to shoot a film in a country I’ve never been to before - making a movie is such a unique way to experience a place for the first time. So maybe Japan, or Sweden, or Chile? If it’s a repeat visit, it would be a real treat to film something in France or Portugal. 

When we speak to you again in 10 years, what will we be talking about that has happened over those 10 years?

Well, hopefully I’ll have been filming internationally this whole time! 

Can you tell us more about your short film Dead Dad Road Trip, which you not only star in but also wrote and produced?

Every summer growing up my dad and I would take a road trip from our home in northern California to Ghost Ranch, in northern New Mexico, where he taught an annual course on archeoastronomy. Those trips were a really meaningful part of my childhood, and after he died I took that same drive with his ashes, which we scattered at Ghost Ranch. This short film was inspired by that experience - I co-wrote the script with Gabrielle Nadig, who also directed.

What are your summer plans?

I'm excited to head to Munich for Ben and Suzanne's international premiere! I've been fortunate to travel a lot, but I've never been to Germany, so I'm really looking forward to exploring the city as well as enjoying the festival. And I'll be making a couple of weekend trips to visit some dear friends once I get back to the States - we’ll be doing a “triathlon of leisure” which is entirely non-competitive and basically consists of any activity you can think of that feels relaxing. 

Favorite book? Favorite movie? Favorite song?

Two of my favorite books that I’ve read in the past couple of years have been “Excavations” by Kate Myers and “After the Hurricane” by Leah Franqui. Full disclosure I am friends with the authors, but in both cases it only took me a couple of pages to forget I’m reading a friend’s book and just fall into the story - they’re very different narratives that take place in Greece and Puerto Rico, respectively, and I really loved them both. Favorite movie is an impossible question! Daisies by Věra Chytilová is a classic for me, as are Cold War, The Lobster, In the Mood for Love, Death Becomes Her, Triangle of Sadness... honestly the list could go on. And I've seen some excellent new films on the festival circuit this year as well. Music is a little easier -  I've been listening to Beyoncé's album Cowboy Carter pretty much nonstop since it came out.