Interview: Anna Maguire Talks New Film ‘Hi! You Are Currently Being Recorded’

Anna Maguire stars, co-writes, and co-directs a stunning short titled Hi! You Are Currently Being Recorded, which just had its world premiere at the 2024 Fantasia International Film Festival. In a recent interview with Jaylan Salah from Geek Vibes Nation, Maguire talks about parodying herself, voyeurism and the different camera angles used to shoot a film blurring the line between fiction and reality.

Geek Vibes Nation (Jaylan Salah): What compelled you to co-create this story with Kyle Greenberg?

Anna Maguire: Kyle and I went for a similar walk the week before, which was the first time I had heard the dreaded: ‘Hi! You are currently being recorded’ IRL. Art imitates life!

GVN: What were your first impressions of the character you portrayed in this film?

AM: Because it’s a kind of hybrid piece, and we wrote the character actively parodying me (the character is also called Anna), I don’t think I had first impressions in the way your question intimates. The way we made the film and the way we’re making our subsequent films blur the line between fiction and reality and it’s fun to send ourselves up, while also asking questions about the world that we live in and how we feel about that both as ourselves and as our ‘characters’.

GVN: How do you think the direction maintains a sense of loneliness throughout the film through the use of wide shots and the tracking camera following the protagonist (you)?

AM: We wanted to build a visual language based on a sense of surveillance and what it feels like to be tracked and watched – so wides and a tracking camera were important to the tone. I’m glad you found that to be effective in communicating loneliness and isolation – that was what we were going for!

GVN: How do you think Hi! You Are Currently Being Recorded comments on modern-day “invited voyeurism” in terms of live feeds and overwhelming social media presence?

AM: I think it deals more with uninvited voyeurism – both on the street and in the home – because invited voyeurism can be sexy and consensual, but this isn’t sexy at all. That’s what struck us when we were taking our walk – we were just trying to find a nature trail and instead, we were trailed… So we made the film… Not to give too much away, but at the end, we wanted to play with how that kind of uninvited voyeurism has found its way into our homes too – we are always being recorded, whether we like it or not.

GVN: There’s a common theme of cameras in the film, where the person being recorded is recording, pointing the camera in the face of the audience as if snapping a picture of them; how do you think these scenes help you in telling your story?

AM: There’s digital, analog, 360, VHS, stills… lots of different ‘recording’ going on in the film, you’re right. Anna, the character, and I like to take photos. I’ve been taking photos with an analog point-and-shoot for so many years now. I often think about the ethics of photographing people I don’t know when they don’t know they are being snapped – I don’t do it very often because it feels icky. To me anyway. I like to ask for permission, even if this changes the moment slightly. I guess that’s why I’ve tended towards fiction. Anyway…. I think the photograph that Anna takes in the film is very different from the tracking that is happening to Anna. Her photograph is about beauty and is a very personal, intimate moment that I hope reflects a grounding moment for her, whereas ring cameras and their ilk are about paranoia and fear. Sure you can say it’s about safety too, but this particular concept of safety is built upon the notion that everyone is out to get you. Which doesn’t augur well for our world…

GVN: You succeeded in portraying a woman trying to survive a hostile environment from start to end, how do you think that helps in showcasing that the excess of communication we live in has compounded our isolation?

AM: When Kyle and I went for our initial walk, we just wanted to move a bit, find some nature, enjoy the day, and escape our computer-based work for a little while. What we found instead was yes, as you put it, a hostile environment. Obviously, we built on our own experience of it – we heightened it and made it more internal and paranoid – but I’m not sure it’s about the excess of communication. Not that that doesn’t play a part in the hostile environment of the world we live in – however I would say that more communication is good! I wouldn’t say however, that ring cameras and automated viewing of others without consent (does a disembodied digital voice telling you you are being recorded count as consent? Maybe legally it does but it doesn’t seem to me that it does…) counts as communication. If anything, Anna’s phone call to her friend back home gets interrupted as there is no cell signal – she is actively cut off from meaningful, grounding communication.

GVN: As a storyteller and actress, what is the most important theme that you want audiences to take from your film?

AM: People have taken different things from it and that’s fine! Once you’ve made something and put it out there, it’s a free-for-all – everyone is entitled to their opinion.

GVN: Which were the most difficult scenes to shoot?

AM: It wasn’t very difficult to shoot in the traditional sense – it was just a group of friends, some old some new, spending a day together walking around a neighborhood in LA. It was a breath of fresh air and it gave me a new appreciation for making films again. I guess the most difficult thing was that before shooting the film I had sustained an injury to my foot, which has lingered and become something more chronic, but that’s another story… anyway, I guess walking around has been a little bit more difficult because of it. Obviously, we spent a lot of that day walking around…

GVN: In such an intense shoot, how do you as an actress find your core and safety while allowing yourself to be vulnerable on screen?

AM: Work with people you love!! Hold space for each other and have fun.

GVN: What are you working on after Hi! You Are Currently Being Recorded?

AM: I’m working on two features and Kyle and I have made another short, which he acts in this time, along with my cousin who is also a filmmaker, Arran Shearing. It’s very silly. Our wonderful editor, Saffron Weaver is working on it now. We’re also about to head to Galicia to shoot another short, made with friends who we met in Paris at the start of the year. The more I make films, the more I want to make films in a way that feels good and sustainable, something that the film industry at large can be quite bad at. Kyle and I are starting something called Stupid Co. that aims to do just that – make something sustainable in a world that is less and less interested in sustainability. 

Hi! You Are Currently Being Recorded premiered at the 2024 Fantasia International Film Festival. The film will next be available to watch virtually through Popcorn Frights starting August 8th in the United States. Additional festivals will continue to be announced in the near future.