Paul Andrew Williams returns to the big screen in his signature style. After making a name for himself through violently grim films such as The Cottage and London to Brighton, Williams has flitted between TV and feature projects. After a string of small-screen gigs, he returns with Dragonfly, a grim drama starring two of the finest actors working today: Andrea Riseborough and Brenda Blethyn. As pensioner Elsie (Blethyn) begins a heart-warming friendship with young neighbour Colleen (Riseborough), Williams' penchent for tension bubbles to the surface in shocking ways.

Dragonfly played in competition at the Dinard British & Irish Film Festival, winning the best film award. Before the winners were announced, FILMHOUNDS got to sit down with Williams and chat about the film. We learnt that getting two extraordinary actors as your leads is no easy feat. And as it turns out, Blethyn saved the entire project. “We did have someone else in the role of Elsie”, revealed Williams. “Two weeks before we started prep, they pulled out for various reasons. And we were like, ‘Okay, we are really in the shit.' The day before, we were talking about paying everyone off—everyone who'd already worked on it—and stopping, she said yeah.”

Although there's a wonderful relationship brewing between Elsie and Colleen, this is a Paul Andrew Williams film at the end of the day. Making audiences on edge is a side effect of all of Williams' work, but how does he achieve that in particular with Dragonfly? “I think we bring our own tension to it because of what subconscious opinions we put on the characters”, he explains. “We make a judgment already, straight away. And then that fuels our tension… you know, with a little bit of help from music and camerawork and performance.”