I started off as an actor and a playwright and I only started making films in my early 40s. Art is, as has been discussed many times, the great exploration of one’s self. And with film, you have the most collaborative mediums of all the artforms. So for me, to be able to make my film, on my terms, exploring my own self, in collaboration with a huge team of supporting artists and creatives who are essentially there to assist that exploration – is frankly the greatest privilege of all. It is the zenith of art – because you are deploying photography, sound, music, wardrobe, design, performance, text, editing and potentially a huge audience that can come back to your work many years after it has been made. It is the art form of artforms.

I have turned to short films in the past few years because of the absolute freedom one has to pursue this exploration. This is because short films can be made for a fraction of the cost of a feature film and one still gets to access all the various components of what Orson Welles described as a “giant train set”.

I have also attempted to embrace the short film form as its own artform. It should not be a “stepping stone” but its own unique form. With Office Song we were able to take risks and experiment and try things without knowing whether they would work or not. There is a lot of joy in this sort of exploration – free from commercial pressure. And it is very important that Beverly Hills Film Festival is recognized for its support of all these ideas when the judges award Office Song the prestigious award for Best Short. For me, it shows the festival is in alignment with all these ideas – which are so vital for keeping the artform alive, moving forward and engaging audiences.

A note from Marcus Markou