Interview with Joshua Sowden: The Book of the Witch
Hi Joshua, how are you?
Joshua- I’m good. Thank you. I saw your Instagram post talking about The Book of the Witch.
I loved the movie. I genuinely appreciate that you didn’t give us witches a hokey love and light witch. I loved the grittiness. I have a gift myself from my mom. I appreciate the darkness, the grittiness of this film. It’s so beautiful.
Joshua- Oh, that’s so cool. Ali Williams who plays the witch has that same kind of intuition. She knows some witches as well. She was so into it before we started filming. We did a deep dive while we worked on the character.
How did this manifest for you?
Joshua- I’ll give you the shortest version I can. It started with my first feature-film that I shot entirely by myself called Extramundane, and at the end of that film… *spoiler alert* This book appears, and it’s the book you see in The Book of the Witch. I wanted to think about where the book came from. I always wanted to tell a witch story. I have always wanted to tell an old school style witch story. Ali is so talented. I lived with her when I first to moved to L.A. I wanted to hire someone that could handle all of this, and Ali was the first person who came to mind. She does cosplay, and she is into all of this. I don’t know if you know this, but it was just two of us. It was a two-person crew, and we shot this film with a two-person crew in six days with a twelve-thousand-dollar budget. I am trying to find every avenue of who can do what, and we discussed the history of Ali’s witch. We kept the classic witch outfit, and the detail that Ali put in to everything was so detailed. It was part of the process.
That’s what I loved about The Book of the Witch… I watched this movie, and I fell in love. You could feel everything from Ali, and you think, okay… Maybe it will go one way, but I was so happy, and surprised. It was gritty, and stunning. It made me think of the Hammer films. It spoke to me. I loved Danny. He is so funny and the twist (I won’t give anything away. YOU HAVE TO WATCH THE MOVIE.) I loved Krishna Smith. What was it like working with the cast?
Joshua- It was a true joy. I had worked with some of these actors previously. Krishna has such a presence to her. I was working on the script, and I thought, she can run with this. Danny was someone I had seen work in acting class, and I always wanted to work with him. I loved the cast. When you are shooting with a two-person crew, it becomes so collaborative. We wanted to make the twist make sense.
Did you shoot in various locations? It felt like you were shooting in the desert.
Joshua- Yes, there were multiple locations, and we did shoot in a desert area. The scene in the desert was shot in one day. We also shot in an office building.
How did you feel when you found out The Book of the Witch was chosen to be premiered at Panic Fest 2025?
Joshua- Oh man, it’s been great. I’m proud of the film. I did not get to be there but the love has been great.
It was great to see an open film. It was great to see a woman fully embracing this. The story showed what you could accomplish and do as a filmmaker. So, thank you for that.
Joshua- Thank you. I love that horror gives you the ability to question everything.
With Self Esteem Productions, do you accept scripts? How did that start?
Joshua- Yes! I started it because I knew I was going to make movies. The first one I made was around 2018. This is where I wanted to be, and I was comfortable behind the camera. I’m on YouTube. I did annual Halloween short films. We kind of do it all.
What are working on next, and what would like to say to everyone that will be watching The Book of the Witch?
Joshua- I hope that people connect with the characters. I hope they enjoy the film, but I hope they ask questions. I’m currently writing my next feature film.
Thank you so much, Joshua for taking the time to talk to me for Horrornews.net. Congratulations on everything, and being part of Panic Fest 2025.
Joshua- Thank you.
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