On Tuesday, Sept. 24, writer and director Ingrid Jungermann spoke with students about their work in film and television, in an event co-sponsored by Wellesley’s departments of English and Creative Writing, and Cinema and Media Studies. Jungermann is best known for two web series, “The Slope” and “F to 7th,” as well as their debut feature film, “Women Who Kill,” which won the Independent Spirit Award for Best First Screenplay and the Tribeca Film Festival Jury Prize for Best Screenplay. 

The writer-director discussed how many of their works, including “F to 7th” and “Her Kind,” originated as exciting projects to collaborate on with their friends and loved ones — for example, Jungermann’s girlfriend is the star of “Her Kind.” They emphasized the fun, communal aspect of filmmaking and the creative process more generally. No matter how you make the project, Jungermann said, “if the writing is strong, people will respond to it and want to do it with you — people that you might be surprised would say yes.” 

After sharing a scene from “Women Who Kill,” they reflected on how making their films has impacted their understanding of their own identity. “[Women Who Kill] was very much about the binary I was finding within the queer community. Not surprisingly, later, I was like, Oh, I’m non-binary. Cool,” they said. “I do think that making these personal things helps me to the next step of figuring out who I am. If I didn’t have them, I don’t know where I’d be.”

One student asked about how Jungermann decided to infuse their personal experiences into their work, how they have dealt with the vulnerability that comes with that process and how it has affected their writing.

“I think the only way to do it, to make something really beautiful, is to tell your secrets and be very vulnerable. It’s so uncomfortable and I’m so scared every time I put something personal in there — I kind of panic,” said Jungermann.

“I think part of the reason I’m drawn to genre … is that I can hide behind that genre. It’s not me and the audience. It’s me, and a joke, and the audience; it’s me, and a scare, and the audience … I can tell a fuller truth about myself, and expose myself in a way that’s much more intimate if I can hide behind genre.” 

Jungermann was frank about how frightening it was to honestly expose their struggles through fiction. “I was talking about things that other people weren’t talking about, and I didn’t know if it would be hated … But then I found that all these people felt like I did [about sexuality and gender], and I was shocked.” This reception to their work, even from those outside of the community, helped them to overcome those moments of doubt and remain authentic to their experiences. 

Jungermann concluded their talk with some pertinent advice for Wellesley students. “There’s work, there’s self, and there’s art, and sometimes those things aren’t overlapping. Work sustains you financially, and art sustains you. You have to balance those two things.” 

Contact the editors responsible for this article: Anabelle Meyers, Ivy Buck