Freya Silas Finch

Film-maker, theatre-maker, performer, photographer and cook.

Tāmaki Makaurau, Auckland, New Zealand
Freya wears pieces from our Wings collection
Interview & photography by Ike Conway

Introducing Freya, a film maker, creative, and friend of Sylvester. We chat about movies, creative process, and the Venice Film Festival.

Let’s start with who, what, where, are you?

I’m Freya, I’m a film-maker, theatre-maker, performer, photographer and cook. Currently I’m at the library smashing out some mahi! But more generally I live in Maungawhau with my partner, Cello.

You wrote and directed the film ’The Brightness’. What was your favourite moment creating the film? 

Oh, man. So hard to pick one moment. The whole thing was super special. My brother Emile was in the lead role of the film and I remember on the final night of shooting, we’d wrapped at about 3am, him and I were driving home and we had that amazing mix of exhaustion and happiness. It felt euphoric I guess. I’ve always wanted to make films and we’d gone and made one.

The Brightness was selected as part of the Venice film festival in 2025. What was the Venice film festival like? 

Wild! I love Venice so much. It’s an amazing city. It was really surreal and magic to have our short play there. The festival buzz can be kind of overwhelming, but we kept things grounded by swimming in the sea every day and eating good food.

Creativity ebs and flows, do you have any particular muses or rituals that aid in the creative process? 

At the moment, I just make sure I sit down at my desk everyday and put something on the page. When I was in the thick of working on The Brightness, I would meditate every day, on set too. Looking through photography books at the library is a huge source of inspiration for me. And presently I’m avoiding as much distraction as I possibly can and getting into nature when I can, so that ideas can filter through in the quiet moments where the mind gets to wander.

Wings of Desire is a favourite movie of yours, and it’s the inspiration behind our latest collection. What do you love about the movie and which piece from the collection did you take home? 

I love it’s slow, gliding pace, it feels like a portrait of a time and place through a spiritual or philosophical lens. It’s also beautifully shot, some amazing images that stay with you long after watching it. I took home a pair of the Berlin pants in Charcoal, stoked.

What are you working on currently?

I’m writing two feature films at the moment, one is a contemporary piece which is very here and now, and the other is a period piece set in the 1500s so it’s a nice vibe switching between them. I’m also keen to shoot another short film early next year and I’m drafting that up. And I’m compiling a bunch of imagery from the show A Slow Burlesque, which I made in 2024 with an incredible group of collaborators, to turn it into a book.

and lastly, what are you currently watching / reading / listening to right now?

After seeing Sentimental Value, I’ve been watching all of Joachim Trier’s earlier films, so good. I also saw Mārama yesterday, incredibly powerful film and I think everyone ought to watch it. I’m enjoying looking through a beautiful book called Black Milk that dear friends got me for my thirtieth birthday, it documents a dance-theatre piece made by Douglas Wright. I’m listening to Big Thief’s album Double Infinity on repeat and enjoying the debut release from Aotearoa super group Moving Rooms.