THE FOSCHT TWINS AND ‘DAY OF A LION’: ACTING WITHOUT PERMISSION

INTERVIEW: BIANCA AND DILARA FOSCHT

BY RYAN M. LUEVANO

Acting is often regarded as one of the most frustrating art forms, primarily because actors rely on the permission of others—such as casting directors, directors and producers—to showcase their talent, to act. Coupled with the recent downturn in the film industry, many actors find themselves in a position where they must either attend acting classes, submit auditions, or create their own projects so that they can act. The latter is the path chosen by Bianca and Dilara Foscht, known as The Foscht Twins. Hailing from a small town in Austria, they honed their craft in Germany before making their way to Vancouver and ultimately settling in Los Angeles.

Upon arriving in the entertainment capital, they came prepared, bringing with them a completed feature film titled Day of A Lion (DOAL), which they wrote, directed, produced, and starred in. This psychological thriller centers on two sisters who return to their childhood home following their father’s death and are forced to confront buried secrets and unresolved issues. With DOAL, the Foscht Twins assert their independence as artists, demonstrating that they do not need permission from anyone to pursue their craft and act. The film not only serves as a gripping narrative but also as a powerful showcase of their acting abilities. There is no better “acting reel” than this compelling tour de force.

Fast forward to this summer, when Gravitas Ventures, in partnership with Shout Factory TV, has acquired Day of A Lion. The film is set for a digital and cable video-on-demand release on August 15th, 2025, available on platforms like Amazon Prime, Apple TV, and Dish. In this interview, Bianca and Dilara share their insights into the inspiration, challenges, and creative process behind the making of DOAL.

WATCH THE DAY OF A LION TRAILER BELOW:

Given that making films is a vehicle for your acting work, how did you balance filmmaking and your acting career?

FOSCHT TWINS:

I think acting, like filmmaking, and with filmmaking we are summarizing the craft of writing, directing, producing, but what all these crafts are, at the end of the day, is storytelling. It all comes down to creating a story that is truthful and that connects with us and with the audience on an emotional and intellectual level. As actors it is our goal to tell this story through the emotional layers of our characters. That doesn’t mean it needs to be pretty, it just needs to be truthful. As filmmakers we approach it the exact same way; if we as humans can connect with the humans on screen, if it evokes something in us by watching, be it pleasant or unpleasant, we know we are on the right track. There are a thousand questions to answer as an actor when diving into a role, a character, the same way the director has to make a thousand decisions on set, the producer has to make a thousand calls, and the writer has to make a thousand choices when creating the world. So when you think about it that way, acting doesn’t seem so different from the job of a filmmaker. If you look at all these crafts and realize that even though they require very different skills and activate very different parts of our brains, they all come down to the same goal; telling an engaging  story, you realize that the job of an actor and filmmaker is tightly connected.

What was the most challenging/favourite scene for you to film/act, and why?

There were countless challenging scenes in this film, as actors and filmmakers. I believe one of our  most challenging scenes as actors were the emotionally most charged ones. Dolly’s raging monologue about the inheritance and Wanda’s multilingual and multi-persona conversation between herself and her father were definitely a rollercoaster ride. Luckily, as actors and writers, we had spent so much time with the script, from the blank page to the spoken word, which helped a lot to find the deepest layers of each character to make the performances drop into a sincere place. Technically challenging were our steadicam shots. We didn’t have many, but the few we had were tricky due to limited space, time and equipment. We are very lucky that we had an incredible international team on board. Our director of photography Marco Lamera and our steadicam operator Jay Kamal were a dream team when it came to our creative shots and our steadicam scenes. Especially our odd dance scenes became highlights. We had limited time to rehearse so after a detailed outline of where we wanted to go with the scene and a fast blocking rehearsal we would start playback and our  magicians behind the camera would let their talents shine. We were stunned by what the whole team came up with, in such a  limited time frame.

Can you share any insights into the collaborative process during filming?

It was great fun. As creatives, but also as sisters, we have been nurturing the project from start to finish and we’ve been very grateful within the process to have someone to bounce ideas back and forth, double check story holes or little changes on the day. From the very beginning we called this film “our experiment.” We tried to avoid the phrase “we are making a film,” as glamorous and prestigious as it sounds, it would get us into a perfectionistic headspace. We thought, if we are making a movie, we want it to be perfect, it’s suddenly all about the result, but if we think about conducting an experiment, it means we can screw up as much as we want, because it will all be part of the learning process. Seeing ourselves rather as scientists gave us the freedom to explore, and try things out, since we knew that the learning experience, and the trial was the golden outcome. Growing up as competitive dancers and equestrians, getting rid of perfectionism and hyper-ambition is tricky. But with this new way of thinking we’d be open to creativity and bounce off of the ideas of our fantastic team.

Generally how we like to explain our workflow: “We are like a train; Bianca is the engine that unstoppably runs on high speed with energy and stamina that could supply a whole football team. Dilara is the train driver that makes sure the train is not crashing into any rocks along the way, smartly finding the most adventurous track for the Foscht Twins Train to follow.”

How did you approach the multilingual aspects of the film?

We are very grateful that we had an amazing team on board, including three language consultants for our interwoven dialogue of English,German, French and Italian. As actors it was great fun to jump between several languages back and forth. It felt like changing your shoes every couple hours. A different language requires not only a different part of your brain but also a different part of your body. If you analyse different countries and their cultures and languages, you can see that their body languages are worlds apart. Playing with characters that are all over the place, born in Austria, raised in America and having studied abroad in France and Italy, gave us as actors a great whirlwind of behaviours and physicalities to play with.

What role did improvisation play in your performances, if any?

We believe the foundation of filmmaking is improvisation. No matter how well prepped you are before the day of shooting, you set your foot on set and a million things change. Every filmmaker has to improvise at some point or another, and even if it’s just a reassuring nod to the AD telling them we will get the next 20 pages done within the next hour. There is a quote that fits well here: “Life is a joyride for those that enjoy the ride”. When making a film, you better enjoy the ride, because it might get wild.

As actors it is always a great gift to get to improvise on set. For this film we stuck very closely to the script. We rehearsed the complete film almost like a theatre play. We would be able to play the story from the beginning to the end, about 2 hours of screen time, all the way through. That sort of precise preparation helped us on the day when we had to change things, or improvise on the spot, mostly because of time or space reasons.

Can you discuss the importance of independent filmmaking in telling stories like Day of a Lion?

Absolutely! For us, independent filmmaking means “saying yes to the impossible”. As independent storytellers we live and thrive in the nature of having too little time, money and resources, but the beauty is that those restrictions give the indie filmmaker a chance to be creative. Not having all the resources that a big budget studio film has available, helps us make bold choices and dwell in the uncomfort until we find a solution to make it work. In this regard we are very lucky we got to learn a lot from our mentor Michael Goi, who we call a magician when it comes to smart filmmaking and creating incredible effects and finding solutions on the spot to make the story work. With that mindset and the belief that indie filmmaking sparks passion for mysterious, dangerous and new storytelling, the indie filmmaker seems to reach further. Day of a Lion was shot within 13 days on a shoestring budget and until today we don’t know how we made it possible. Indie filmmaking gives talented craftsmen the opportunity to do some magic when everyone else thinks it will never work. At the end of the day it is all about saying yes to the challenge and the adventure. Saying yes before you’re ready. We strongly believe that independent cinema holds the secret ingredient for innovation. The indie filmmaker has nothing to lose, so you might as well jump into the wildest waters and then find a way to swim.

What do you think is the most important message of Day of a Lion?

Hmmm, that’s a great one. We think cohesively the story and the making of the film convey the message “don’t be shy to be different”. Even though the story tackles broken characters and plays with the idea of exploring psychologically drained identities, we want to leave it to the audience of what they take away from it. This film can be a very uncomfortable experience as we pull themes like  trauma and longing for love  into the spotlight, told through an innocent sister story.

We wanted to create an experimental, multifaceted motion picture bound together by the belief that art should express emotion,- challenging this era’s social conservatism in the process. A compelling story, inspired by German’s expressionism and European cinema. The film is built like the “Kammerspiele”, a style of “one location-set” theater production in Germany, established in the 1910s and 1920s.

This film focuses on the raw approach of cinematography and storytelling that connects story, character and stained emotions. With unconventional colors we wanted to emphasize angled and broken architecture of the set, the extreme light/shadow and focus on showcasing our inner emotions rather than attempting to replicate reality.

Finally, what are you most excited about for the film’s release in August 2025?

We are very excited and incredibly grateful that this film, this experiment, gets its release on August 15th on Amazon Prime, Apple TV, Spectrum and more. As actors first, we are excited that people get to see a tiny glimpse of our curiosity in stained characters and challenging circumstances. While Dilara brings the great romantic period piece atmosphere to the film, Bianca covers the rosy surface with her curiosity in the dark, horrific corners of character and story. We are excited for people to see it, and stimulate audiences intellectually and emotionally in hopefully refreshingly delightful and uncomfortable ways.

PREORDER DOAL ON APPLE TV

CONNECT WITH THE FOCHT TWINS ON SOCIAL MEDIA

DAY OF A LION ON IG: https://www.instagram.com/dayofalion.film/

FOSCHT TWINS ON IG: https://www.instagram.com/foschttwins/

BIANCA FOSCHT ON IG: https://www.instagram.com/biancafoscht/

DILARIA FOSCHT ON IG: https://www.instagram.com/dilara_foscht/