Nelly Ben Hayoun-Stépanian (she/they) is a visionary filmmaker, designer, and advocate for plural thinking. With over a decade of work blending science, politics, and the arts, her projects span collaborations with NASA, global musicians, and international film festivals, including Cannes and SXSW. She is the founder of the tuition-free University of the Underground and a leader in space exploration research, tackling themes of gender, collective trauma, and decolonial futures.
Can you tell us a bit about yourself and your background in filmmaking? What inspired you to pursue a career in the film industry?
Hello! I am Nelly and I am so thrilled and excited to be one of the Berlinale Talents 2025! I can't wait to meet everyone and to contribute, I am bringing all my drawing pens, cameras and all! I am sooo ready! I have been ready for it before I was even born! I am a multidisciplinary artist, filmmaker and designer of 'extreme' experiences- literally extreme is my thing, hahaha- find me in platinum mines hunting for the worms of hell, or training special forces like FEMA for asteroid impact, or astronauts in analogue space cave in Cantabria, Spain.
I make feature films investigating topics such as the origins of knowledge and totalitarian regimes but also the next phase of humanity in space, my films work to platform diasporic and queer ecofeminist visions. I do like shorts also, but I prefer to programme them at the London Short Film Festival for example- we did a series on queer extraterrestrial focus films recently- called Alien Extravaganza.
Film has always been a part of my heritage, I am half Armenian and half Algerian born in France (but living in the UK for the past 18 years... very much a Londoner!) and of course I am born watching Parajanov's films like 'The color of Pomegranates'. I started using a VHS camera when I was 12 and I have never stopped using it to document my family and life experiences. The archive and the role of the archive or documentation for a diaspora like the one of the Armenians who have survived the Armenian genocide is paramount. I do think it is in my DNA, the urge to maintain knowledge and protect it from erasure. Documentation was key to the recognition of the Armenian Genocide by nation-states all accross the world- so yes, film, pictures, words, art can do that- and I am just following that tradition. Although I'd say that I am very much doing it with my own paste, always with a sense of urgency and at speed- I know these words 'speed and urgency' don't fit well with films as it often takes years to get a feature made but for me it is essential to push through and get things done with energy and stamina.
When not making films or taking pictures with my Lomography camera, I can be found generating dark energy in people's kitchen sink, giving members of the public the experience of a rocket liftoff in their living room while a volcano is erupting in their lounge and a sonic boom is happening in their bathroom. In everything I do, I work to make accessible some of the sublime in science, questioning our modes of references along the way and offering alternative visions for the future while investigating alien territories. I make subversive multifaceted events and experiences; a multiverse of projects at all scales from the bottom of the sea to outer space: I founded an orchestra at NASA called the International Space Orchestra and a free pluralistic and transnational university called the University of the Underground, a nationwide LGBTQ+ free festival called Tour de Moon supporting youth countercultures, experimental practices and pluralistic futures and now I am working on a free cosmic takeover of London's West End, called Piccadilly Un:Plugged.
Now another aspect of what I do is to work to decolonise and demilitarize outer space (and ultimately earth... as the two are very much connected), and this involves work around space governance, politics and policy, for example I founded the Decolonial Practices in Space session and Space Culture session at the International Astronautical Federation- working to address oppressive narratives and systemic racism in the space sector; and the Experiences department at the SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) Institute which work to extend space outreach and education activities in terms of scope, scale, public and methods of engagement towards architecture, installations, immersive environments, social systems, performances, experiences, experiments and narratives as events. So on a day to day, my creative practice is very hybrid, fluid and nothing is ever the same, I like to be challenged and so I enjoy moving from one space to another and collaborating with many different perspectives. I have a radio show where I like to interview thinkers on different themes- it is a little wild but if you want a listen, head to Worldwide FM for the Nelly Boum show.
What does being part of Berlinale Talents mean to you? Is there something about the city that resonates with your creative process?
It means being able to meet with a lot of brilliant filmmakers, getting challenged by new perspectives, learning new things and being open to new practices. It is like going back to school, but with classmates you probably will keep in touch with for the rest of your journey. It is exhilarating, youthful, joyful, playful and I 100000% want to be a part of it. I have never been to Berlinale before but I have been watching the films selected in Panorama for example for years. I am so thrilled to attend this year- also Tricia Tuttle used to run the BFI London Film Festival and I am a huge fan of hers and the work she did in London- so I am excited to see the programme she has put together. Berlin- is a place I do love and I find some inspiring with some of the greatest musicians also- Lucrecia Dalt, Colin Self, Rueben Uvez- big fan of them and I have very close friends in Berlin also that I have known for more than 20 years so I am so so so excited to come. HELLO BERLIN, Ich bin ein Berliner!
How do you balance expressing your unique voice while creating work that resonates with audiences around the world?
Tough question, and multilayered answer. When I make a film- and I know it is different for everyone- I always think about the audience and the music they listen to. I make feature documentaries, and with that medium you very much build the film and the edit of the film as reality unroll in front of your eyes and the camera- I never script a documentary, I always capture as I go along, I interview, and record thinking about the beat of the music that will intercut the film, before I start a film I have a soundtrack in place and this is what guide me through the process. In that- music is good to identify an audience at the beginning of the process- before you even know what the final outcome will be. It also allows me to be very fluid along the way and non linear and that is key to the way I make my movies.
Now there is a more philosophical question at stake here. I work to support plurality in everything I do. I aim to challenge ideologies and of course, I work to act against totalitarian and colonial regimes (one fundamental of these regimes is of course ideology and the ideology they are enforcing). A big part of the decolonial process is to work towards a universalism. Although this is far from being a linear process, I'd say that the core of postcolonial thoughts function as follows: plurality of thought and expression, decolonial practices and then universalism. Film, music, art can all be expressions of that universalism but also I believe nature and the cosmos have a role in that also. I have so much more to say about this topic and it is in fact one of the themes of my new film Heartsnatcher which is currently in development! I'd recommend the readings of Frantz Fanon, Souleymane Bachir Diagne and Paul B Preciado on the topic of universalism/ universality and counterfactual histories.
This year’s theme is 'Listen Courageously – Cinematic Narratives in Times of Dissonance.' How does the theme connect to your work and the stories you want to tell?
Another brilliant topic! "There are no dangerous thoughts, Thinking itself is dangerous" said Hannah Arendt! I did a movie about her and I went to interview her former students in 2019- called I am (Not) a monster (you can find it on YouTube or Netflix), I think for me- courage is very much intertwine with danger- one feel courageous or one is deemed to be courageous when one is going against the status quo. In that- going against the status quo, one can become a pariah (these are all very much Arendt's topics!), and so it can be a dangerous process. Whatever I do- I do it as a means of resistance to existing power structures and definitely patriarchal societies, making use of my imagination freely is definitely not something to be taken for granted and I very much think this is a work in progress, one that I tell in my films! :-)