From Team GB to Bridgerton to LRFF – Genevieve Chenneour: Why Earning Her Stripes In Independent Film Matters

Genevieve Chenneour has experienced the scale of major television production, but as a jury member at the London Rolling Film Festival she told The Fan Carpet why collaboration, complex characters and independent filmmaking remain central to the performer she wants to become.

Genevieve Chenneour knows what a large-scale production looks like.

Her work has included Bridgerton, placing her inside one of television's most recognisable contemporary productions, while her career as a performer has developed alongside work across film and television.

But sitting on the jury at the London Rolling Film Festival offered Chenneour something rather different.

It placed her among independent filmmakers, watching work where limited resources often demand collaboration across almost every department.

And when The Fan Carpet asked what she looks for in a film, it was precisely that collaboration that came first.

BUILDING A CHARACTER TOGETHER

For Chenneour, a memorable screen character isn't created by an actor working in isolation.

She looks for the point where performance, direction, cinematography, costume and makeup come together to create somebody sufficiently complex that the audience immediately wants to understand them.

“I love a film where you can see an incredible collaboration between the actor, the director, the cinematographer, the costume department, makeup,” she told The Fan Carpet.

The result she is looking for is a character who feels “extremely complex and layered” — somebody who fascinates the viewer from the beginning and invites further exploration.

Serving on the LRFF jury has also given Chenneour an opportunity to examine that process repeatedly.

Rather than simply watching films for entertainment, she has been considering why particular films and performances work.

She described that as one of the most noticeable things she has learned through watching the festival's selections: recognising the ingredients that collectively make a great film.

BIG PRODUCTIONS AND INDEPENDENT FILM

Chenneour has worked at the other end of the production spectrum too.

When we raised Bridgerton and asked how larger productions compare with independent filmmaking, she was careful not to frame one as inherently better than the other.

They're simply different experiences.

Large productions can require an actor to arrive for a clearly defined part of an enormous operation, perform that role and subsequently participate in the promotional machine surrounding it.

Independent filmmaking, she suggested, can allow boundaries between collaborators to become more fluid.

“I think independent film does tend to be more of a collaboration,” Chenneour explained.

And that is something she actively wants more of.

“I REALLY WANT TO EARN MY STRIPES”

There's an interesting contradiction in the way success is often discussed around young performers.

The assumed destination is bigger.

Bigger production. Bigger role. Bigger studio. Bigger profile.

Chenneour doesn't appear particularly interested in racing towards that destination.

“I really want to earn my stripes in this industry,” she told us.

“I'm not the type of person that wants quick fame. I don't want to jump into a massive Hollywood movie.”

Instead, she said she'd happily make another ten or fifteen independent films before taking that kind of step.

It's an attitude that makes her presence on the London Rolling jury particularly appropriate.

LRFF places filmmakers at different stages of their careers into the same rooms, with filmmakers expected to attend and participate rather than simply submit a film and wait for an award notification.

For somebody interested in understanding filmmaking as a collaborative craft, there are considerably worse places to spend a few days.

FINDING YOUR FILM PEOPLE

And Chenneour clearly enjoys being among them.

Asked how it felt to join LRFF, she didn't immediately talk about judging or industry networking.

She talked about finding people who understand the thing you love.

“When you find film people, it's like finding people that speak the same language as you.”

She described an environment filled with people passionate about filmmaking, creating and sharing stories and turning ideas into something tangible.

“Their energy is so contagious,” she said. “It's just a joy to be around.”

Perhaps that's another reason independent filmmaking appeals to her.

Before the premieres, press campaigns and red carpets, filmmaking is ultimately a group of people attempting to make something that previously existed only as an idea.

Chenneour's comments throughout our conversation repeatedly returned to those people.

The actor.

The director.

The cinematographer.

Costume.

Makeup.

The collaborators around them.

WHAT COMES NEXT?

There is more on the way, although Chenneour isn't announcing it prematurely.

Asked what she could tell us about upcoming projects, she laughed and acknowledged one of the less glamorous realities of the industry: until the financing is secure, the production happens and the finished film actually emerges, nothing is guaranteed.

She's learned to be careful about announcing projects too early.

Some apparently exciting productions never see the light of day. A seemingly small job, meanwhile, can unexpectedly become the thing everybody wants to discuss.

For now, Chenneour would only say that she has “some really exciting things lined up.”

That's enough.

Because her conversation with The Fan Carpet suggests she's considerably less interested in racing towards a destination than in what she can learn while getting there.

Ten independent films?

Fifteen?

Then perhaps Hollywood.

For Genevieve Chenneour, earning the stripes appears to be part of the point.