This chapter is based on the discussion between director Sonia Liza Kenterman and professor Charles Lock following the screening of Kenterman’s two short films Nicoleta (2012) and White Sheet (2014). The text is accompanied by stills from the films which will illuminate the themes discussed. These include:

- Aesthetic choices in lighting, scenography and costumes; allusions to and inspiration from other visual media.
- The minimal use of dialogue, whether due to the exigencies of wartime (‘careless words cost lives’) or to a psychological or existential refusal of verbal communication.
- The director’s work with the actors and especially with the child protagonist of Nicoleta.
- The thematic and narrative conception that triggered and stimulated each of the scripts and how the concept was transformed and evolved during the filming process.
- The part played by female characters: is this representative of the actualities of the Civil War? Is it consistent with cinematic representations of the War? Or is this a redemptive mode, to draw attention to those hitherto neglected?
- The political scope and focus of cinema, with particular reference to civil war and occupation.