Emily Watson at Sarajevo Masterclass: Acting became an escape for me

The conversation was moderated by British film producer and screenwriter Andy Paterson. At the beginning, Watson said that returning to Sarajevo was an emotional experience, particularly after watching Michael Winterbottom’s Welcome to Sarajevo the previous evening.

She said she first watched the film in 1995 and was deeply moved by it. Watching it again nearly three decades later, together with an audience in the very city depicted in the film, was an especially powerful experience.

"It was extraordinary and very powerful to watch a film about what happened in this city with an audience who are from here. It was very moving," Watson said.

She described the Sarajevo Film Festival as a unique festival that has a special place in understanding what storytelling is and what it can be.

Speaking about how she became an actress, Watson reflected on her childhood in London, which she described as both loving and shaped by a very strict religious environment.

She grew up without television and with almost no popular music, but surrounded by books that her mother, an English teacher, regularly brought home from a nearby second-hand bookshop.

"I read them at night under the covers with a flashlight, and that’s where my imagination was set free. I had quite a restricted childhood, but at night, through other people’s words, I could travel," she said.

Although there was no television in their home, her parents took her to the cinema and theatre. Among the films that had a particular impact on her, she singled out the French classic Children of Paradise, while she also recalled seeing productions by the Royal Shakespeare Company during her childhood.

When she was around eight years old, she watched Judi Dench play Beatrice in Shakespeare’s comedy Much Ado About Nothing. Watson said she laughed so loudly that she almost disrupted the performance.

"I saw incredible productions, some of which I was probably too young for, but I loved them and desperately wanted to be part of it," Watson said.

Her first serious steps toward acting came during university, when she began performing in student productions. After drama school and appearing in a small theatre production, she auditioned for the Royal Shakespeare Company and was offered a place in the ensemble.

She described that moment as opening the door to a space where she could finally express what she had carried inside her for a long time.

"Acting became an escape, in a way," she said.

A turning point in her film career came with the leading role of Bess McNeill in Lars von Trier’s 1996 film Breaking the Waves, for which she received her first Oscar nomination.

Watson said she had almost no experience working in front of a film camera before making the movie, while von Trier’s unconventional approach was completely different from a traditional film set.

The actors worked in a space with a handheld camera that moved freely among them, without numerous interruptions or complicated technical preparations. Scenes were performed at length and continuously, allowing the actors to remain fully immersed in their characters.

The experience also taught her one of the most important lessons in film acting: that the camera is not an obstacle an actor should forget, but their most intimate ally.

She added that this is one of the lessons she tries to pass on to younger actors who often feel fear and insecurity in front of the camera.

She also spoke about working with Stellan Skarsgård and the late Katrin Cartlidge on Breaking the Waves, stressing that she learned from them how important a lack of ego and complete commitment to the story are for an actor.

Emily Watson is one of the most acclaimed British actresses of her generation. She has received two Oscar nominations for Breaking the Waves and Hilary and Jackie, and has had numerous notable film, television and theatre roles throughout her career.

Her more recent films include The Wonder with Paul Mescal and Small Things Like These with Cillian Murphy, for which she won the Silver Bear for Best Supporting Performance at the Berlin International Film Festival.

She has also built a distinguished theatre career through numerous Royal Shakespeare Company productions and was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 2015 for her services to drama.