Four years before Paradise is Burning began shooting, Bianca Delbravo was angry because her friend was late for a meeting with her. After she spoke to her on the phone, a man approached her to ask for her number. He was in the process of looking for a feisty teenager to cast in a new film, and her outburst on the phone had caught his attention. But approaching an angry teenager in the street to ask for her number was a daunting task and with his haste, he had written one of the numbers down wrong and Bianca Delbravo didn’t hear from him.
The man was Alexander Öhrstrand, a Swedish actor and the co-writer of Paradise is Burning alongside the film’s director, Mika Gustaffson. Thinking that the opportunity to speak more to Bianca had gone, something had clearly aligned in the stars, as their paths crossed again – a year later.
“Just by coincidence, Alex and Mika were walking outside and recognised me,” the actress explains. The rest is history, as the young debut star joined two others to form the three siblings that are the subject of Mika and Alex’s film. Together they would end up walking red carpets, having photoshoots, and even winning awards – it is a fairytale in some ways.
With the film’s UK release, the fairytale continues as it reaches a wider audience, allowing more people to discover her and her cast mate’s phenomenal performances.
In the film, Bianca plays Laura, the eldest sister of two other siblings, Mira (Divlin Assad) and Steffi (Safira Mossberg). The trio seem to have been deserted in the height of summer, with no parental figure in sight to watch over them, leaving Laura to play that role to her younger siblings. Mira and Steffi make it difficult for Laura, as they play up and cause chaos from the opening fifteen minutes of the film. Steffi has managed to wet the bed and Mira gets into a punch-up (which Laura has to break up with a flying head butt). It doesn’t take long to fall for these characters and root for them.
The moments with the three of them together feel so incredibly natural, making one wonder whether this was all improvised.
“So we had a script that we followed throughout the whole shoot and Mika had her vision of how she wanted her characters to be portrayed,” the actress explains. “However, I think every actor uses some parts of themselves in their performance. Laura is a fictional character, yet in some scenes, I could use my own life experiences and my own feelings to portray certain emotions.”
There were moments when Bianca did improvise – most notably the way her character eats, which was reminiscent of the way Adèle Exarchopoulos eats spaghetti in Blue Is the Warmest Colour (if you know, you know). “There are some small details, such as the eating and dancing, which was kind of improvised by me.”
She goes on to explain how the three on-screen sisters had workshops a few months before they started shooting. In these, the trio got to know each other and begun to create the magical sibling bond they share on screen. It’s their chemistry which is the biggest driving factor here.
But during the course of the film, Laura’s world collides with that of Hanna’s, with the pair forming an unusual friendship. They both seem to be running away from something, but are never sure of what that might be, only the company of each other creating the perfect solace.
Hanna is played by the brilliant Ida Enghvoll (pictured above with Bianca) who has appeared in several series and films (most notably Netflix’s Love and Anarchy). Getting to act alongside such an accomplished star was something Bianca learned a lot from:
“I learned so much from her in the first two weeks of the shoot, as all of my scenes were with her [Ida] before shooting with the other two girls. We just had a lot of fun.”
And what next for the young star? Has the experience encouraged her to continue chasing a career in the film industry?
“Yeah, I want to continue with it but I also have a lot of creative interests that I would like to work with. For example, I sing and I write a lot. So I hope to do a little bit of everything that I like.”
It’s hard not to fall in love with this film and the performances it provides. Future re-watches are a fun opportunity to take away your views or opinions from the film. One thing is for sure, you’ll take away just how fun Bianca Delbravo’s performance is and how we can’t wait to see what might come next for the star. Hopefully, the casting process might be a little easier.
Paradise Is Burning is in UK & Irish cinemas from 30th August and is distributed through Conic Film.
