Exclusive Interview: Anastasia Olowin on the Ten-Year Journey Behind ‘Ben and Suzanne’ and Her Evolution as a Storyteller

Anastasia Olowin is quickly becoming one of the industry’s most compelling emerging voices. Whether she’s fully immersing herself in a role on stage or screen, or crafting timely, resonant stories as a writer and producer, her creativity and vision consistently fill a crucial void, leaving a lasting impression. This talent shines through in her debut feature, Ben and Suzanne: A Reunion in 4 Parts, written and directed by Shaun Seneviratne.

The film is an innately human story that follows Ben Santhanaraj (Sathya Sridharan) as he travels to Sri Lanka to rekindle his relationship with Suzanne Hopper (played by Olowin), an American NGO worker, after a long separation. But when Suzanne’s boss demands she work during their vacation, their love is tested by the tension between desire and duty. As Suzanne wrestles with the responsibilities of her job, Ben tries everything to revive their intimacy, setting the stage for candid conversations and chaotic twists as New Year’s Eve—and Ben’s departure—loom on the horizon.

Pop Culturalist was lucky enough to catch up with Anastasia Olowin to discuss Ben and Suzanne, the ten-year journey behind bringing the feature to life, and more.

PC: Your entry into the arts came through musical theatre. Do you remember what you felt from that experience that made you want to become a storyteller? And why have you retired from musical theatre?
Anastasia: [laughs] I’ll start with the easier question. I retired from musical theatre because I’m not on the same level as the performers on Broadway. They’re absolute athletes and incredible vocalists. I can carry a tune and dance, but that’s not the level I operate at. Like most actors, I went through a high school musical theatre phase because it was such a popular thing. I was a big fish in a small pond—I went to a really small high school, so I had a lot of opportunities to do musical theatre there and even in elementary school. Before that, I did some community theatre, and I really enjoyed it. I loved to sing as a kid, so my mom signed me up for a musical theatre summer camp in middle school to get me out of the house. I remember feeling the thrill of being on stage. It was a big group of kids—probably about twenty-five or thirty of us—doing this musical, and we were double cast. I had a little solo, and I was so thrilled. I must have been about eleven or twelve, and I was so excited to have that moment. I definitely caught the bug, as they say, during that time. I’m a pretty determined person, and once I set my sights on something, I’m very focused. So, as soon as I started performing, I knew: “Oh no, this is what we’re doing.”

PC: That determination sounds a lot like your character in Ben and Suzanne. Speaking of which, you’ve had an incredibly busy year with the debut feature, taking it to festivals all around the world. What has it been like for you and the team to see the film’s response on such a global scale? Have any audience reactions surprised you?
Anastasia: Oh my gosh, first of all, it’s been so much fun. It’s been amazing to share our film with so many festivals around the world. This project has been a passion for all of us over the past ten years. I might have mentioned this before, but just making the feature would have been enough for me. But getting into South by Southwest (SXSW) and so many other wonderful festivals across the U.S.—and I just got back from the Munich International—has been mind-blowing and incredibly exciting.

The audiences have been interesting at each festival. We’ve received really positive and lovely responses, which has been so heartwarming. We’ve even had some sold-out screenings, which is always fun. But I was a bit nervous about the German audiences because we weren’t sure how they would react. We had already done four or five festivals in the U.S., so we had an idea of how it played with American audiences, but we didn’t know what to expect in Munich. They loved it! They got the humor in a way that some American audiences didn’t. They laughed a lot at our first screening, which was really delightful. Interestingly, we have a couple of references to Germany in the film that I hadn’t thought much about until I watched it again with a German audience. I was like, “Oh, that’s funny!”

PC: I love that it’s one of those films you can watch again and again, always discovering something new. I remember that the t-shirt you wear in the short made its way into the feature as well. What’s fascinating about this project is that you’ve had the chance to live with this character for ten years. How did you initially find your way into Suzanne, and has that changed as you’ve continued to step into her shoes?
Anastasia: That’s a great question. The first short we shot ten years ago was about Ben driving Suzanne to the airport so she could go off and work for an NGO overseas. It flashes back to these lovely moments in their relationship before they say goodbye. When I auditioned for that short, which was the first time I met Shaun, I had just done a similar drive to the airport myself. So, in that sense, it mirrored my personal experiences, and I found a way into Suzanne through that connection. Aesthetically and thematically, Shaun and I were really aligned on a lot of things for Suzanne, so in the first short, she didn’t feel too far from me.

As the years have passed and I’ve stepped back into her shoes, I’ve learned more about her. The character has evolved a lot. Both Suzanne and Ben have grown over the years, partly through my friendship with Sathya and our friendship with Shaun, our director. We’ve come to understand the elements of his personality that seep into the script, as well as parts of our own personalities.

The difference between Suzanne in that first short and the feature is that she’s become a lot more grounded, more independent, and a bit more purposeful. Younger Suzanne had a more starry-eyed view of how things might turn out. Now, her expectations haven’t aligned with reality, so she’s grappling with that loss while also navigating this new phase of her relationship. Her partner comes to visit, interrupting her new routine and day-to-day life, which adds a new layer to her character. There’s a maturity in this current version of Suzanne that wasn’t there before.

PC: That evolution feels very slice-of-life. What’s the update on the third short film you all filmed? Is it in post-production? Is it coming out soon?
Anastasia: It’s still in post-production. We had ambitious plans to finish editing and get it ready before this whole festival tour kicked off, but that’s taken up the majority of Shaun’s time over the past few months. So, it’s still in the works. But that project was so much fun to film. It was my first time in Sri Lanka. Shaun and I flew out there while he was visiting his dad for a week, and he asked, “Do you want to come with me and shoot something on Super 8?” Of course, I said yes!

We had a really wonderful trip. We piled into a van with Shaun’s entire family, drove around the south coast of Sri Lanka, and shot the short. That will eventually become The Noble Intentions of Suzanne Hopper. It probably won’t be as lighthearted to watch as it was to film, but I’m excited for people to see it. The footage looks really beautiful.

PC: I’m excited for that to come out as well. There’s such a community that’s come together to create this feature. Who have been the people in your life who have influenced your journey as a storyteller?
Anastasia: I would say my dad has been a big influence. He was a professor of astrophysics—so smart—but also a wonderful storyteller in his own way. He’s very gregarious, and I picked up a lot of that from him, even though I don’t think he would consider himself a performer. At the college where he taught, he had a cameo role in a production of Galileo, where they let him say a line, and he loved it! He was definitely a subconscious influence on me. Both of my parents really loved the arts, so I grew up constantly going to the theatre and watching movies. My dad and I would go to the movies all the time. It was just part of the environment I grew up in.

PC: Creating your own stories is part of your DNA. How has your work as a writer and producer impacted the way you approach your acting, especially when interpreting scripts and characters like this? And vice versa?
Anastasia: That’s such a great question. I came to writing in a roundabout way. In college, I studied at the Experimental Theatre Wing (ETW) at NYU, which focuses heavily on physical acting and creating your own work. I made a lot of pieces while I was there, and I really loved that process.

After college, I was part of a theatre ensemble for about eight years, which was an incredible home base for me as an artist. But at some point, I thought, “I just want to be a performer.” I felt that writing was someone else’s lane—people who are really good at it should write, and I should focus on acting.

So, I shied away from writing for many years. Then, at a certain point, I realized there were stories I wanted to tell, and I kept trying to outsource the writing to others. Finally, a friend told me, “You just need to write this yourself,” and that was really liberating. I co-wrote my first project and recently wrote another short film that we just shot before heading to SXSW, which is now in post-production. I’m really excited about it! I’ve also got a few more ideas that I’m looking forward to writing, which is a nice shift from being scared to write.

I’ve always loved new play development as an actor in theatre—that process is so fun and exciting. Even though I didn’t write for many years, I always enjoyed contributing to the story in some way. Writing has definitely informed my acting. When I’m working on a script, I’m constantly thinking about how things sound and whether it feels truthful on the page.

As a producer, it’s really about making things happen. If you want to tell a story, sometimes you just have to create the opportunity yourself. Producing, for me, was more about not wanting to wait around for the stories I wanted to tell.

PC: This film feels like such a love letter to cinema. What’s the one film that’s had the biggest impact on your life and journey as a storyteller?
Anastasia: There are so many—it’s such a hard question. One film that really excited me when I watched it was Daisies by Vera Chytilová. She’s a Czech New Wave filmmaker, and this is one of the first feminist New Wave films. It’s about capitalism, and these two women just run around wreaking havoc. It’s totally bizarre and totally brilliant. There’s this unbridled sense of mischief in the film that I really loved. Daisies has stuck with me stylistically because it’s so different from mainstream movies. It was one of those films that made me think, “Oh, wow. Film can do this and be so exciting.”

PC: You’ve mentioned in previous interviews that you have a real thirst for learning. I imagine, as a storyteller, you’re always taking something from each project. What did you learn about your craft over this ten-year journey with Ben and Suzanne?
Anastasia: I’ve learned to trust a little more. Our situation has been such a dream—it’s rare to make a short film with a couple of random people, and then they become dear friends and creative collaborators for the next ten years on one project. That feels really special.

For many years, I wasn’t sure if the feature would ever happen because it felt like such a pipe dream. But I’ve learned to trust in the work and the relationships you build, even if, for some reason, the feature hadn’t come together. My work has grown so much because of this collaboration with these two people. It’s about finding a way to live an artistic life and trusting that things will happen and unfold as they need to.

Photo Credit: Luke Fontana