Annapurna Sriram makes ‘obscene toys’ despite Hollywood

After her debut as a director F*cktoys It had its world premiere at SXSW, where it won the Special Jury Prize, and Annapurna Sriram finally brought her baby to Los Angeles.

“Being a director is like always being really good,” the writer, director and star explained as she caught up with Deadline ahead of its Los Angeles premiere on October 25 at the TCL Chinese Theater during the AFI Festival, months after the film was shown to film festival audiences around the world.

“Because you have to be assertive, but you also have to read the room,” Sriram explained. “You can’t just create a lot of pain. You have to create pleasure in the pain.”

We spoke with Sriram about how to do it F*cktoys Born from her frustration with the film and television industry, as well as how her film makes a conscious effort to subvert the male gaze, and why she wants her work to celebrate life on the margins of society.

“I really wanted to play a famous sexpot, and I don’t think we have enough famous sexpots in the industry right now,” Sriram said. “Especially hot, non-white, non-binary ladies or men. So, I wanted to create a role for myself that was fun, sexy, fun, vulnerable, and had to be feminine and creative.”

Sriram stars in her 16mm debut F*cktoys As AP, a fun-loving lady learns from a tarot reader (Big Freedia) that she has been cursed, and the only way to lift the curse is to get $1,000 and sacrifice a baby lamb. Reunited with her ex-husband Danny (Sadie Scott), the pair travel around Trashtown earning fees while encountering some strange characters along the way.

Watch Deadline’s interview with Sriram above.