Sia to direct film starring young muse Maddie Ziegler

Image copyright EPA

Singer Sia Furler has revealed she is directing a film starring her frequent collaborator, dancer Maddie Ziegler.

The Australian singer announced the film, called Sister, at Venice Film Festival, said the Hollywood Reporter.

Furler said she had initially been "embarrassed" about her ambition to get behind the camera.

But, after making a video for her song Chandelier last year, she realised she was "pretty good" at directing and "felt a little bit braver".

Ziegler, 12, starred in a trilogy of videos for Sia, including the controversial Elastic Heart, which co-starred Shia LaBeouf.

'Not technical'

The singer said her film was based on a one-page story she wrote eight years ago. She was initially "too embarrassed to tell anyone I wanted to make a movie, because I thought it would be seen as a vanity project, because I was a singer" but overcame this after trying her hand at directing.

The screenplay was a collaboration with children's book author Dalles Clayton, and she said she really enjoyed "the creative process".

She added that although film-making is different from songwriting, she found there were similarities.

"For me, the process was basically, I work out the movie. I'll act it out, I'll have the dialogue already in my head."

But she stressed she was not a "technical person", adding: "Like, when I sing, I just want to sing the melody and write the lyrics. I don't want to have to do production, which is very technical. I don't enjoy that."

The media-wary star, 39, often obscures her face and turns her back on the audience.

She performed on the Graham Norton show last year facing the back of the stage, telling Norton that while she was ambitious she did not want to be famous, as she had famous friends and did not like the way they had to live their lives.