Actor Renée Zellweger presented her directorial debut, They, a hand-drawn and animated seven-minute short, at the Edinburgh International Film Festival.

In an interview with an entertainment news outlet, the Bridget Jones star shared the inspiration behind her project. “The decline of social discourse, how it seems that we all have these opinions about one another. Conversation seems to have left the building,” the star, 56, said alluding to toxicity on social media.

The first-time director revealed the film has been a long-term passion project for her, and the idea for it emerged during the COVID-19 pandemic.