It's a film that has the Irish convict (Franciosi from Game of Thrones) and an Aboriginal tracker (dancer and first-time actor Baykali Ganambarr) hunting the sexually violent officer (Claflin from the Hunger Games movies) through the Tasmanian wilderness. Loading This is a film Kent should not be making. She was sent a pile of scripts to consider, including Hollywood comic-book movies, after The Babadook was acclaimed internationally as one of the freshest horror films in years. While she had written five scripts previously, her first film since switching from acting told the story of a single mother (Essie Davis) protecting her young son (Noah Wiseman) from a monster called Mr Babadook, who could have been either terrifyingly real or a creation of her grieving mind. Some of these US scripts appealed both creatively and financially, but Kent rejected all of them to write and direct a film she wanted to call The Nightingale – as in a woman who sings finding her voice on another level – even before she had worked out the story.

"I really have to feel very deeply about the theme and the thread of a story to want to go the whole distance with it," she says in a chilly, empty shop during a dinner break on set. "Filmmaking is a very gruelling and taxing process and it takes your life away. "If I'm going to do that, I want to make sure that the story I'm telling is really something I can stand behind. And often things looked appealing, but they didn't have that central story that really pulled me in and gave me that devotion. "My bank balance was very skinny there for a while; I can safely say I've turned down millions of dollars." For what she calls a revenge tragedy, the uncompromising Kent took on a gruelling shoot in the Tasmanian wilderness – on top of a mountain, in a leech-ridden forest and exposed to the sun, wind and rain for a story set in a perpetually overcast environment. "I really wanted to explore the fallout from violence and the real damage that occurs as a result of violence," she says.

Growing up in "a big Catholic family" – the youngest of five children – in Brisbane, Kent saw herself as an outsider. "Different things appealed to me than appealed to other people my age in my circles," she says. "I was always fine with that. Even as a little kid, I was writing plays and directing and acting in them. I just viewed the world from a very different perspective. "I learnt to be stubborn and stick to your guns": Jennifer Kent with Baykali Ganambarr on set. Credit:Matt Nettheim "I was never caring about money or husbands or kids. David Lynch calls it 'the art life'. I feel like I've devoted my life to that and it takes you outside the norm, devoting yourself to something so passionately." Studying acting, Kent was at NIDA with Essie Davis, Cate Blanchett, Felix Williamson and Lucy Bell. As she moved into directing, she had an attachment with controversial Danish director Lars von Trier as he made 2003's Dogville.

"That was very life-changing for me, not so much for the content, although he's a brilliant director," she says. "But just to see, 'Oh, he's just a man, a human being with strengths and weaknesses making a film,' and it was very, very hard for him to make. "It removed this wall of 'us and them', that they're the brilliant people over there who make films and here I am over the other side. I got close enough to understand that maybe I can do that too. He gave me the courage just from watching his brilliance." Kent learnt a lot from The Babadook, which slipped through with largely poor reviews and weak box office in this country before acclaim overseas. "I learnt to be stubborn and stick to your guns. There were a lot of people, even at final-cut stage, who said it wasn't good and didn't work. So it was a process of really protecting that idea. "Only the director can really do that to the full degree; just protect and, if it's shit, it's my shit up there on the screen and I can stand behind it.

"Similarly with this, I've had a very loyal, dedicated group of producers protecting the film and protecting the integrity of the story. Our financiers have given me final cut, which is almost unheard of in North America, so I'm very fortunate." Almost a year ago, The Nightingale attracted international headlines at its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival. A blogger yelled, "Shame on you, whore, you're disgusting!" in Italian during the final credits, leading to his festival credentials being revoked and stoking controversy at a festival that had already been accused of sexism for selecting only one film – The Nightingale – by a woman director in competition for the second year in a row. Aisling Franciosi as Clare in The Nightingale. Credit:Matt Nettheim But Kent was also approached by young women in tears who thanked her for making the film, and it won two awards – the special jury prize and best young actor for Ganambarr. At the Adelaide, Sundance, Sydney and Melbourne film festivals, there was further acclaim – winning The Age Critics Award for best Australian film – as well as some early walkouts. Franciosi, who was Lyanna Stark in Game of Thrones, says that along with other cast, crew and an on-set psychologist, Kent was very supportive during an emotionally difficult shoot, adding: "She has a very clear idea of the kind of story she wants to present and the message she wants to put out there, and she's completely uncompromising on the things that are important. She's pretty badass."

Amid all those Hollywood offers, there were personal reasons Kent wanted to make The Nightingale. Loading "I'd just lost my mum and another family member and was in a space of deep reflection," she says. "I was grieving myself, but also looking at the world and seeing a disappearing empathy and an increasing violence. "I wanted to talk about that and about something which I see as very positive – the need for love, compassion, kindness and empathy in very dark times. There's great hope that lies in our connection with each other." While surprised by how controversial The Nightingale has been, Kent is fine if viewers walk out during the tough opening minutes.