Country: New Zealand, Australia
Year: 2024
Duration: 100'
Abandoned as a child, Jack travels to remote New Zealand to attend the funeral of his estranged mother Elizabeth. There he meets her widow, Jill, who has questions of her own. Over the nights that follow, Elizabeth returns and possesses Jack and Jill, using each of their bodies to speak to the other. Jill faces Elizabeth’s suicide, while Jack confronts his abandonment. A psychological drama inspired by Samuel Van Grinsven’s memories of his childhood. An intimate, modern ghost story that explores the extremities of grief in our pursuit of letting go.
Biography
film director
Samuel Van Grinsven
(New Zealand) is an Australian and New Zealand writer and director. His debut feature and graduate film, Sequin in a Blue Room, had its premiere at the 2019 Sydney Film Festival, where it won the Audience Award for Best Feature Film, and then was selected in festivals globally (Palm Springs, TIFF Next Wave, BFI Flare and Melbourne International Film Festival), nominated for an Australian Academy Award, and screened theatrically in Australia, Germany and the UK. His previous short films have been selected for international and domestic film festivals. Went Up the Hill is his second feature.
FILMOGRAFIA
Loved (cm, 2017), Sequin in a Blue Room (2019), Went Up the Hill (2024).
Declaration
film director
“Themes of abuse arise from the shadows across the film – an echo of control. Drawing from real experiences, the film deals with toxic abuse within a same-sex relationship - whilst exploring the increased threat of the inclusion of a male body within an existing and known dynamic. Though physical abuse permeates, the film delves deeper into physiological and emotional manifestations of abuse. The control over information and the manipulation of guilt stand as equally life threatening.”
Cast
& Credits
DIRECTOR: Samuel Van Grinsven. SCREENPLAY: Samuel Van Grinsven, Jory Anast. CINEMATOGRAPHY: Tyson Perkins. EDITING: Dany Cooper Ase. PRODUCTION DESIGN: Sherree Philips. COSTUMES: Kirsty Cameron. MUSIC: Hanan Townshend. SOUND: Robert Mackenzie. CAST: Vicky Krieps, Dacre Montgomery, Sarah Peirse. PRODUCTION: Vicky Pope, Samantha Jennings, Kristina Ceyton.
CONTACT: Bankside Films films@bankside-films.com
