New Zealand International Film Festival 2020 Q&A with Incredibly Strange director Ant Timpson

Ant Timpson's Incredibly Strange returns to the New Zealand International Film Festival.

Ant's views expressed here are strictly his own and do not necessarily represent the views of the Festival.

You can find out more on Ant's selections here - https://www.nziff.co.nz/2020/at-home-online/films/collections/incredibly-strange-1/

Hi Ant, how have you been? 

Surprisingly we've been doing very well, that was until we moved back to Auckland and remembered what traffic and malls were.  Earlier we hit the jackpot by moving the fam in January to a small isolated coastal community. And so when the world went to poop we were in a bubble within a bubble. If we didn't check news or social media, we might not have known there was a pandemic happening. 

 

Dinner In America

How has Covid-19 affected you as a programmer, film-maker and film-lover?

Programmer : Like anyone else programming festivals, this year has been a bit of a wash for obvious reasons. Many films were held back and of course the overall capacity of titles for the festival was reduced. 

Film-maker: All productions ceased and because there are so many variations in film - every project was affected differently. We still don't have a clear path forward just yet but it's encouraging being in New Zealand and not elsewhere. We have the ability to get a jump on everyone else but we also may not have the resources to fill all the eventual demand. Personally I'm involved with a few projects and things are inching forward.

Film-lover: To be honest, I was more about the beach, making cocktails and eating food during lockdown than sitting inside watching stuff on a laptop.

 

How did it affect the selections for this year's Incredibly Strange?

Lots of major genre titles didn't want to risk any online premieres before their VOD release so we missed out on many titles just through that aspect. There was also uncertainty between producers and sales agents about what strategy they were going to take - the timing wasn't great for us - if we'd had a bit more time then we could've had some other choice cuts and had them playing in cinemas. Still super happy with the small number I have and very lucky to have a couple of 'em tbh. 

Is it a double edged sword for you this year with some films in cinemas, some in homes? A chance for more people to see your selections, but less gatherings and atmospheres?

Double edged? It's a guillotine!

I've only got one title playing in cinemas so that's gutting to me. It's not what I signed up for decades ago. HA!  Online festivals are the antithesis of what I've spent every year doing since the mid 80s.  

I'm the wrong guy to be asking all this stuff  - I'm not a fan of people tweeting what they think of a film as it's playing - all this supposed "interaction" with a large online audience - it's one giant distraction to me. Film is escapism - so how do you escape into a film when someone is sending you moronic memes or their new Tik Tok jam? 

Festivals have always been kind of snobby and elitist - and that was ok to me - cos it meant there was etiquette applied that you don't get during some Marvel poop on a Friday night at the plex. 

Look there's zero atmosphere around the festival unless it's in a cinema - we're so lucky we have that component happening for us - otherwise it would have been one sad affair.

 

You are doing some in cinema screenings - what's going to be the best one in terms of audience reception?

Is this for me or for fest director Marten?  Have you done a cut and paste again Darren?   Anything playing in a cinema is worth seeing at the moment. There's only a 1/4 of the line-up playing so read up on 'em and go see em how they're supposed to be seen. 

Relic

Turning to the selection, Relic is fantastic - what drew you to this?

Advance word before it hit gold at Sundance, a slow burn debut chiller from an exciting new voice coming out of Australia - Natalie James, like Jennifer Kent before her with Babadook, will be going on to do big things. 

Losing your mind has to be one of ultimate fears of any sane adult - and so a film that manages to weave that and some dark generational angst alongside some genuinely creepy moments was always going to fit the bill.

Yummy brings virus and zombies to the IS -the best moment in this film is what?

Yummy

You're asking me? The King of Non-Spoilers to reveal the best moment? Sorry comrade - no can do. Not on my watch. If you like slickly produced demented zombie fun then you're going to find enough puerile gags and gore laden amusement throughout YUMMY.  It does what it says on the box. 

 

Jumbo's inspired by a true story - what more can you tell us about that?

Loosely inspired by Amy, who was the star of the documentary Married to the Eiffel Tower.  The real life Amy has many lovers, one of them a theme park ride and the documentary explores how she and two other Objectum Sexuals (people who are horny for objects) deal with intimacy. Their "partners" range from the Berlin Wall to the Eiffel Tower. You can check out Amy and others here : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5OiplprDFU 

Jumbo

 

2020 finds us in a reflective mood generally, so Friedkin on The Exorcist seems perfect fodder. What is it about The Exorcist that keeps drawing people in do you think?

Well it's perpetually cited as the scariest film ever made so there's that huge cultural hook that keeps pulling in new generations of viewers. It's very hard to describe to people who weren't around in the 70s just how impactful the film was to audiences. It was shocking and convincing. 

So hearing Friedkin take us back to that time and to hear about the creation of the film is something anyone interested in cinema is going to find captivating. 

 

Tell us about Dinner in America

Another buzzy Sundance title - this was one of those films that starts off so abrasively with an obnoxious character that you're not sure whether you wanna spend 90mins with em - but then things take a few turns and a relationship begins to grow and it suddenly morphs into something a lot sweeter. A simple story of two miscreants who end up being good for each other once they let their walls down.

 

Congrats on having the best film title in the programme with Jesus Shows You The Way to the Highway.....

Not only the best title but possibly the best film for the right viewer. I truly felt invigorated after seeing it for the first time - it wasn't just because it was gonzo filmmaking, it seemed to celebrate all of cinema and I had a smile throughout and for a long time afterwards. 

 

What are your picks from the rest of the programme?

If there's a chance to support a local film in person at a cinema screening - then please go check it out. Ya just never know when we might all be back in lockdown!

 

Do you hope the NZIFF can run a hybrid festival like this again?

Nope. Zero interest in ever doing this again. 

 

What's the one moment in all your films you want audiences to experience, either in a cinema or at home?

That they got their money's worth for their time and emotional investment. 

And at home I just want them to experience the feeling of wanting to be in a cinema watching the film.