Writer-director Samuel Van Grinsven says his new film “Went Up the Hill” was inspired by a single image of two people in a room, a coffin between them, both mourning the person inside but knowing almost nothing of each other.
Vicky Krieps' acceptance speech | TIFF TRIBUTE AWARDS PUBLISHED BY BVLGARI 2023
His film, which debuts this week at the Toronto International Film Festival, follows a young man, Jack (Dacre Montgomery), who travels to a remote part of New Zealand to attend the funeral of his estranged mother. There he encounters her grieving widow, Jill (Vicky Krieps). But his mother’s spirit returns, inhabiting both bodies to talk to the other and setting in motion a menacing triple nighttime dance.
The film is financed by a lead production investment from the New Zealand Film Commission and Screen Australia with support from Screen CanterburyNZ, Create NSW, Spectrum Films, Stage 23, RM Sound, Head Gear Films, Fulcrum Media Finance and the New Zealand Government’s Screen Production Grant. Australian and New Zealand distribution is handled by Vendetta Films. Bankside Films is handling international sales and is co-owning North American sales rights with CAA Media Finance.
Van Grinsven, who previously directed the acclaimed film “Sequin in a Blue Room,” spoke to Variety ahead of the film’s Toronto premiere.
