“I feel privileged to be able to make this film and to be working again with so many collaborators I know and trust, while creating wonderful new relationships with a superb cast and crew including Olivia, John and Aud. I am thrilled to have them by my side. This story is a very personal one, and making it is filled with some sadness and a lot of joy. I’m particularly treasuring that I get to work with my child Aud in their feature film debut. The stories we tell help us work out who we want to be, and this one is filled with warmth, humour, love and joy. I’m delighted to be making it,” said writer/director Sophie Hyde, whose last film, Good Luck to You, Leo Grande was a sleeper hit. Prior to that, Hyde had directed the unfairly under-appreciated Animals, and before that, a number of South Australian productions, including 52 Tuesdays through Closer Productions, which she co-founded.
JIMPA, co-written by Matthew Cormack, is the story of Hannah (Colman), who takes her trans non-binary teenager Frances (Aud Mason-Hyde) to visit their gay grandfather (John Lithgow) in Amsterdam, resulting in a change of plans for the future, and a reassessment of the past.
Aud Mason-Hyde makes their debut in the film, and is the child of Sophie Hyde and her Closer Productions colleague, cinematographer/editor Bryan Mason.
“For a long time, I have admired Sophie’s directorial ability to tell intimate stories with scale and audience appeal, so it’s an immense privilege to be working alongside her to bring JIMPA to life,” said Producer Liam Heyen. “I strive to produce work that portrays members of the LBGTQI+ community as real, flawed and worthy people and explore the contradiction that our lives have both everything and nothing to do with our gender identity or sexuality. Matt and Sophie have crafted such a script with charming, complex characters and I can’t wait for audiences around the world to meet them.”
JIMPA is currently filming in Amsterdam, with further shooting scheduled for Adelaide and Helsinki.
