For Film's Sake - Double Room
In an isolated, budget caravan park, a young woman is led to confront the stagnant reality of her once beautiful long term relationship.
Interview with Writer/Director Matilda Teernstra
Congratulations! Why did you make your film?
Thank you! Double Room is the first short I ever directed, although I've been involved and around a whole bunch of friend's shoots. I really wanted to capture a feeling and a fleeting moment with a subjective honesty- how it feels when you realise you no longer love someone.
Imagine I’m a member of the audience. Why should I watch this film?
We made this film with nothing but the emotions in our heart and the sweat of our hands. As small and as strange as my little film is, I did everything I could to portray a personal and private tragedy with beauty and honesty, and I really hope people can take a few minutes of their lives to gaze upon that. We are screening at For Films Sake with two other shorts: Adele by Mirene Igwabi, and Sparta North by Julia North, plus the feature film So Long by Caitlin Farrugia and Michael Jones, so it's definitely going to be a great session to attend and to support a festival doing some amazing work for championing diversity in film. Plus the caravan park owners were really nice to let us shoot for so little money so you gotta see it for them.
How do personal and universal themes work in your film?
I've spent a large portion of my adult life in long term relationships, and I was really interested in exploring the complex and changing nature of long term love. I think a lot of films traditionally like to show the beginnings of relationships and the beginnings of love- in rom coms, the happy ending is always the beginning of a relationship.
But staying with someone for a long time is a whole other ball game, and the doubts and struggles and the fading of that explosive kind of love that the beginning of relationships bring, I think, is a really universal struggle that people have to navigate in their lives. In Double Room, the couple depicted realise they have drifted apart and they do no longer love each other but I was interested in exploring that line between love that is routine and love that has ended.
How have the script and film evolved over the course of their development?
The script was redrafted many times during preproduction but some things have lasted the whole process such as the location of the caravan park, the pool, the TV static, and the bug zapper all acting as kind of symbols for mundanity and routine even when on holiday - when you're supposed to be breaking away from that. I think the biggest change was that originally I had the female lead's monologue straight to camera, breaking the 4th wall, explaining in a whole bunch of wordy poetry what she was feeling. Although I think that approach would have been interesting, a friend asked me once why don't I try and find a way to portray these ideas visually, instead of with words. This really pushed me to find the symbolic and surreal moments of the film.
What type of feedback have you received so far?
People have had really varied reactions to the film. I showed a friend who couldn't help but cry after she had seen it because she saw so much of her own past relationships in the couple's interaction. Some people struggle to understand the meaning of the surreal moments, and although it might be a little wanky, I intentionally don't explain them because the moments when people find their own truth in them are worth waiting for.
Has the feedback surprised or challenged your point of view?
Absolutely, I think this film taught me that handling subjective and small stories can be very difficult in making them digestible for the audience, and I think I have learnt a lot about the purpose of telling and sharing stories. A film is only what an audience gets out of it, in the end the ego you take into creating something becomes meaningless.
What are you looking to achieve by having your film more visible on www.wearemovingstories.com?
I don't think I have any expectations, if someone, one person, sees and gets something out of the film, then that is achievement enough for me at this point in my career.
Who do you need to come on board (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists) to amplify this film’s message?
This is such a small film made with such a tiny crew and no money that the thought of sales agents or distributors seems way too far away haha.
What type of impact and/or reception would you like this film to have?
It's an intimate and small story, I'm not looking to change the world (with this particular film) but if I can move someone with an honesty of a moment they haven't seen much on screen before, then I am satisfied. I am also proud that I could make a film with a female protagonist that is unapologetically not a "badass female" stereotype but yet is no less dimensional and complex for it. We need more films from women's eyes.
What’s a key question that will help spark a debate or begin a conversation about this film?
What does it mean to be with someone? How is love meant to feel once it is no longer new?
Would you like to add anything else?
I think that is all :)
What other projects are the key creatives developing or working on now?
Everyone who worked on this film are pursuing their own works. I am currently focusing on writing and script development. Linus, my Producer is working on a queer feature film Sequin in a Blue Room, and Zac, our cinematographer, is working so hard on so many projects I can never keep up!
Interview: April 2018
_______________________________________________________________________________
We Are Moving Stories embraces new voices in drama, documentary, animation, TV, web series, music video, women's films, LGBTIAQ+, scifi, horror, world cinema. If you have just made a film - we'd love to hear from you. Or if you know a filmmaker - can you recommend us? More info: Carmela
_______________________________________________________________________________
Double Room
In an isolated, budget caravan park, a young woman is led to confront the stagnant reality of her once beautiful long term relationship.
Length: 7 minutes
Director: Matilda Teernstra
Producer: Linus Gibson
Writer: Matilda Teernstra
About the writer, director and producer:
Linus is a producer and filmmaker. His work in the Sydney Queer Cinema space extends to his film projects, which often explore non-dominant perspectives and stories of young people.
Matilda is an all-round creative dabbler. Her previous films have screened at Cannes Antipodes and the Down Under Berlin Festival. In her spare time she loves to write poetry that nobody will read.
Key cast: Hannah Lehmann, Ryan Sobolski