Göteborg Film Festival / Amazon 2020 – Alive
Victoria is disabled and she yearns after intimacy and her assistant Ida offers to help by making a Tinder profile. Victoria gets a match but the guy she is matching with is very shady and Ida gets worried about what might happen if they meet
Interview with Writer/Director Jimmy Olsson
Congratulations! Why did you make your film?
Thank you very much! In June last year, I listened to a podcast where they told a story about a disabled person and his carer who wanted an escort. But he didn’t want to have his carer around in the apartment when the escort showed up. He said to his carer that he could wait in the coffee house outside the apartment building so the carer did what he wanted and sat there in the coffee house and didn’t know what was going to happen.
I thought that this story had something; I saw a drama there. I was at a film festival in Rome as a jury member at the time and I kept thinking of that story and when I flew back to Sweden and landed in Munich waiting for the connecting flight I sat down and wrote the script in like an hour and a half. I had my 15 pages and I had the story but I wasn’t quite sure what it was or if it was any good. So I emailed it to my wife and she thought it had something but she wasn’t sure either. I emailed my producer who produced 2nd Class with me and wasn’t sure either but he thought we should try to make it because it was an unusual story so we started pre-production and I started to cast it. I knew I wanted to have Madeleine Martin as Ida (the carer) from the start because I knew her and I have wanted to work with her for some time. We tried a couple of people as Victoria but couldn’t find the right fit. Then we stumbled upon Eva Johansson who I had seen in a short a couple of years earlier and she came in for an audition together with Madeleine and I felt that she was right almost instantly. She really liked the part and she did her research for about two months before we shot it. We all had a few script meetings to talk about the different characters and their behaviour and the script made more sense and became stronger when the actors rehearsed it. I had a discussion with the DP and we talked about shooting it handheld to be close to the actors but when we came to set I completely changed my mind. I wanted to have everything on sticks. It just made sense to shoot it that way and I am really happy I took that decision. In October, we shot it for two days with very little money and when we had the first cut I felt that we had something really good even though the first cut was 29 minutes. We scrapped quite a few darlings but in the end, the final cut was really good and we had created a solid film.
Imagine I’m a member of the audience. Why should I watch this film?
You should watch because it's an important film. I hope the audience will love it and that they will question their own prejudice. I hope people will re-evaluate their own views on disabled people and their feelings about people in general.
How do personal and universal themes work in your film?
I tend to treat social issues in my films and I always go back to what I know or what I have experienced or just stories I find interesting and they usually are very personal stories about the inner feelings of people. I make films because it is a kind of therapy for me and this story was a way for me to extract the prejudice I might still have towards disabled people. And also to remind us all that we are all the same inside. The last film was about racism and this film is about a disabled person's right to decide on her own. Perhaps that's not the answer to the question but its still an answer =)
How have the script and film evolved over the course of their development?
I wrote the script in 90 minutes roughly at the Munich airport in late June last year when I was heading back home from a film festival. I was a bit unsure what it was or what it could evolve into since I wrote it so quickly but I knew I had something there. And when I rehearsed it and talked about the script with Madeleine Martin and Eva Johansson we found the true meaning of the characters and the script itself. We didn't really change anything, some words here and there but we talked about where the characters came from and what they wanted and then it made more sense and we felt like we had something special.
What type of feedback have you received so far?
The feedback has been incredible. I am blushing when I think about it. We have had lots and lots of reviews and they are overwhelmingly great.
Has the feedback surprised or challenged your point of view?
When I locked the edit I was very pleased and normally I am more uncertain what I have done until I release it. This time I knew I had something really good. I am very confident about this film. So, no I am not super surprised I have to say.
What are you looking to achieve by having your film more visible on www.wearemovingstories.com?
I am looking to spread the word about this film. I want the festivals to notice it and I want the film to be seen by a lot of people and I want it to win its recognition.
Who do you need to come on board (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists) to amplify this film’s message?
I have a great distributor in Distribution with Glasses and a great Sales agent in Journeyman Features and a superb PR-agent in London Flair PR so I am putting a lot into this film but I want the festival directors to see this film and choose it for their festival.
What type of impact and/or reception would you like this film to have?
I want people to feel open-minded when they have seen this film. I want them to laugh and cry and feel happy about it. In these Corona times, we all need to just stop and look around us and remind ourselves what's important in life. Love and respect conquer everything.
What’s a key question that will help spark a debate or begin a conversation about this film?
How and why do you judge people?
Would you like to add anything else?
Please follow me on my socials @regissorjimmy on twitter and Instagram and my website www.regissor.com
What other projects are the key creatives developing or working on now?
I am working on a feature right now and developing another feature and a TV-series.
Interview: March 2020
We Are Moving Stories embraces new voices in drama, documentary, animation, TV, web series, music video, women's films, LGBTQIA+, POC, First Nations, scifi, supernatural, 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
Alive
Victoria is disabled and she yearns after intimacy and her assistant Ida offers to help by making a Tinder profile. Victoria gets a match but the guy she is matching with is very shady and Ida gets worried about what might happen if they meet
Director: Jimmy Olsson
Producer: Petter Selvehed, Ville Olin, Christian Kielberg
Writer: Jimmy Olsson
About the writer, director and producer:
JIMMY OLSSON has written and directed several award-winning short films over the years. Last film 2nd class was massively awarded and shown all over the world in over 150 film festivals. Now he is in pre-production to make his first feature To Save A Boy which is based on the short 2nd Class.
PETTER SELVEHED, VILLE OLIN, CHRISTIAN KIELBERG run their own production company MAKERIET FILM in Stockholm. They produce commercials and short films. Alive is their third short film and second one with JIMMY OLSSON as the writer-director.
Key cast: Eva Johansson (Victoria), Madeleine Martin (Ida), Joel Ödmann (Björn)
Looking for: film festival directors, journalists
Twitter: @regissorjimmy
Instagram: @regissorjimmy
Hashtags used: #alive #aliveshortfilm
Website: www.regissor.com
Other: IMDb
Where can I watch it next and in the coming month? Film festivals all over and on Amazon