Three Miles North of Molkom
Hackney-based indie filmmakers Rob Cannan & Corinna Villari-McFarlane are celebrating this week – with the nationwide cinema release of their first feature, the very-awesome comedy documentary THREE MILES NORTH OF MOLKOM…
The more I learn about this film the more I like it. It’s so indie it hurts (independent even of the indie film establishment) and the film was self-financed on a micro-budget and originally shot by a crew of just four. Amazing then that it is so slickly shot, full of sun drenched photography and immersive sound design worthy of any larger-scale production. I caught up with the Rob and Corinna this week to find out more about how this all came about.
Why did you choose to make a documentary feature for your first film?
“We saw how difficult it is to make a fiction film on a limited amount of money,” says Robert, “and all the pitfalls involved with that. So that was probably the starting point for this project. All those things made us start thinking about the documentary form as being a form that we not only felt invited more experimentation and pushing of boundaries, it also suggested a way in which we could perhaps express ourselves with fewer resources than we would need for a drama.”
THREE MILES NORTH OF MOLKOM is set in Sweden, at the very hippy-centric Angsbacka No Mind Festival, where for two weeks every year freaks, geeks and new age eccentrics the world over gather together for an intensive two week program - of tree hugging, tantric sex, fire walking and ‘sharing’
Two or three years ago Rob & Corinna found out about the festival and thought it sounded like a good place to try and film their first feature. They were right – and what follows is documentary storytelling at its best – proving once and for all that you don’t need big budgets and huge crews to make truly effective cinema.
It has taken years to get it to where it is now and on Wednesday 16 September the work will finally be over and audiences will finally get a chance to see a film that I was lucky enough to catch at preview last week: I loved it.
The film focuses on a small group of Angsbacka ‘No Mind’ participants in particular (all festival-goers are placed in ‘sharing groups’) and through the course of the film’s 100 minute running time we meet Siddharta, a Swedish Viking and festival regular, Mervi, a Finnish grandmother, Ljus, a seriously spaced-out Hawaiian hippy, and the film’s central protagonist, Aussie rugby coach Nick, who had absolutely no idea what he was letting himself in for by attending the festival and is definitely not ‘one of them’.
One of the most unique things about your film is the fact that, although it is a documentary, the film plays out like a fiction feature, with a plot, story and characters that explain themselves in their own words, rather than relying on things like voiceovers etc.
“Rob and I are both very interested in cinema and storytelling,” says Corinna, “and we wanted to find a story that would allow us to experiment, that would allow us to express ourselves and be cinematic, and yet still allow us to get involved in character and story.”
Nick’s presence in the film takes the ‘fish out of water’ scenario so common to Hollywood comedies and for the first time brings it to the medium of documentary – and in hilarious fashion – Nick hates Angsbacka and thinks everyone there is completely insane - and at first you will probably agree with him.
Nick’s presence in the film is vital to the audiences perception of the film – because he is an outsider at the festival, he gives the audience somebody to readily identify with in the midst of all the madness. How did you motivate Nick to take such a central role during your shoot?
For Nick, we were the closest thing to normality that he could see around him, so we became his confidantes during the shoot, which was perfect for the film. Ironically, he still had something to teach the group – even though he has never thought of himself as spiritual in any way – because of his no-worries Australian mentality. He had something to teach the people who’d been doing this stuff for years.
What I enjoyed most about this film is that although it at first appears to be a cynical swipe at some of the more outré areas of the alternative spirituality / new-age scene, the film actually has a great deal more affection for the characters it portrays than it might initially seem – and as Nick’s defences gradually drop through the course of the film, so do our prejudices, and we are taken on a journey that is by turns hysterically funny, double-take inducingly shocking and by the end of it all, nothing short of life affirming.
The film is opening across London on Friday 18 September - locally at Rich Mix on Bethnal Green Rd, but also at Odeon Covent Garden and Empire Leicester Square; I urge you to check it out – truly independent cinema doesn’t get the limelight very often, and when it does, and it is this good, it deserves your attention.
Support the film and British independent cinema at the official Facebook page.
And buy tickets from the official site here.
STOP PRESS : Check out the website for a special preview screening taking place at various venues on Wednesday 16 September with live stand up from comedian Russell Howard (Mock the Week).
CHECK THE TRAILER OUT OF YOUTUBE
Bonesy
http://boneconduction.blogspot.com/
