The long road to the Southwest
GETTING READY
Sami: It’s less than a year since we started shooting and we are already here. It has always felt like we were going fast making this film. I think that’s partly the Piki philosophy and partly running out of money.
Van Beek: SXSW feels like such a great fit for our film. This feels like a festival that really embraces comedy and femaledriven films, too.
Gardiner: I got too busy to get ready for SXSW. I’m finishing a feature doco on female sheep shearers and getting ready to shoot another feature in the middle of the year. So I was rushing. I didn’t bring enough clothes or organise travel insurance.
Sami: Packing was an absolute shambles. I have been so busy lately that I spent the morning before flying out on Ponsonby Rd trying to find something cool yet casual yet chic for the premiere. Then I had to wait for a sleeping baby to wake to get into my room to pack. I really hope I have enough undies. Although if I don’t, I’ll have another excuse to go to Target. One of the big reasons I was excited about going back to the US was to shop at Target. Oh how I love Target.
THE FLIGHT
Sami: We all sat in the same row. It was pretty cute, actually. No fancy upgrades for us.
Gardiner: They made me sit by the window, even though I need to pee all the time. I gave my seat to Jackie when it was time to sleep so she could lean against the window, because that’s what producers do.
Sami: I watched Thor Ragnarok on the plane and then I listened to an audiobook by American comedian Rachel Dratch. The flight was sweet as, but I was up with jetlag the first night. I
“It’s exciting that more and more people are now able to identify New Zealand humour, seem to like it and want more of it.”
put in a midnight jetlag order at Target and I also googled where all the good barbecue joints are.
Gardiner: I watched Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri on the plane, but all the swear words were over-dubbed. I can’t say for sure, but I don’t think Frances McDormand would have won the Oscar based on this mother-fudging version. I also watched the new Twin Peaks. Our movie is funnier than either of them. Much funnier.
THE ARRIVAL
Van Beek: On our first day, Madeleine and I attended the Filmmaker Luncheon at director Robert Rodriguez’s Troublemaker Studios – no press, just an event to allow film-makers to say hello to one another. We piled our plates with the best barbecue food in Austin and sat by ourselves at an empty table. Four minutes into eating, we realised no one was going to sit next to us, so we picked up our plates and squeezed onto a jammed table with a bunch of other writers, directors and producers. We had a ball.
Sami: Robert Rodriguez and Richard Linklater spoke and gave us advice on the festival. I also met talk-show host Ricki Lake. The 90s me freaked out.
WORLD PREMIERE DAY
Van Beek: The day of the premiere was extremely low key. I mostly lay around the apartment making phone calls to my husband, kids, mum and dad. Although it was a Saturday and the day of our world
premiere, it was feeling more like a long Tuesday afternoon. Things started to liven up with the arrival of James Wallace and subsequently the champagne. Suddenly it was time to go to the theatre. The level of excitement jumped up as we saw a long queue of people snaking into the cinema while we all had as many photos taken on as many phones as possible in the 45 seconds we had available. And then after a quick intro, we were watching our movie with a bunch of Americans. Thankfully, there was a lot of laughter in the room. I wolfed down a large bowl of fries and sipped my champagne.
Sami: Sir James actually wandered around Austin giving flyers out promoting our movie. He’s been such a great supporter of our film. He’s also an absolute party animal.
Gardiner: It was interesting to hear this audience laugh in places that don’t always get the biggest laughs at home. The best thing was how many men were laughing loud and hard. The Americans love our sense of humour, and we do pretty broad comedy these days, so it isn’t inaccessible – it just pushes the boundaries a little and they love that.
Van Beek: I was pleasantly surprised to see so many men in the cinema. I mistakenly assumed our sessions would be jam-packed with women. Audience members keep talking to us about our “unique New Zealand voice”. It’s exciting that more and more people are now able to identify New Zealand humour, seem to like it and want more of it.
Sami: The screening was awesome. People laughed. It’s good when people laugh during a comedy.
Van Beek: We had a great Q&A afterwards and a lot of hugs in the foyer from enthusiastic audience members. Madeleine and I agreed we could genuinely say we had been “gently mobbed”. We had a 10.30pm dinner with our Breaker Upperers team, during which we all just kept repeating variations of “I think it went really well”. I snuck away, home to bed, just before the ribs came out.
THE AFTERMATH
Van Beek: I definitely feel like a “female film-maker” at the moment. It’s what everybody’s talking about. And I think that’s a good thing. Until it becomes normal for a female to direct feature films, it will be and should be a talking point.
Sami: I feel like the response to our film here hasn’t necessarily been because it’s a “women-powered” thing but because it’s a “NZ comedy”-powered thing. There seems to be a real appetite for New Zealand comedy at the moment.
Van Beek: Sitting at the airport in Houston before flying home, I feel like Austin is a bit of a dream already. Festival time is such a self-contained bubble – you arrive, meet a bunch of film-makers, have a ton of meetings with people you may never see again, buy souvenirs for the kids, drink a string of cocktails, try to see at least two films outside of your own screenings, do at least one all-night karaoke session and leave. We finished the festival off by having a whisky at the Broken Spoke, the oldest honky-tonk in Texas. That made me happy.
Sami: It’s nice to have a few screenings under our belts. I will probably be a bit more nervous seeing it at home with family and friends in the audience than I was in Texas. Bring it on.
The Breaker Upperers opens on May 3.