WRITTEN BY : Jonathan Kiefer
DIRECTED BY : Oliver Krimpas
About the Film
Bernard, a film location scout, is shown a repossessed and crumbling French chateau. Over the course of the afternoon, he slowly falls for both the place and its owner’s flirtatious representative, Maggie, who recounts the story of an influential popular-science book written and set there.
But is their present-tense connection for real, or just a projection of the book’s 17th-century characters?
Where to see it - Cinemas
Cast:
CARA THEOBOLD - Maggie
GETHIN ANTHONY - Bernard
Where to View:
Film Details
Completed : March 2019
Theatrical Release : April 2019
Budget : $1M GBP
Running Time : 78m
Country of Origin : UK
Screener : Screener Link (Password required)
Genre: Romance / Drama / Science Fiction
Festivals, awards and other info - IMDb
Director’s Statement
It all started with a château: 400 years old and crumbling, set in an overgrown garden, its majesty still shining through the neglect. Its new owners, friends of mine, invited me to make a film there. That was an easy choice – I’d fallen in love with the place.
Diving into the chateau’s history I found out about a famous book that had been written there in 1686: Conversations on the Plurality of Worlds, by Bernard Le Bovier de Fontenelle. Using this a starting point, and blending it with ideas he’d had for stories we could set at the château, the seed of a story began to reveal itself to Jon Kiefer, which eventually coalesced into Around the Sun.
The script is all Jon’s work but its themes are deeply personal to me: the loss of identity as someone who spans two different cultures; hope and imagination as the kickstarter of broken dreams; and the all-powerful need to connect with someone at the deepest level, whilst sharing a mutual thirst for knowledge. As a kid, spending summer nights gazing up at the crystal-clear night sky in Greece, I was captivated by the limitlessness possibility of the universe. Making this film connected me back to that feeling.
The elements of the script that might give someone pause – a single location, only two characters, and reams of geeky dialogue – are just the things that drove me to make it.
I loved the idea of making an intimate film about really big ideas. And our film at its heart explores one of the simplest and biggest: the connection of two souls. As our lead character Maggie reminds us: there are infinite universes, and so infinite possibilities for connection, but by that definition, there are also infinite ways to miss out. In that sense, true connection is both a miracle and an inevitability.
Movie Poster
Reviews
“★★★★ This confident feature debut by British-Greek director Oliver Krimpas, elegantly written by Jonathan Kiefer, is unique, its own special, weird thing that leaves a long, pleasant, earthy aftertaste, like vintage calvados.”
Leslie Felperin - The Guardian | , Read full review
“Clever and genial”
Edward Porter, Sunday Times | Read full review
"★★★★ The sheer originality of this film makes it remarkable, but it is all the more extraordinary for being a debut feature.”
Mansel Stimpson, Film Review Daily | Read full review
“A lot of time and resources get channelled into big movies that feel intrinsically empty; here's a small film - 79 minutes, two actors, one location which contains multitudes.”
Mike McCahill, Cinésthesia | Read full review
“★★★★, FILM OF THE WEEK: A truly unique and beautiful enigma of love, belonging, and science-fiction...Around the Sun is nothing short of magical."
Neil Baker, Cinerama | Read full review
“Around the Sun is a witty, humorous, thoughtful take about science, cosmology and romance. Its 85-minutes runtime seem to drift by effortlessly, and right after it ends you pine for more. Although movies that are generally dependant on conversations tend to drag after a bit, this one does an excellent job at keeping the story tight and interesting. The leads’ brilliant acting is also a plus. The movie makes you think and fall in love – with the people, the surrounding and the music that binds everything together.”
Leisurebyte | Read full review
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