Great news for Vicky Pope, a producer on the feature film Went Up The Hill which is among the nine projects to share in $12 million of production funding from Screen Australia.
Went Up The Hill is a New Zealand/Australian co-production from writer/director Samuel Van Grinsven and writer Jory Anast. Causeway Films’ Samantha Jennings and Kristina Ceyton are producing alongside Pope.
The film has been offered production investment from the New Zealand Film Commission and is financed with support from Spectrum Films, Stage 23, RB Sound, and Screen Canterbury.
Vendetta Films is handling local distribution while Bankside Films is on board for international distribution.
Went Up The Hill is a psychological three-handed thriller played out between only two actors. The story follows Jack as he travels to a remote region in New Zealand to attend the funeral of Elizabeth, the mother who abandoned him as a child. There he meets Jill, Elizabeth’s widow. Both are searching for answers; Jack about why she deserted him and Jill about why she killed herself. But Elizabeth’s spirit lingers and soon finds a way to possess both Jack and Jill’s bodies at night. Caught in a life-threatening nocturnal dance, Jack and Jill must find a way to let go of Elizabeth’s toxic hold, before she pushes them to the edge.