Hamish Downie’s Five Questions with Jannik Splidsboel
Editor Note: Hamish has another in his series of Five Questions With…
Hamish came up with this idea because he was accumulating too much material for his Famous News Sushi column and asked if he could do these mini-interviews. Why would we say no?
Thank you Hamish for being such a trooper for us. We really appreciate all for your hard work.
Let us know what you think of these interviews in the comments below.
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TGG: I recently discovered this fabulous documentarian from Denmark on Facebook (it’s still useful for something!), and when I asked him for an interview, he responded straight away! Amazing! So, I’m really glad that I can now introduce him to all of you. So, could you please introduce yourself to our readers?
JS: My name is Jannik, I’m a filmmaker from Denmark but I have lived and worked in different countries in different parts of the world.
Right now I live between Denmark and Italy. My background is video art and then at one point I moved on to (documentary) filmmaking – and
some fiction.
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TGG: Could you tell us about your documentary, “Misfits”? What brought you from Denmark to the “buckle of the bible belt” in Tulsa, Oklahoma?
JS: I read an article in the NY Times about a small – and infact the only – LGBTQ youth club in Tulsa, Oklahoma.I was interested in the
personal stories: how do you cope with “being different’ in an environment that is known for being hostile to LGBTQ communties. And in a way the film also reflected my own coming out story. I didn’t have a religious upbringing but it also wasn’t super supportive of being “different”. So the film was important and personal for me.
TGG: You’ve done both fiction and non-fiction projects, but mostly non-fiction. What attracts you to making documentaries?
JS: I’m attracted to personal stories from the real world. Stories about why we’re here. Are we happy? Could we live our lives in another
way? Should we change the obvious, the scheme of things? Too often we are trapped in other people’s expectations. I certainly was. At the
same time I try to be political and ask questions. Like in HOW ARE YOU about the art duo Elmgreen & Dragset and their queer/political
installations. The film became a big hit very unexpectedly and is still doing well 10 years after the premiere at the Berlin Film
Festival.
Link to watch: https://vimeo.com/ondemand/280820
HOW ARE YOU from Turnip Pictures on Vimeo.
TGG: 10 years is an amazing achievement! It’s found a life of it’s own. What’s next for you?
JS: My latest film “Being Eriko is about the challenge of being yourself and about the special bond between a Japanese Pianist and a Danish Drag Queen. They both face the same identity problem but in very different ways.
Trailer: https://vimeo.com/395408991
Being Eriko // Official
Trailer (UK subs) from Sonntag Pictures on Vimeo.
Currently I’m working on two new projects as a Director and I’m venturing into producing as well. Also I’m Associate Programmer for Biografilm Festival in Bologna, Italy; a festival that grew immensely this year and will be dedicated to strong character based documentaries and artfilms. So, I’ll keep you posted.
TGG: How can we best support you and your work? (Where can we rent/buy your films, follow you on social media etc)
JS: Most of my films can be found on VOD (Amazon, Warner TV, Itunes etc). But somehow I never see any of that money… Therefore I’m happy to present the films on Vimeo, like now (finally) with MISFITS and also HOW ARE YOU. More films will follow. I’m also on Facebook and Instagram.
https://www.instagram.com/jnkspl/
TGG: Thank you so much for agreeing to be interviewed today, I look forward to sharing more of Jannik’s work in the future.
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