The Cast of Jimpa on Bishop Budde’s ‘Beautiful’ Plea to President Trump
At the center of Jimpa, a new film from Sophie Hyde premiering at Sundance, is queer joy, and the team behind the film understands how necessary a semi-autobiographical movie about a loving queer family is now more than ever. Reacting to the inauguration sermon for President Trump, held by DC Bishop Mariann Budde, where Budde asked for the incoming president to have empathy for LGBT and marginalized people, the cast of the film, along with Hyde, celebrated the timeliness of their story. “It was beautiful, I thought, that moment,” Aud Mason-Hyde expressed to Jay Jurden at the Vulture Spot at Sundance. “If we can find love, if we can find joy, that’s all we need.”
Jimpa follows Hannah (Olivia Colman) and their non-binary teenager Frances (Aud Mason-Hyde) on a trip to the Netherlands to see Hannah’s father and Frances’s grandfather, Jimpa (John Lithgow). When Frances asks to stay with him for a year, Hannah reevaluates her parenting style and relationship with their child. Hyde’s real family inspires the film, as she explained how “joy is at the heart” of the story, as its inspired by her openly gay father and transgender and nonbinary child. Lithgow, who plays Hyde’s father, explained how, during production, no one understood how timely it would be come Sundance. “When we were making the film, we had no idea how necessary it was going to be at this at this particular moment,” he shared. “We didn’t know there would be this ghastly sea change, where you’ve had so many years of progress and liberation and feeling okay with all these issues that have tormented us for years. Suddenly, this on rush of hatred… it’s just astonishing to me.”
Colman, who stars as Hannah, a character inspired by Hyde, hoped that the film could change someone’s perspective: “Hatred and mistrust is always ignorance. Maybe if anyone could watch the film and go, ‘Ah, okay. I’m not threatened by this.’ This is just love; just people who love other people.”
We’re back at Sundance in the Vulture Spot, where we’re interviewing the casts and creators of the year’s buzziest films. Check out the rest of our coverage from the film fest here.
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