Went Up the Hill

TIFF65: European Premiere

Abandoned as a child, Jack travels to remote New Zealand to attend the funeral of his estranged mother Elizabeth. There he meets her widow, Jill, who has questions of her own. Over the nights that follow, Elizabeth returns and possesses Jack and Jill, using each of their bodies to speak to the other. Jill faces Elizabeth’s suicide, while Jack confronts his abandonment. As they learn she is trapped in limbo, Jack begins to doubt Elizabeth’s reason for returning. Caught in a life-threatening nocturnal dance, Jack and Jill must find a way to let go of Elizabeth’s hold before she pushes them to the edge. Went Up The Hill is a psychological drama inspired by writer/director Samuel Van Grinsven’s memories of his childhood in New Zealand’s South Island. An intimate, modern ghost story that explores the extremities of grief in our pursuit of letting go.

Screening Schedule

No physical screenings scheduled.

Direction: Samuel Van Grinsven

Script: Samuel Van Grinsven, Jory Anast

Cinematography: Tyson Perkins

Editing: Dany Cooper

Sound: Robert Mackenzie

Music: Hanan Townshend

Actors: Vicky Krieps, Dacre Montgomery, Sarah Peirse

Production: Pop Film, Causeway Films

Producers: Vicky Pope, Samantha Jennings, Kristina Ceyton

Production Design: Sherree Philips

Executive producer: Vicky Krieps, Dacre Montgomery, Stephen Kelliher, Sophie Green, Josh Pomeranz, Jonathan Hairman, Christian Debney, Phil Hunt, Compton Ross, Daniel Negret, Phil Bremner, Jill Macnab, Robert Mackenzie, Monica Anderson

Format: DCP

Color: Color

Production Country: New Zealand, Australia

Production Year: 2024

Duration: 100'

Contact: Bankside Films

Samuel Van Grinsven

Samuel Van Grinsven is an Australian / New Zealand writer and director. His upcoming second feature film Went Up the Hill stars Vicky Krieps (Phantom Thread, Corsage) and Dacre Montgomery (Stranger Things) and is an Australian/New Zealand co-production produced by Causeway Films (Talk to Me, Of an Age) and POP Film (Savage). His debut feature film Sequin In a Blue Room had its world premiere at the 2019 Sydney Film Festival where it won the Audience Award for Best Feature Film. It soon became a festival hit screening globally at Palm Springs, TIFF Next Wave, BFI Flare and Melbourne International Film Festival. The film was nominated for an Australian Academy Award (AACTA), Australian Directors Guild (ADG) Award and German Independence Award, and screened theatrically in Australia, Germany and the UK. In 2020, the film was released as an Amazon Exclusive on Prime Video in Australia followed by streaming releases worldwide. Samuel completed a Masters of Directing at the Australian Film Television and Radio School (AFTRS) with a research area focused on the New Queer Cinema movement of the 90s and the work of Gus Van Sant, Gregg Araki and Derek Jarman. He was the first Masters student to graduate with a feature, Sequin in a Blue Room. His previous short films have been selected for international and domestic film festivals.