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Went Up the Hill + Q&A Sydney Film Festival

5 June 2025

In the Playhouse

Cinema

Australia, New Zealand | 2024 | English | Drama | U15+

Vicky Krieps (Phantom Thread) and Dacre Montgomery (Stranger Things) star in this haunting, wholly original tale of grief and possession set in remote New Zealand. Toronto 2024.

This special screening will also include a spoken introduction with Justin Martyniuk and a live Q&A with director Samuel Van Grinsven, producers Vicky Pope, Samantha Jennings, Kristina Ceyton moderated by Justin Martyniuk .

A ghost story, but one shaped in a fresh and artful way by a director who, in his second film, already has the control of a master.

The Hollywood Reporter

Useful information:

Samuel Van Grinsven's haunting gothic tale of loss and possession

With his arresting second feature, the promise shown by Sydney-based New Zealand filmmaker Samuel Van Grinsven in his SFF 2019 audience award-winner Sequin in a Blue Room is fully realised. Jack (Montgomery) has arrived at a distinctly unwelcoming manse for the funeral of Elizabeth, the artist mother he barely knew. An unnerving atmosphere hovers in Elizabeth’s cavernous and isolated house as Jack attempts to connect with Jill (Krieps), his mother’s fragile widow. Riveting gothic psychodrama follows when Elizabeth’s restless spirit begins to inhabit the minds and control the bodies of both Jack and Jill, with Van Grinsven’s expert tonal control matched by the bravura performances of Krieps and Montgomery.

Presented by Sydney Opera House and Sydney Film Festival

Credits

Samuel Van Grinsven
Director

Vicky Pope, Kristina Ceyton, Samantha Jennings
Producers

Samuel Van Grinsven, Jory Anast
Writers

Tyson Perkins
Cinematographer

Dany Cooper
Editor

Vendetta Films
Australian Distributor

Cast

Vicky Krieps

Dacre Montgomery

Sarah Peirse

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