Santa Barbara

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BACKYARD VILLAGE

Santa Barbara Film Festival 2021

With actor: Tim Plester (https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1043031 )

Interview by Emmanuel ITIER for filmfestivals.com

Q: How did you get to play this interesting English man lost in the land of Island?

Tim: I met Marteinn Thorsson, the director of “Backyard Village”, a few years ago. Almost 10 years ago when I was in Iceland for a vacation. We had an amazing time and while we were there, we met Marteinn through a mutual friend with whom I had worked on an English tv show. And then we stayed in touch. Over the years he sent me his films and I really liked them.  Two years ago he sent me this script for “Backyard village” and asked me to come to Iceland to film for 10 days. I immediately replied I was on board. I loved the script and it was a different role for me. It was a departure as this guy, “Mark”, is a nice man. Not the usual nasty villain I’m used to play (note: Game of Thrones). Mark is warm, vulnerable and broken. It was also an appeal to be the only English-speaking actor among all these Icelandic actors. And it was a pure delight as Icelanders are so warm and welcoming.

Q: What is this movie truly about for you?

Tim: Loss is the big part of this film. Also the notion of family. Both of the main characters come from broken families. My character lost his son who committed suicide and he is trying to come to terms with this horrible situation. And for “Brynja”, played by the amazing Lufey Elíasdóttir, she is facing the loss of her mother who didn’t die but walked out on her family. I think that both of them are trying to reconnect, with themselves and with others. Brynja is trying to reconnect physically with her mother, again. And for Mark is more about with reconnecting with the “spirit” of his son. Mark’ situation is quite desperate because there isn’t even a name to classify who you are when you lose a child. When you’re a child and you lose your parents you become an orphan. A wife losing her husband is a widow. But a man losing is son doesn’t have a “title”, a “name”. He truly doesn’t know who he is after this loss. Mark is trying to find a new meaning to life in this film and we follow his struggle.

Q: What was the most challenging aspect of making this film or a particularly daunting scene to act in?

Tim: There is a scene when Mark is speaking about the suicide of his son and how it affected him deeply. We did that scene in an amazing mine. So there was this cavernous landscape around us and the sound was quite eerie. It was like acting in an auditorium. Like a hollow space where I had to deliver this heavy monologue. And this was quite an intense and challenging moment. I was very nervous to hit the right emotional note.

Q: What type of impact do you hope for this film and how important are festivals for this film?

Tim: The film is both in English and in Icelandic so it’s quite a unique experience. We hope people around, especially in festivals such as the Santa Barbara International film festival, will connect with our picture. I think it explores universal feelings and emotions, in spite of the place where it’s shot and the languages used to film this beautiful picture. It’s a shame that we can’t meet face to face due to the pandemic but I hope this films will find an audience and then will be distributed all around the world. Bravo in any case to Marteinn for this wonderful film and for Laufey who is in almost every single scenes, what a performance. It was such an honor to be part of this endeavor.