In her latest short film, local filmmaker, Kerr Holden, follows Vancouver based pro-wrestler Judas Icarus through an arduous process of recovery after sustaining a dramatic injury. This small portrait of Judas Icarus is expressed not through a continuity of events, but through the human touch, forms of light, and repeated movements which surround his recovery.
Screening Dates @ VIFF:
Sept 27 & 28
Featured Crew:
Director/Producer: Kerr Holden
Kerr, thank you for taking the time to speak with us! What inspired you to create this film? Was there a specific event or story that sparked the idea?
Kerr Holden, Director, Photographed by Brian Van Wyk at the Filmable Portrait Studio
Kerr Holden (KH): Judas Icarus's wrestling entrances me. The subtle poeticism of struggle, pain, aggression, winning and failing which he channels through the movements of his body as he battles similarly extravagant athletes connects me to the narrative of my own body's trials of transformation, injury, and recovery.
The body houses every experience we endure. With "Judas Icarus Twists His Wrist", I aimed to make an experimental action film which explores this concept through the sensorial experience projected light, flickering images, and moving pictures can deliver to a body.
The larger-than-life characters in wrestling are mesmerizing. Tell us more about how you developed them for this project?
KH: The people in the film play themselves. Judas Icarus is a huge force, developing his performance in a specific direction for the movie did not feel necessary.
What were some of the biggest challenges you faced during the production of this film?
KH: I pushed myself to adopt an athletic practice which may make me spiritually closer to the subject matter - I chose basketball. I hadn't really played much before the writing and planning of this movie, and so obviously learning was a challenge in itself, but playing throughout the duration of the film's production (about 1.5 years from inception to completion) I gained several injuries. These injuries, although bringing me closer to the subject material and my own spiritual relation with the film, were also obviously quite painful, and making a movie is a lot more difficult when you can't walk because your calf has exploded, or can't look in certain directions because of your cracked rib, or cut a scene because of a head injury. Making this movie was one of my biggest joys and privileges but I do wish I got hurt less during my research.
Talk about art imitating life! Do you have a favourite scene or moment in the film?
Still from Judas Icarus Twists His Wrist
KH: I do think they are all nice. Maybe the end? It's very colourful.
Say less! Looking forward to seeing this colourful ending. Can you describe your process for writing the script? How did you approach the story structure and dialogue?
KH: The script was more visual. I made most of the film in the form of still image storyboards using blender. Our script was more of a beat sheet. I would chat with Judas and Travis about the experience as wrestlers, and my experiences as a filmmaker, and we would trace common things we had experienced in our respective art practices. I would come up with scenes based on this, and if they were cool with it, we would film it.
That seems like a great iterative approach. How would you describe your directing style?
KH: I don't tell people what to do much. My biggest task as a director is creating materials for my collaborators which allows them to bring themselves to the project. I make lots of images, writings, hold lots of talks about the film. I'm interested in other perspectives on the themes and ideas I am hoping to touch upon and how their experiences can be represented, so I ask lots of questions and hold lots of space for everyone to be heard. I feed people well, that goes a long way. I like to think my sets are kind places which are relaxing for artists to work within and bring their art into the world. If that's happening usually the movie turns out pretty good.
Directing is often creating the space for people’s talent to flourish.Is there a specific aspect of the film that you are really excited about and would like to speak more to?
Still from Judas Icarus Twists His Wrist
KH: An important part of this film was disrupting traditional threads of continuity. The film is very much about our relation to our passions and how they transform us physically and otherwise, for better or for worse, and I don't see this as a type of subject matter which relates to a continuous sense of time passing. It has much more to do with our future desires and past experiences colliding and shaping one another in a timeless space of our minds and hearts. Instead of basing the films pacing on more formally traditional methods of narrative of story telling we commonly see in movies, I took inspiration from how classical symphonic music during the European Romantic (Franz Schubert is my biggest motivation) was composed. So the story ends up being told and connected more through tone and color and patterns and their repetition then it does through narrative information.
Which filmmakers or films have influenced your work the most?
KH: Abel Gance, Sergei Eisenstein, Chantal Akerman.
How did you develop the visual style for the film, and what influenced your choices?
KH: We knew the editing of the movie was going to be fairly kinetic, so we wanted there to be lots of still moments and shots which would read clearly while containing a ton of energy. We also wanted to take inspiration from how independently run wrestling shows are filmed, which meant lots of chaotic handheld.
How do you approach lighting design for different scenes?
KH: Seeing light, and the source of light, was a big inspiration for this film. We worked with lots of natural light sources, stuck them in frame, and used bloom filters and smoke machines to give the light more volume so it was extremely present within the frame.