My Adelaide: Director Sophie Hyde Puts Adelaide on the Big Screen

Jimpa – a new semi-autobiographical film by writer-director Sophie Hyde, starring Olivia Colman and John Lithgow – had its Australian premiere at the Adelaide Film Festival last week.

Broadsheet sat down with Hyde to chat about their relationship with their home town and what we should expect from the new film.

Tell us a bit about yourself.
I’m Sophie Hyde. I’m a director and producer and writer of films and TV. People might know me from films that I’ve made like 52 Tuesdays , Good Luck to You, Leo Grande and Animals , or TV series The Hunting or Fucking Adelaide.

Straight from Fucking Adelaide onto my next question, which is: what is your favourite thing about Adelaide?
I was born and raised here, so I do love it. I like the humans that live here. I sometimes run into people, and I think, “I haven’t seen you for 20 years”, but at the same time, you can see everyone all the time, so I do love that part. And I’m standing in my garden right now, which is pretty magic. It’s our life here, our lifestyle that I love.

What would you say is the best time of year to visit Adelaide?
I love summer. I love the beach. I spend a lot of time at Port Willunga during the summer, and so that’s somewhere that I feel really calm and happy.

Do you have a favourite restaurant, cafe or bar around town?
God, I have so many. I think we’re really spoiled here with the kind of food that we can get. On the weekend, I went down to Otherness in the Barossa, which is from Sam Smith, who I think is one of the great chefs here. It was so good.

If I go out, I’ll go to Loc Bottle Bar in the city. Liv [Moore] also has Thelma in the Hills, and I think that’s amazing as well. I love Etica , and upstairs they do vegan degustation at Allegra.

For cafes, I go to Day Job in the city or Pickle in the Middle quite regularly.

Do you have a favourite cinema in Adelaide?
I mostly go to Palace Nova. I love The Piccadilly and what they’ve done there. And, of course, I love The Mercury because it’s always playing really excellent stuff. It’s been around for a long time, so it’s real community hub.

Is there a film that really captures the essence of Adelaide?
I thought for years that we were a place that wasn’t shown on screen, but actually we shoot a lot of films here. I really remember Shine back in the day, like when I was quite young, seeing that film and seeing the light of Adelaide in it and being like, “Oh, that’s so familiar to me. That’s Adelaide!”

I’m super excited by the Philippou brothers shooting all their films here and really setting them in Adelaide, like Talk to Me and Bring Her Back. That’s exciting, because they’re so out loud about it being here.

Your new film Jimpa also filmed in Adelaide. What was so important and special for you about filming and setting something in Adelaide?
My first film, 52 Tuesdays , was shot here. We shot for a whole year in and around the city, and then after that, I went overseas. So I’ve filmed TV shows here, but until Jimpa , I hadn’t filmed a movie here for ages. It was really beautiful to be able to come back and film here and to bring the people we were working with here. I love working here. There’s a kind of ease to the logistics of working in Adelaide that means that all your attention goes to the creative, and that’s really exciting.

Adelaide does also feature in the film. We actually talk about Adelaide in the film quite a lot – sometimes in a disparaging way but with a great love. If you live in a place like Adelaide, you love and adore it, but you also have to have a little complain occasionally.

If you were showing someone around from out of town or overseas, where would you take them?
I would take them to Port Willunga and up to the Adelaide Hills. In the Hills, I’d take them to Morialta or to go visit some wineries up there like Commune of Buttons. Those are my places: the beach and the Hills.

Last question, who or what makes Adelaide a better place?
I can think of so many people. This one is hard. Who or what makes Adelaide a better place? Everything! The magpies. Like in the morning, my favourite thing is to be with the magpies, and I love the sound of them, and they feel like home to me, that they’re so beautiful. But beyond the magpies, I would also say my family. I work with my partner Bryan and my kid, Aud – Aud’s in the film in Jimpa , too – and that’s the thing that really makes Adelaide the best place for me to be.

@sophhyde
@jimpa_film

An encore screening of Jimpa is playing at Palace Nova East End on Monday October 27.