KIM

With KIM I wanted to create a highly subjective film and for the audience to experience the world like she does – to feel disorientated and lost in the environment. The isolation and grimness of the charming old town, when seen from her perspective. Her powerlessness, her boredom, her confusion.

I had worked in social care and been aware of cases of abuse and neglect; and also how badly paid and undervalued care workers are. I was thinking about the relationship between these two areas and, more broadly, why we often deflect our pain to those weaker than us; our oppressors being too powerful and formless. The film evolved a lot from here, but these were some of the thoughts swimming around my mind when I wrote the script. Showing the film to people and hearing their thoughts I’ve recognized elements which influenced the film in a less conscious way – and that’s immensely exciting and interesting to me. For example, I was, at the time, living in the town where the film was shot; my first time living outside of a city. Reflecting back the film expresses my own lack of connection to the place. And funnily enough the actor Mogens, who plays the Old Man, and his wife Annie did give me a sense of warmth and connection that I’d been missing.

KIM touches on some current and critical concerns: the ageing population; intergenerational relationships; low-income among young people; and the trade-off we all face between immediate personal gain and what one gains by living with kindness and respect towards others. It’s about a moment of recognition - seeing someone for who they are in the face of the fragmentation of current society - important for two people looking for some kindness and value in the world. Kim and Henning cross this gulf, and it’s a beautiful moment for them, for hope and for society.