By: Matthew Eeles – Cinema Australia
Sydney-based filmmaker Ulysses Oliver has three feature films screening at this year’s Sydney Film Festival – Birdeater and Tennessine which he co-produced, and Love Road, a tense drama that marks the independent filmmaker’s feature film debut as director.
To have one film officially selected for the Sydney Film Festival is a massive achievement in itself. To have four films selected is testament to the quality of Ulysses work behind the camera.
Love Road follows Jaz (Shalane Connors), as she flees a fractured relationship with Daniel (Ishak Issa) traversing a road full of memories of love and loss, as she tries to find the strength to face hard truths.
Ulysses Oliver has over twenty years experience in the development of media productions. He is a founding director of Breathless Films, a production company that has produced five features to date: Lonesome, The Longest Weekend , Tennessine, Love Road and Birdeate.
As you will discover in this interview, Love Road is Ulysses’ most personal film yet.
“A lot of what happens within this on-screen relationship comes from a personal place that I really wanted to explore within the three act structure of a feature film.”
Interview by Matthew Eeles
Do you have a direct line to the Sydney Film Festival programming team? How does one have three films selected for one of Australia’s biggest film festival?
[Laughs]. I don’t know. We are based here in Sydney. We’ve been fortunate enough to be selected. We feel like the quality of our films really stands up in terms of what we were able to achieve on very little resources. I suppose that the independent spirit of the festival is very much in line with what we’ve been doing to foster these types of films. We hope that as we continue to grow that we’re building to bigger and better things.
What are the origins of your production company, Breathless Films?
[Co-founder] Ben Ferris and I got together over a coffee one day. I was actually in the middle of preparing to shoot Love Road at the time. Ben used to run Sydney Film School which I’m an alumni of. We talked about trying to make a series of films for very small amounts of money under fifty thousand dollars. We managed to raise funds through a private investor who would come on board to get things going. We spoke to a hundred or so filmmakers and did a big six month curation process. Love Road was a forerunner to prove that we could make a feature film for under fifty thousand dollars. These other four films were also part of that creation process.
Did you feel like Australian was lacking a certain type of film that you were keen to make?
We felt that by coming up with a model that sits outside of the studio system, and the agency system, that would lead to opportunities to make a different type story that wouldn’t otherwise be made through those traditional models.
As a producer, do you actively seek out Australian films, and watch what’s being made locally to keep your finger on the creative pulse of this country?
Yes, definitely. I mean, at the moment it’s been a very intensive couple of years, so I think we were more seeking out what’s being made locally at that emerging or micro budget level. We were constantly reviewing that space and taking meetings and looking at opportunities. There’s rarely a day that doesn’t go past where we’ve not been contacted by filmmakers seeking an opportunity to have their low budget films made.
Fifty thousand dollars is a great starting point for someone wanting to make an independent film. A lot of filmmakers would feel as though it’s impossible to get a film made with such a small amount of cash.
Well, we start with that amount as a baseline. The budgets on some films have grown once a production schedule and the cast and crew are locked in. As long as it’s the right story, with two main character over a short period, with a crew of four or five people, you should be able to accomplish something. That’s the type of film that you need to be thinking of when you’re formulating your story. There are compromises to be had. You need to write for locations you can easily access, and you have to write for actors who you know would come on a project of this scale. There’s no real secret to it as such. It is a bit of a process in terms of what’s achievable, but it is achievable.
You’re best known as a producer on films like Lonesome, The Longest Weekend and two Sydney Film Festival films, Tennessine and Birdeater. What stands out for you as something that will make a good film?
Well, I very much enjoy character based stories, so there needs to be an authenticity to the story and then a connection through performance to what’s been written. There needs to be an understanding of the fundamentals of story in terms of what’s achievable within a three act structure. I definitely prefer film over TV for that reason. With film, you’re understanding these beats that go into making up a story. And I think Love Road, in a way, sticks to those structures even though these two characters are existing in three parallel timelines. The other question that needs to be considered is will your story work for an audience? Will it play at festivals? Will it sell into a marketplace? And I think with Breathless Film’s first slate of films, maybe we lent towards what our taste was rather than what audiences might have wanted. Relationship dramas, and exploring a whole lot of different sub-genres within that space. As we move forward we are thinking of maybe leaning into more genres films, comedies, horrors and moving into that market place. But yeah, five outta five Sydney Film Festival official selections over the years isn’t bad. [Laughs].
Why was now the right time to make your feature film debut as a director.
Having made some short films as a director, and quite a lot of content as a producer, I knew that what ever I was going to make as a director had to be achievable. I specifically had to write something that I knew would work. I was ready for that challenge as a producer on Love Road, and it just so happened that I was also the writer of the film too. Because I knew the script and the story would work, and that the film would be achievable, I knew then that I could also direct it. Approaching this film creatively, both my parents had passed away which gave me a drive to succeed with this film. Also, a lot of the things that happen within this on-screen relationship between the lead characters, Jaz and Daniel, comes from a personal place that I really wanted to explore within the three act structure of a feature film.
Would you say that moving into directing felt like a natural progression for you as a filmmaker?
Yeah. I tend to take on way more than what I should whenever I’m working on any film. [Laughs]. I embrace and thrive on chaos. That may be a criticism that some people have of me, but it’s also one of my best strengths in that I really do rise to any challenge and occasion that’s put in front of me. Directing was just another step to add to my duties that I have on set. [Laughs]. I’ve learnt a lot from this experience in terms of not taking on too much, and learning how to delegate and trust other creatives around me while I focused on just directing. I learnt a lot about what to control and what not to control. Delegating is not something that comes natural to me, so directing my first feature film has taught me a lot about letting go. [Laughs].
Was it difficult to seperate your directing and producing duties on Love Road?
It was difficult. One hundred percent it was. [Laughs]. Across our entire slate of films I’ve been really involved in all facets of each film we’ve made from workshopping scripts, to casting, and then producing the film. There are so many amazing facets of filmmaking when you’re working in such a collaborative space. There are a thousand jobs on every film. It’s an extremely rewarding and amazing process. On Love Road, I was really interested in understanding all 1001 jobs. [Laughs]. I wanted to use the experience of making Love Road to understand every facet of filmmaking, including directing, so I can take that knowledge into the next slate of films we’re looking to produce.
I mentioned those other films that you’ve produced. Were you observing those directors during that time, and learning from them?
Yes, yes, yes. One hundred percent. I’ve worked with some amazing directors who I’ve learnt a great deal from. All of the filmmakers I’ve worked with have some truly amazing strengths that I’ve learnt so much from. From Amin Palangi on Tennessine, Craig Boreham on Lonesome, Molly Haddon on The Longest Weekend and Jack Clark and Jim Weir on Birdeater, they’ve taught me so much. For example, Craig was amazing at just knowing exactly what he wanted and not shooting any more than what he needed to shoot rather than trying to cover all the bases coverage wise. That was a huge learning experience for me. Something else I learnt on a bunch of these films is just putting more time into developing the script and the story and really owning it. You need to be very specific about cause and effect, and what’s needed and what’s not needed. I worked on Love Road for so long because it’s non-linear. There were a thousands different ways I could have edited this story together.
Did you write Love Road as a non-linear story, or did that come during the edit?
I did write the story in a non-linear way. There are three parallel stories and everything starts to come together in the middle of the story.
You’re exploring some heavy themes here through this toxic relationship. What are the origins of this story? You mentioned that some of it might be quite personal for you.
I have to say that pretty much every little story element within this film I’ve written is based on my own personal experiences. To seperate myself from this story, and my really personal experiences, I focused the story more on the female protagonist, Jaz. I removed myself from this character by making her female. During the filming of Love Road, I did find out about my father passing away and then my mother got sick and passed away. So all of that is quite personal. Also, dealing with past relationships in terms of betrayals on both sides. Also, the little squabbles between this couple in the car, I think every couple has been in that situation arguing over directions.
I don’t think it’s possible to go on a road trip with anyone without arguing about something.
Exactly right. [Laughs]. I would also like to say that this film is also inspired by the films of Richard Linklater where you just have two characters having conversations, exploring particular themes. Love Road was always designed in that way where I just wanted to let these scenes play out organically. It’s dialogue heavy.
Was it a challenge for you to write from a female perspective?
I don’t think so. I think we all have strong female and male sides to us. I was raised by a single mother. I have a wife and two young girls. I’m surrounded by a family of girls and I feel like I’m in touch with my feminine side. I think that maybe we get too hung up on specifically writing for females and for writing for male characters. This story isn’t told specifically from Jaz’s perspective, although the edit did kind of go a little bit in that direction. As much as Daniel acts as an antagonist in various moments, he also has some empathetic moments. Jaz does do some equally terrible things to Daniel at times, maybe worse. Hopefully people see the balance in this story.
New South Wales has the highest rate of domestic violence in Australia. Was this story a response to those statistics?
Domestic Violence is all too commonplace in New South Wales and the statistics prove that. But I don’t think I set out to write something in response to those figures. The figures are way too high everywhere. Without making any kind of commentary on those statistics directly. I think I really wanted to get the point across that domestic violence has a huge impact on all aspects of society.
Is it easy to disconnect from a story like this when you’re not writing it or filming it?
It was for me, but that was only because I spent so much time on this film. Also, my mum passed away after I finished production so I did find it very hard to finish the film on that regard rather than the actual subject matter within the film. That was quite difficult. I do know that some of the cast in the film found the subject matter quite challenging and quite hard to watch.
As well as being your debut feature film as director, Love Road also marks debut lead performances for Shalane Conners and Ishak Issa. Can you tell us about casting these two?
I first met Shalene when I was at Sydney Film School many years ago. I think she auditioned for my thesis film. We’ve worked on a few little things together. I’ve always kept her in mind for a feature film role. Ishak came in a bit later during the audition process. I probably had an older character in mind, but Ishak came along and blew us away in the audition. I felt like he added a really interesting dynamic to this character, and to the film itself. I think Ishak has a French and Egyptian background so it was interesting to incorporate a character that comes from a different background. He was a pleasure to work with.
Did I spot Shalane briefly in Tennessine?
You did. You did. Well spotted. It’s very brief. At one point we were learning towards the idea of having these sliding door moments in each film where we see one of the other characters from the other film just pop in. It would have been great to have that little link between Tennesseeand Love Road.
A Breathless Films multiverse.
Yes, yes. [Laughs]. I really want to see more of that in Australian films. It didn’t quite happen here. It was actually Osamah Sami who suggested we do that. If we had our time again we may have leant more into that. It’s quite fun.
Now that you’ve made your first feature film, what was the biggest lesson you learnt that you’ll take into your next directing project?
Spend more time in pre-production and spend more time working with the actors. It’s tough to do when you’re working on limited time. It’s all about finding that right balance. I’d love to have more time on pre-production and post-production.