The film stars Abby Damen, who is quietly mesmerizing as Olive, a woman in an isolated home who runs out of her prescription meds and needs a drone to delivery them. But the technology that was at first a godsend soon becomes intrusive, and extremely demanding of her attention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With all the twists and drama of a full-length feature skillfully packed in 24 captivating minutes, Attachment Theory <\/em>leaves you with questions about the true cost of convenience long after the film ends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It plays Sunday at Provo, Utah\u2019s\u00a0FilmQuest<\/a>, one of\u00a0MovieMaker<\/em>\u2018s\u00a0Coolest Film Festivals in the World<\/a>. (It is in a block with Golden Hour<\/a><\/em>, another film about the ruthlessness of the attention economy.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n We talked with Katherine Jackson about writing and directing, the benefits of practical effects, saying more with less, and her famous father, Lord of the Rings<\/em> mastermind Peter Jackson. <\/p>\n\n\n\n MovieMaker<\/em>:<\/strong> You do a great job of not overexplaining \u2014 we know Olive wants to avoid the world but not much more, and we don\u2019t need to know more. How did you pare it down to the essentials?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Katherine Jackson:<\/strong> Film is a visual medium and I tried to follow the rule of show, don\u2019t tell. Audiences are smart and they don\u2019t want things over explained to them. Olive suffers from the malaise of my generation: too much medication. Too much screen time. Too much introspection. Her ability to engage with life is completely compromised by her choices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n MovieMaker<\/strong><\/em>:<\/strong> You have such a command of this film. How did you develop that sense of control?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Katherine Jackson:<\/strong> I think the sense of control began in the writing process when I was finding the story and the characters. I had to visualize a world and start to think about how I was going to capture it. In a short film every shot counts, so it was important for me to figure out exactly what I wanted before we started shooting. <\/p>\n\n\n\n MovieMaker<\/em>:<\/strong> At about 24 minutes, this is longer than a typical film festival short but shorter than a feature or TV drama. How did you decide this was the ideal running time?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Truthfully the film determines the running time. Not the other way around. A film finds its own rhythm and pace and you have to go with it. My main goal was to tell a complete story, which can be hard to do in a short film \u2014 given the limited time you have.<\/p>\n\n\n\n MovieMaker:<\/em><\/strong> What are the pros and cons of being related to one of the most successful directors of all? Do you consciously try to make films different from your father\u2019s films?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Katherine Jackson:<\/strong> I feel lucky to have a parent who has been able to teach me about filmmaking, but at the end of the day we\u2019re two different people. You can only make films based on your own life experience so I\u2019m not too worried about trying to differentiate myself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n MovieMaker<\/em>:<\/strong> Can you talk about how you found your fabulous location and lead actor?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Katherine Jackson:<\/strong> The location is just out of Wellington. We are lucky in New Zealand because we are surrounded remote landscapes and we very fortunate the couple who owned the house were happy to lend it to us. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Abby Damen was a gift. I knew as soon as I saw her audition that she was perfect for the role. I met with her and we spoke about the script. It was very clear to me that she understood Olive\u2019s character on a deep level and was going to capture her perfectly. <\/p>\n\n\n\n MovieMaker<\/strong><\/em>: Can you also describe how you decided on the appearance of the drone? Was it practical or CG or both? It looks fabulous.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I knew the drone had to be a perversion of nature. I wanted it to feel like a sentient insect, so the eyes were very important because they needed to reflect its intention. The scariest part for me was not knowing if any of this would come off on screen. <\/p>\n\n\n\n I wanted to shoot as much of the film as practically as possible, so we had a real drone which took three months to build. There are some CG shots… but we tried to keep those to a minimum.<\/p>\n\n\n\nKatherine Jackson on Shooting ‘Attachment Theory’<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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