This Thursday Rooftop is showing a special series of shorts, collectively entitled Hope and Heartbreak as our way of helping you (and ourselves) navigate the twisted and confusing concept of the modern relationship. One of the films which will be shown is Looking Forward to Yesterday which is more than just a classic tragic portrait of a love forlorn, it also deals with existential questions of free will and predestination. We asked co-director Kaia Rose to shed some light on the matter of love and fate and got to talking about the inspiration behind the film and her experience of making it.
I don’t think we usually think about how much of our relationships with people are based on shared experiences and even what we do on a day-to-day basis comes from knowledge of what we did yesterday, and the day before that, and the day before that. It’s interesting to see what happens if you take that away from someone, that foundation of remembering the past – it changes the way they relate to people, their outlook on fate and ultimately creates a very lonely existence.
As for the making of the film, it was quite a roller-coaster ride! Our lead actor broke his arm mid-way through shooting, so we had to take a week-long hiatus and then find ways to hide the fact that he couldn’t move his arm when he got back. That was fun. Then we built our own steadicam out of PVC pipe because the budget was absolutely minuscule, and we wanted to do lots of walking shots in Bath. Our first day in Bath it rained almost nonstop and our second day of shooting was the hottest day of the year so far, which is what you get for filming in England. Our actors hated us because although we got to wear shorts, their costumes had been chosen when it was raining so they were stuck in coats.
KR: Absolutely! We’re playing with different ideas about how the story could translate into a feature film at the moment, actually. I think the concept always seemed a lot bigger than a 20 minute film and there were so many things we know about the characters and their story that didn’t actually make it into the script. It would be fun to work on it again, as we’re both still fascinated by the ideas about determinism and free will and I think there’s a lot more to explore, whether in a longer adaptation of this story or in other films.
KR: Nick and I are both still in Bristol, he’s working for Aspect Film & Video and I’m currently producing films for a production company called ArthurCox who creates animation, live-action and archive projects, so we’ve each been a bit busy lately. But it’s been a year now since we finished Looking Forward to Yesterday and I think it’s about time to start something else! I’m working on a couple of scripts and we’ve both been discussing what the next project should be – so hopefully we’ll be back again soon with another film.