Jonny Phillips’ WOODWOO is one of the shortest and most powerful films screened at this year’s Cambridge Film Festival. Part of the EXISTENTIAL strand, it’s Phillips’ directorial debut. RADA trained, and a stalwart of the Citizens Theatre Glasgow, Phillips has performed in low budget British independents such as THE LAST GREAT WILDERNESS and ONE FOR THE ROAD, as well as short films including Simon Ellis’ SOFT. With WOODWOO he takes a simple premise and a beautiful location – a disillusioned tree surgeon has a brush with death, among the branches of an ancient oak – and creates a profoundly haptic tension.
Phillips is no dilettante – he feels that this marks the beginning of a filmmaking journey. “I’ve always adored film, and my overall interest in it has often been difficult to live with as an actor,” he told us. “We are presently putting together another short, half of which we have shot, and we have a few other projects in preparation.” WOODWOO was a real labour of love, and with limited funding, short filmmakers must often struggle through a long and tricky production process. Phillips’ experience was no exception, and yet the finished product is polished and immersive. “We really honed the script down over several drafts, and tried to eliminate shooting problems through painstaking prep,” says Phillips. “I had and still have great faith in everyone who worked on the film.”
“Shorts often get trapped within themselves […] but when they work they taste so good!”
WOODWOO’s modest, hardworking crew include DOP Andy Parsons, producer and editor John Fensom and producer Jonathan Blagrove who Phillips admires for his film sensibility and skilled sound engineering. “I’m the kind of director who believes in good casting, not just with actors, but everyone in the process,” says Phillips. “For me it’s case of putting good people together, really doing the work on the script and praying for luck and just little magic.”
The feedback Cambridge Film Festival have received so far for the Shortfusion programmes has been overwhelmingly positive – but Phillips agrees that shorts are all too often overlooked or discounted as valuable cinematic experiences. “I’ve always loved [shorts],” says Phillips. “They should be poems, to features as novels. Shorts often get trapped within themselves, if you see what I mean – but when they work they taste so good!”
Unfortunately Phillips won’t be joining us at the Festival as he is touring with a play called Dunsinane for the National Theatre of Scotland – but he sends his best wishes to the Festival and hopes you enjoy his film.
WOODWOO screens as part of the EXISTENTIAL strand of short films on 24 September at 23.15. Click here to book tickets.