“Head South” brings Christchurch to the big screen

Music blows your mind, creates the soundtrack to life, transcends boundaries. For those of us who grew up in a simpler, analogue era, music did all of that in its own time.

Jonathan Ogilvie’s touching fourth feature film Heading south is a time capsule wrapped in the glorious, sweaty textures of punk rock and post-punk melodies.

Imagine The Slits, Public Image Ltd and Magazine being shot out of a cannon onto the big screen.

Heading south screened on August 21st to a sold-out audience at the Melbourne International Film Festival, presented by Diversity AU/NZwith Ogilvie and producer Antje Kulpe and several actors, including Ed Oxenbould (Angus), Roxie Mohebbi (Holly), Jackson Bliss (Fraser) and Orion Carey-Clarke (Fergus).

It’s a film full of Easter eggs and details (look for the Wilhelm scream and the three references to Stanley Kubrick, a director Ogilvie worked under) and devious ambition. Ogilvie manages to weave together complex themes of spirituality, love, tragedy, comedy and the idea of ​​”cultural embarrassment,” he explains, “that nagging fear that we in the Southern Hemisphere can’t keep up with what’s happening in the Northern Hemisphere until we live there.”

When Nick Cave went to “Swinging London” with his newly named band The Birthday Party, Ogilvie noted that “it was swinging, but swinging on a rope.”

Ogilvie reminds us to “celebrate our own stories.” Heading south is mostly his own story – perhaps 99% of his stories are taken from his own experiences.

“My experience in the Northern Hemisphere was probably not as gothic as Nick Cave’s, but it showed me that the music and art of my friends in Christchurch was equal to or better than what I experienced in London, Paris, Berlin, New York and LA.”

Ed Oxenbould (Angus) and Roxie Mohebbi (Holly) at Head South

In Heading southOgilvie invites us into the world of Angus, a lovable and clumsy schoolboy on a journey of discovery, his hormones running wild while the sounds of punk make their life-changing impression. Sex, drugs, rock’n’roll with a human touch.

Christchurch, a world away from the actionbut with its own first-class music scene, is its link. Anyone who has ever spent time in a small town where friendships are easy to make and human idiosyncrasies are allowed to flourish can understand this. Heading south made many friends with its premiere at the International Film Festival Rotterdam earlier this year and offered an unusual resonance for an independent New Zealand film.

The film also features several of Ogilvie’s original compositions, a nod to his own rock’n’roll journey with YFC.

Ed Oxenbould (Angus) and Benee (Kirsten) in Head South

After completion of the 2021 lonerOgilvie Kulpe handed over a script for Heading south“I started reading it and thought, this is incredible,” she says. “It’s all the things I remember about Christchurch in the 1990s, even though it’s set in 1979. It really reflects what I knew about Christchurch. There’s something for everyone.”

Ogilvie laughs when asked about the prospect of a sequel. The well-traveled filmmaker suggests some possible titles: Heading north, Towards the East, Towards the WestWho knows. What we do know is that Ogilvie’s next project is the heist movie, Geebung Darts Club.

Heading south is “a celebration of the creative energy and music of the time, a gateway into the world of ideas,” he enthuses. “It’s not just in Christchurch, it’s happening all over the world. It’s still happening to young people. You might want to start a band after watching the film.”

Heading south was funded by the New Zealand Film Commission in association with Head South Cohort, Black Frame and I&G present. The film is scheduled for release in October, following a second MIFF screening on Thursday 22 August at the Melbourne Cinema.

By Variety AU/NZ