Woodstock Film Festival: An Interview with Jane Gull

While waiting to see a series of shorts entitled "Lost & Found," I spoke to the woman sitting in front of me. She was blonde, young, and had an English accent. When I discovered she was a filmmaker with a piece in this festival, I pulled out my tape recorder and began interviewing her.

 

Sparrow: Has your film been in any other film festivals?

 

Woman in front of me: Three weeks ago, it was in Colorado.

 

Sparrow: You went to that?

 

Woman in front of me: I went to that.

 

Sparrow: What a life you're living!

 

Woman in front of me: I know! It's not so good for the bank account, but, uh... That was in Boulder, Colorado, and it's a new festival.

 

Sparrow: What festival was that?

 

Woman in front of me: It's called Lad Matters. Then it's been in the Cambridge Festival, in England. And it's going to be in Bristol Brief Encounters, Cornwall -- and hopefully there'll be more.

 

Sparrow: What's your name?

 

Jane: Jane Gull, as in the seagull. You have seagulls here?

 

Sparrow: Yes, I've seen them as far north as Boiceville -- that's about 8 miles west of here. Pretty far from the sea!

 

Jane: And you know the famous Gull? That's who I'm actually related to. It's nothing to be proud of.

 

Sparrow: Who?

 

Jane: It's Sir William Gull, who was one of the Queen's doctors. He was a Jack the Ripper suspect.

 

Sparrow: What is he to you?

 

Jane: He was my great-great-great-uncle.

 

Sparrow: So what's the family legend? Did he do it?

 

Jane: I don't think so. But in the Johnny Depp film, they had him down as the culprit.

 

Sparrow: Yeah?

 

Jane: Yeah.

 

Sparrow: Hell?

 

Jane: Yeah. From Hell.

 

Sparrow: What was he? He was the Queen's...

 

Jane: Physician.

 

Sparrow: Right, because obviously Jack the Ripper knew of lot about... disembowelment.

 

Jane: Yeah, he was very quick, wasn't he?

 

Sparrow: Yes, he was expert.

 

Jane: Yeah. It's not really a very good claim to fame, is it?

 

Sparrow: So what's your film?

 

Jane: It's called Sunny Boy. It's about a boy with a rare skin condition who is allergic to the sun.

 

Sparrow: It's a feature?

 

Jane: It's a short. We want to make it into a feature film.

 

Sparrow: So that's your secret plan!

 

Jane: That's the plan!

 

www.janegull.com/

Tags: Sparrow