It’s been a germ of an idea for ages, but at last it’s finally come about. Q now has a podcast. Hurrah. I can just sense the infectious excitement simply oozing throughout cyberspace. But there are loads of fascinating people out there: hearing how a few live out their lives and passions ought to be fun. Doncha think?
Well, whatever you feel about the prospect of Q podcasts in general, the inaugural episode in particular is definitely exciting because last week, I had the chance to record a conversation with the very talented and thought-provoking Dutch filmmaker, Jaap van Heusden. Here is the link on iTunes (or if you don’t have that, direct through Jellycast)
We were both staying at the wonderful L’Abri Fellowship in Hampshire (a place that has become a bit of a haven for me while on sabbatical), and Japp showed a few of us a preview of his latest movie (which he both wrote and directed): The New World.
Watching it was quite an experience: set in an immigrant processing unit at Schipol airport, Amsterdam, it focuses on the unlikely understanding between a West African asylum seeker (played by Issaka Sawadogo) and a disturbed, difficult and frankly obnoxious (to begin with at least) cleaner (Bianca Krijgsman). This is the foreground; the background exposes experiences that most of us will (hopefully) never have to endure: population displacement, the chaos of war, fleeing to completely alien countries. It is harrowing – but in the midst of it all, there are moments of real beauty, grace and even hope. It is a very simple tale, but surprisingly rich in thematic and visual complexity and emotional depth.
Here is just a tiny little clip of a beautiful moment in the film.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_ga5t8ajyU&w=720]
By the way, before I forget, I should give a shout out to Ewan Cave, one half of the King Cave project, who very kindly let me use a track from their album Pay the Musick as the podcast theme music. Fantastic stuff – I’ll be interviewing him in due course for a future episode. But do get the album – it’s great.
