At St. Thomas var et gudsbenådet låtskrivergeni er hevet over enhver tvil. At han samtidig hadde sine personlige utfordringer var velkjent, men gjerne noe media ignorerte i sin jakt på oppslag. Thomas hadde sine blodfans, redaksjonen i DoD inkludert, og levde et liv som delvis ufrivillig popstjerne – skal man dømme etter forhåndsomtalen til filmen “Burn The Place You Hide”. Et utfordrende liv til tross, det måtte to engelskmenn til for å lage filmen om St. Thomas’ liv og karriere.
St. Thomas-fan Richard Knights googlet St. Thomas for å finne ut hvorfor han ikke hadde gitt ut noen nye plater på en stund, og fikk på den måten servert nyheten om at han hadde gått bort. Filmskaper som han var, så begynte han å fundere på om en kortfilm om Thomas Hansens liv og karriere kunne la seg gjøre, og engasjerte venn og kollega Gary Reynolds i prosjektet.
Det tok ikke lange tiden før de forstod at prosjektet ønsket å bli en langfilm, og har de siste fire årene brukt fritid og egne midler på å planlegge, filme og redigere opptak til “Burn The Place You Hide”. Filmen nærmer seg ferdigstillelse, men nå trenger Richard og Gary hjelp av oss. Alle som verdsatte St. Thomas’ musikk. De trenger 5000£ for å finpusse filmen for utgivelse, og kan i retur by på temmelig fjonge “premier” til de som bidrar via Kickstarter.
Les alt om dette og alle Kickstarter-belønningene. På filmens hjemmeside vil det dukke opp eksklusive demo-innspillinger som aldri før har vært offentliggjort. Den første er allerede på plass under “Extras”. Følg også filmen på Facebooksiden.
Trailer for “Burn The Place You Hide”:
[vimeo video_id=”42211672″ width=”640″ height=”500″ title=”Yes” byline=”No” portrait=”No” autoplay=”No” loop=”No” color=”00adef”]
Vi tok oss en liten prat med Richard Knights, og dette er hva han kunne fortelle om prosjektet fra sitt ståsted;
I met my co-director Gary Reynolds whilst working as an in house video and art director at MTV. It quickly became clear that we shared a common passion for similar veins of film, music and art. In our spare time we started working together on various shorter personal projects. Despite the obvious challenges of working with next to no budget we found the freedom from the constraints of our commercial work refreshing.
Around four years ago I remember Googling St Thomas in an attempt to discover a reason for why he hadn’t released an album recently and was shocked to learn of his death. We were in the middle of another project, which was stalling for various reasons, and wondered if a short film on St Thomas and his music might be an interesting subject. I had long been a fan of Thomas’ music (there had been a very positive critical response to him in England) and this felt like an enjoyable diversion. It was only after our first visit to Norway, where we interviewed some of his close friends and family, that we became convinced of the need for this to be a feature length documentary.
Why are you making this film? Being british, did you have any connection with Thomas before he died?
Yes, I remember quite early on being surprised that nobody in Norway had started making a film about him. We both love Norway and feel a real sense of affinity with the people and culture. It’s one of the few places in the world where I feel really comfortable. Although we’ve often joked that the next documentary we make will be in a much less expensive country.
Perhaps coming from outside Norway has helped us focus on aspects that a Norwegian film maker might not have done. I don’t think this necessarily makes the film any better or worse, I just think it makes it different.
My initial interest was that of a fan of his music, his work always seemed emotionally authentic, or honest, in an age where emotional authenticity has become increasingly elusive, or contrived. It was only as we became increasingly involved that the full story began to reveal itself.
I never met Thomas personally and had only seen him play live once – an amazing performance in front of a very small crowd of only 20 or so people. I remember at the end of the show feeling slightly saddened that he hadn’t received a better response from the audience. I also remember thinking that the next time I would see him it would probably be in a much bigger venue and in front of a much bigger crowd – which would be a shame. The real shame of course was that I would never get the opportunity to see him play live again. One regret I have is not buying anything from his merchandise stall that night or just saying hello.
The story of Thomas life, although filled with all the components to make a great film is something more than the sum of it’s parts. It’s not just a generic story about ‘another dead rock star’. It transcends the cliches of the genre and becomes about something much more universal, much more ‘human’. It’s a story about love and hope and family, the nature of dreams and aspirations,. I think it poses some really big questions and I think the overall answer is something surprisingly positive and reassuring.
Who are the people showing up in this film, apart from Thomas himself?
We’ve shot interviews with huge number of people to date. There’s still a couple more interviews we’d like to squeeze in to sections that have spaces in the coming weeks. We’ve got an amazing group of people involved, from his parents and sister right through to members of the American band Lambchop. Musicians, friends, bandmates. Our intention has always been to honour Thomas by giving the film as honest a voice as possible. It’s only been by getting the backing and trust of those closest to him that we’ve hopefully been able to achieve this.
How did you work to make this film a reality, and was it hard to get musicians, friends and family to participate?
To date, the film has been entirely self-funded by the two of us. In a nutshell, this is the reason it’s taken so long to get to this stage. We need to work on commercial projects both to live and to finance the film. Our production timeline has unfortunately had to be flexible enough to accommodate this. It’s only now that we’re entering the final stages of production and moving into post-production that we urgently need to raise additional funding. Licensing, color grading, audio, conforming, final trips and shoot days, festival entries, the list goes on. The £5,000 we are currently trying to raise from our Kickstarter campaign is the bare bones amount we need (even when pulling in favors) to get the film completed. Any additional funding will go directly into polishing the film further. We’ve currently received no funding from Norwegian producers but would love to hear from anyone interested in the project.
Everyone involved has been really positive about getting the film made and, to an extent, it really has been a group effort. I think it’s been partly seen as an opportunity to finally give an open and honest account of who Thomas Hansen really was.
Richard og Gary var også meget tilstede når Seven Doors Hotels video “Gone Again” – som Alexander Lindbäck skrev om St. Thomas. Videoen består av en rekke eksklusive klipp fra filmen;
St. Thomas – A Long Long Time:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fEkL1akvho
St. Thomas – Cornerman (live):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-CZPDnp1VI
St. Thomas – Morning Dancer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7yFuYMvSmZE
