Interview with SO director Keiran Watson-Bonnice
Keiran Watson-Bonnice is known for a body of work which is mysterious and other-worldly. He’s also known for his collection of fantastically kitsch knits. Deeply atmospheric and a little surreal, his films draw his audience in by creating complex situations and playing with the rules of time. The humble, bearded, slightly OCD but gentle souled director spoke with us about his recent signing with SO Productions, going off the grid, and that time Willem Dafoe complimented his work.
Let’s start with your short film ‘Caravan‘. It’s on a festival frenzy, having played at the prestigious Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival, Short Shorts International Film Festival and Flickerfest. Tell us a bit about it. What inspired the idea?
Caravan was inspired by my three-year-old son, Theo, who liked to play in an old caravan on our property. I videotaped him with my phone and was amazed at some of the stuff he came up with. I adapted that into a loose script and from there turned it into a proper production.
What have you learned from the festivals? There’s been a lot of them.
Navigating the festival circuit has been really interesting. It’s introduced me to a lot of wonderful filmmakers and incredible films that I otherwise wouldn’t have known about. Clermont-Ferrand was great for that. It was very well programmed with interesting and non-traditional shorts on a massive scale. Seeing a 1,400 seat cinema sell out five screenings a day for eight days has definitely been a highlight. The appreciation of short form at Clermont-Ferrand was unlike anything I’d seen before.
It shows the desire for audiences to engage with this format, and above all, story. From Europe to the US, Caravan resonated with a worldwide audience, why do you think this is?
I think Caravan has connected with an international audience because it’s simple in structure but complex in situation. I focused on creating a mysterious sense of time and location for the actors to explore and improvise in – the actors being my three-year-old son and my seven-year-old nephew.
It requires a certain discipline to nail the craft of short film. With the growing appetite for longer form content from agencies and brands, what would be your advice for anyone considering this type of content?
If done well, keeping things simple seems to yield positive results. With short films, if you can create that moment that connects with people on a deeper level, you’ve done well. With limited screen time, following a complex plot or several character arcs can make achieving that moment more difficult. I think that could be translated to longer form content for brands and we’re starting to see more of that. Simple and evocative storytelling that is attached to a brand can definitely connect with an audience on that deeper level.
If you would like to speak to the team at SO Productions about having Watson-Bonnice direct your next campaign, contact Clare Monte at SO Productions clare@soproductions.com.au.