A film by Jack Turner
Poetry written and performed by Cat Hepburn
A conversation about tea drinking unravels a world conflicted by the rush of everyday life.
In 2018, I visited a small tea shop in Hong Kong where a man told me the taste of his tea tells him how he feels. An introspective and experimental short more about the little things in life than drinking tea.
Tell us a bit about yourself and your filmmaking background.
I’m a multi-disciplined director based in London who works across commercials, music videos, documentary and short film. Alumni of the National Film and Television School, I’ve directed for Rag ‘n’ Bone Man, Alfie Templeman and Zipcar.
What was your inspiration? Why did you decide to make Only Fools Rush In?
Only Fools Rush In was born from a conversation. I was in Hong Kong for a film job and it was my last day. I ended up in a tiny tea shop and spent almost 4 hours there, sat down with the owner, drinking tea and talking. At the time I never had any intention of making a film, but the conversation really stuck with me when I travelled home and I genuinely couldn’t stop thinking about it.
Did you source the film footage or actually travel to get all those beautiful shots in various locations?
I had already planned to go travelling, but the idea of this film came so close to it that I decided to shoot it in each of the countries I went to. I wrote a (very) rough outline of what I wanted to capture, thinking of simple contrasts that would begin to form my world. Shooting on Super 8mm provided an energy to the edit with its natural blemishes and texture, but most importantly it made me consider each shot. I went out with various stocks and filmed very much as an observer, no setups, no real planning. I always had the story in mind, but the process felt organic. Side note: I kept all my receipts, leaflets, cuttings and left over bank notes. They all ended up being used as texture in the transitions between the Super 8mm and 2D animation.
What obstacles did you overcome while in the making of this film?
As with a lot of passion projects one of the biggest challenges is keeping that momentum. Money isn’t on the line, time and deadlines are quite literally in your hands. It was definitely hard work to keep coming back to this one because the freedom meant you constantly tweaked and tweaked. Working with a small group of friends and collaborators really helped by giving their time to keep the energy, focus and bring new ideas and opinions to the table. Without them I think I’d still be editing now…
Tell us about the journey of getting your film to audiences.
It was a case of constant revisions, taking on opinion and comment from others. Like I mentioned before it was definitely a challenging process but I learnt so much about not hiding away with your own ideas and thoughts. When you finally feel you are in a position to share the film feels so much bigger than it ever could’ve been - a product of collaboration no matter how small the team is.
Words of wisdom. What advice would you give to other filmmakers?
I think what I’ve found over the past year or so is that spreading the wings far and wide is a massive help to your growth as a director. Don’t box yourself. Don’t set unobtainable targets or get yourself in a twist about what others are doing. Find your own path, take opportunity to meet and work with new people and form a network around you that makes you happy. Talk to people, offer to review work and share your own when you can - it gives you so much more value to film than just delivering the final product.
What are you working on now?
Pitching on music videos, commercials and developing a new short. I’m also in the midsts of delivering a sports documentary I directed. It’s going to the channel soon so more details to come!
Any film recommendations that we should add to our watchlist?
Some things you may not of watched; Parasite in black and white, completely different experience! Only God Forgives is one of those films that cemented what I wanted to do. It’s bold but it illuminated so many boundary-breaking things in cinema to me. Did I mention that Succession is the greatest TV show of all time?