Jasmine Jakupi and Addison Heath, co-directors, “My Cherry Pie”

Addison:

As a kid I was allowed to watch anything I wanted. When I started going to video stores as a kid you could hire five movies for $5. We wanted to make a movie that would fit on the shelf with the films I watched a kid, so our new movie “My Cherry Pie” is very much in that slasher/horror mold.

I’d always wanted to be a director but didn’t really know how to start.

I wrote a film for another filmmaker and from that we started experimenting with a camera and working it out for ourselves. We’ve been doing that for nearly 10 years, experimenting, getting better, being accepted to festivals and gaining a wider audience.

We moved to Kensington in 2015 and very quickly we felt like we were home! We were like, ‘oh, this is where we’re supposed to live!’

I’m Kensington proud. It’s an art town – people are really supportive of creative endeavours. We have the best food in Melbourne. And the best bars. I’ll fight Brunswick over that! You can walk in anywhere and be treated like a friend.

I have anxiety and the fact people are so welcoming here has been super helpful for that.

I’ve dealt with it my whole life and I was only diagnosed in 2017 and been medicated since 2019, which has been a huge help. It hasn’t ‘fixed’ the problem but it has made a big difference.

I feel like it’s my duty to talk about it now, because hearing other people talk about it was what started to heal me. I would think, “I’m not alone! Maybe I don’t have a brain tumour!” Because that’s where my mind would go before I understood my condition.

Expressing myself through film has also helped manage my anxiety. The only time it goes away completely is when we’re shooting, because my brain is so completely connected to making the film and the 50 things happening during shooting.

Because I’m thinking ‘oh, now I have to cut off this guy’s arm!’, my brain doesn’t have time to go to those anxious places. It’s been super helpful for me.

Jasmine:

We’ve never had government funding or any kind of support, it’s always been based on our passion and support from local artists. We just love it. Everyone pulls together to make the movie happen and that’s such an important part of what we do. It’s never any one person’s film.

Like us, our crew and actors are mostly casual workers, so we had no work through 2020. We just funnelled every resource and every ounce of passion into getting this film made.

Pre-pandemic I was a fan of wearing my pyjamas to Woolworths and I knew Kensington was home when no one looked at me funny for doing that! I just love the freedom. There’s no judgement, you can walk down the street and say hi to anyone and they’ll say hi back.

My Cherry Pie is currently screening for ‘A Night of Horror’ film festival which is Sydney based but because of Covid it’s streaming Australia wide. Even if you don’t watch our film, give it your support! A lot of the filmmakers are doing it hard right now.

It finishes on Halloween Night at midnight. And now if you’re vaccinated you and 10 mates can watch it together!

Links ??

A Night of Horror International Film Fest:

https://www.anightofhorror.com/

Tickets for My Cherry Pie:

https://xerb.tv/channel/anightofhorror/virtual-events/2494?fbclid=IwAR1I3zrUGoy91ViNlxx3b5ovdjQXAokW2jJBqPx0vOmReBOCSroKjdJxErs

(Note: hard R rating!!)

My Cherry Pie:

https://m.facebook.com/MyCherryPieMovie/

https://m.facebook.com/blackforestfilmsAU/

https://www.facebook.com/madaliceproductions/

@BFFilmsOz