Critic’s Rosie Howells spoke to director Jess Feast about Sister Loyola, spirituality, and the experience of documentary film-making.
A year is a long time to be following someone around, it’s a big commitment. What was it about Sister Loyola that confirmed to you she was your next documentary subject?
There are a few things that really appealed to me about Sister Loyola. She really embodies an old wisdom that I love. I have two grandmothers in their ninties and I’m so aware of how much knowledge I get from them and how much they’ve lived, how much they’ve lived through. I heard her interviewed in 2008 with Kim Hill when she won Gardener of the Year. I just loved her vitality and her cheekiness and her humour – what she was about. The world has a lot of problems and she’s about solutions and I like that. There were a lot of things about her that I wanted to preserve and communicate and get out there to an audience.
You describe yourself as having no religion, how did this affect you time with Sister Loyola?
I think it was more how our time together affected me. I say I have no religion but I certainly have spiritual questions and spend a lot of time thinking about that part of existence, and this was part of the curiosity that sparked me to go and talk to her. I definitely came to understand not religion but spirituality more, and the role of love that she is so clear about and comes back to time and time again.
That’s also one of the reasons I made the film: there are lot of people in New Zealand, and perhaps around the world, who feel spiritual but are not tied to a certain religious doctrine. I feel people want to connect with that side of themselves but may not know how to. I think this film is as much for those people as people who are Catholic or have other specific religions. It’s not about firm doctrines, it’s about following your own heart.
What informed your decision to have no narration and only appear once in the film?
I knew from the beginning I didn’t want any narration, but I feel as though I put myself in there enough. I’ve made a couple of independent films now and when I get to choose, I do appreciate the honesty of having the filmmaker present. Because I think that these stories come about because of filmmakers, I personally like having a sense of who the filmmaker is and what they’re about as part of the film – as a sort of transparency.
I loved the use of children’s voices and moments of music. How did you decide what scenes warranted music?
For me, the process of editing – and for Annie [Collins, the film’s editor] too because it is very much a collaboration – is actually just instinctive. It’s not an intellectual thing, so you kind of know when you need it. We had an amazing composer David Long in on the process, so he did a lot of the composition. And we also managed to license a couple of Preisner tracks. So a combination of that, and also a guy called Peter Scholes who is another New Zealand composer. So we had a whole lot of music that we were thinking might suit the film. We were really lucky working with someone like David Long, who makes it for us.
What was Sister Loyola’s reaction to the film?
She just said, “there is far too much of me!” She’s quite a humble person – I think it would be difficult for anyone to watch 90 minutes of themselves on the big screen. So actually, I think she did very well. She wants to spread that word, too – she knows why she did it and she trusted that I was coming at it from the right place. A lot of trust was involved.
Do you have an advice for students who are interested in filmmaking or documentary filmmaking?
You need to be proactive. But most importantly I think you need to choose your stories wisely. If your story can’t sustain you … It needs to give you as much energy as you need to give it, so choose things you really want to make films about because that passion is what will fuel you through those difficult periods.
Review
The Regent Theatre - OctagonSaturday August 17 1:00pm
Tuesday August 20 10:45am
Sister Loyola, the 90-year-old head gardener of Wellington’s Home of Compassion, is the kind of character documentary filmmakers dream of: intelligent, kind, cheeky, open, interesting and brave – so fantastically brave. Throughout New Zealand documentary Gardening With Soul, Sister Loyola has no qualms about speaking of the issues the Catholic Church has faced in the past decade, from feminism to child abuse. Sister Loyola exclaims that the latter “sickens me,” and says she would never try to protect the Church by covering up such behaviour. It is these kinds of moments that makes Gardening with Soul a film that can appeal to all generations – Sister Loyola may be old but her views are not behind the times.
The film treats Sister Loyola with dignity and reverence, with director Jess Feast knowing exactly the right times to question her and when to remain silent. As Feast says herself: “if you’re going to make a film about one person, it relies on that one person being quite open.”
I personally found the most fascinating moment in the film to be the one occasion on which Sister Loyola becomes slightly guarded. Her past boyfriend is obviously a difficult subject for her, and you get the feeling that the concept of marriage and family is one with which she has battled. In one particularly poignant moment, Feast asks Sister Loyola if she has any photos of her old boyfriend, to which she quietly replies: “not anymore … something happened to them.”
Gardening With Soul is a very well-crafted piece of art. The film is divided into the four seasons, each of which links nature to the different concerns of Sister Loyola’s life, and indeed of life in general. For Feast, winter represented nurture and beginnings; spring vulnerability and change; summer fruition; and autumn death and decline, but also rebirth. Feast definitely did not leave the film’s heavy lifting to Sister Loyola, but created a beautifully structured and thoughtful format through which Sister Loyola could tell her story.
This documentary is nourishing not only for the soul, but for the eyes: stills taken from the film could win any nature photography competition. Sister Loyola’s garden (and even her much adored compost) are a focal point of the documentary, and we are treated to a plenitude of shots such as tulips in the rain, cabbage in the snow and Virgin Mary sculptures nestled among summer flowers. The image is notably sharp, clean and vibrant, making you realise how the blockbusters to which we’ve grown accustomed don’t experiment enough with their cinematography.
Some of the most beautiful points in the film are when these stiller shots of nature or Sister Loyola are matched with music. Music is used sparingly, and therefore marks important scenes that became all the more special for being paired to relaxed acoustic tunes. At one point, Sister Loyola sits on her bed holding her rosary beads, obviously thinking deeply, whilst choral music swoops in the background. It’s so perfect it almost seems as though Feast told Sister Loyola to do that – but you can tell Loyola wouldn’t put up with that kind of shit.
Gardening with Soul is a film about old people, but certainly not a film for old people. Its notions of love, growing up and spirituality without religion are universal, and will resonate with anyone who appreciates the knowledge of those who have been here far longer than us. This film is like receiving an hour and a half of the best advice your grandmother can muster, but all to a smooth soundtrack and stunning photography. Go see it.
Rating: 4/5