YDA Director Reflects on Special Jury Award Win

Young Director Søren Peter Langkjær Bojsen won over the jury at the CFP-E/shots YDA show at Cannes Lions this year, earning himself the Special Jury Award for his film, Delphi. We caught up with him to find out what inspired the film, what he learnt on-set & his fascination with presenting dystopian subjects. Look out for more interviews with the Gold YDA winners in the coming weeks.

How did you get into directing?

I moved to Copenhagen almost 10 years ago, where I made a few films and gained work as a first assistant director (AD). Until recently I was still unsure whether to pursue a career in film or academia, but then I was accepted by the Danish film school, Super16, in 2015 and that finally convinced me. The school provides an amazing creative community and is tolerant of atypical film talents.

What inspired Delphi?

I initially knew that I wanted to make a film about two men in their twenties who develop a project together, then one of them suddenly wants out; about friends growing apart and doubting all that they’ve pursued in life; about the unease of being in your 20s and feeling derailed. But I didn’t know how to contextualise these themes until my Super16 co-writer, Anna Louise Petersen Amargós, suggested that their venture could be a smartphone app. Suddenly the whole story came together – an app that can predict its user’s needs but ends up challenging our existence as free individuals. I’ve had a lifelong obsession with AI and am currently finishing a master’s degree on the relationship between artificial intelligence and politics – so the research was easy.

Tell us about the shoot.

We had five days of shooting in and around Copenhagen, excluding the opening montage, which was shot independently of everything else. I’m proudly efficient on set, as a former first AD. Five days for a 26-minute film was really dynamic. The TV interview – which is six minutes of the film – was shot in less than an hour, which was the time we had to work with Danish journalist Martin Krasnik.

How would you define the film’s style?

It’s a hybrid of formats. The opening montage mimics YouTube by presenting different styles and snippets of audiovisual media. Then the interview was shot as a regular TV interview. I love that format. I watch a lot of TV debates and I didn’t want to cinematise the aesthetic. The beginning of the film is documentary in style, whereas the rest of the film becomes increasingly static and the lighting (as well as the narrative) mimics classic cinematic fiction. The style warps and becomes more unreal as we travel down the rabbit hole. I also wanted to translate the feeling of entering the machine and seeing the world through its perspective. This led to experiments with a technique called datamosh, where video files are damaged in a way that creates quietly beautiful glitches, such as the blooming flowers on the end credits.

What qualities did you want your protagonists to embody?

I’d worked with Simon Bennebjerg, who plays Sigurd, before and knew that I wanted him in this film. I created the character of Sigurd with him in mind. He’s incredible at delivering unlikely lines in a convincingly natural way. He had to pull off being a technological genius, a kind of Steve Jobs-esque character on the verge of a breakdown and I knew that the TV interview in particular would be difficult because you can’t fake intelligence. Simon has a mysterious aura. You can’t help but keep looking at him, mystified.

What were the biggest challenges on set and how did you overcome these?

The biggest challenge was syncing the crew. Everyone worked for free and had various levels of experience. It made scheduling quite challenging, but I simply stayed calm, accepted things the way they were and constantly reorganised!

What did you learn during the process of making the film?

Being on set has always induced a lot of anxiety, but on Delphi, this was dwarfed by the joy of shooting. I realised directing films is my calling.

“Everyone worked for free and had various levels of experience. It made scheduling quite challenging but I simply stayed calm, accepted things the way they were and constantly reorganised.”

The tone of the film is quite dark. Do you think it ends with a positive or negative message?

The ending offers some freedom of interpretation. Has Sigurd lost his mind or has the machine actually spun out of control? Either way, it’s bleak. I’m interested in how technology is being integrated into society and Delphi explores the pitfalls that we face as a consequence of this.

What are you working on next? 

My second Super16 project, a sci-fi/medieval web series pilot. Then I’ll start on my final assignment, another project with Simon Bennebjerg, a sci-fi piece uncovering moral dilemmas produced by the current sociotechnical evolution. Besides that, I hope to make off-grid commercials for anyone wanting something witty, intelligent and a bit nutty.

Representation Worldwide: baconproduction.com