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Johnny Walker

Synopsis: 

A washed up Hollywood director is trapped in a remote castle by his own fears until the arrival of a mysterious woman offers him possible salvation. Inspired by Dostoevsky's 'Notes from the Underground', Johnny Walker attempts to answer the burning question: Is living a long life vulgar, immoral or just plain bad manners?

Runtime: 
01:24:26
Information for the Audience: 

Directors: Kris De Meester

Writers: Kris De Meester

Producers: Christine K Walker, Tomas Leyers, Kris De Meester, Koen Mortier

Key cast: Hank Botwinik, Mieke Daneels, Eric Godon, Christelle Cornil, Astrid Whettnall, Udo Kier

 

Director: Kris De Meester

DIRECTOR 
2015 Johnny Walker - feature (NewFilmmakers New York, Push! Film Festival, Mosaic World Film Festival, Salon Internacional de la Luz, ...) 
2009 Four Roses - feature (Atlanta Underground FF, Brussels Be FF, Memphis IFF, European Independent FF, Radar Hamburg FF, NewFilmmakers New York, Toronto Independent FF, Cannes Independent FF...)

PRODUCER 
2016 Share With Me Your Brightest Colors 
2015 Johnny Walker - producer (NewFilmmakers New York, Push! Film Festival, Mosaic World Film Festival, Salon Internacional de la Luz, ... 
2014 Live Life Dearest - executive producer (Signes des Nuits) 
2014 Menthol - co-producer (Sofia IFF, Brooklyn IFF,) 
2013 Por las plumas - associate producer (Toronto IFF, San Sebastian FF) 
2013 Vessel - associate producer (Fantasia FF) 
2011 Gesmoord - producer (Signes des Nuits, London Indendent FF) 
2009 Four Roses - producer (Atlanta Underground FF, Brussels Be FF, Memphis IFF, European Independent FF, Radar Hamburg FF, NewFilmmakers New York, Toronto Independent FF, Cannes Independent FF...

CASTING DIRECTOR 
2015 A Quiet Passion / dir. Terence Davies 
2015 Ich und Kaminski / dir. Wolfgan Beckers 
2013 Nymphomaniac: Vol. I / dir. Lars von Trier 
2013 Nymphomaniac: Vol. II / dir. Lars von Trier 
2008 Un lac / dir. Philippe Grandrieux 
2007 Ex Drummer / dir. Koen Mortier

Director’s Statement

Can people change? With this question I started working on the script. I'm not talking about evolution and education or quitting certain habits, but about personality. Personally, I believe that people can not change, but that certain features of a person's personality can be called up on or remain hidden in response to its environment in the broadest sense of the word. So not only where that person is in its life cycle, but literally where and with whom he/she lives. Even the color of the walls will determine someone’s behavior, but ultimately it will never affect his personality.

The character Johnny is a rationalist at heart. He believes that reason is the only or main source of knowledge. According to rationalists reality contains an inherent reasonable and logical structure and because of this fact it can be read directly by the mind without any interference from something other than the mind itself. Without any religious framework the daily life of a rationalist is rather gloomy and provides no source for any kind of enthusiasm about anything. Johnny is so convinced of this philosophy that he even named his dog after one of the founders of rationalism, Baruch Spinoza. 
Over the years, Johnny's beliefs become even more dominant. According to Johnny is living longer than 60 years immoral and just plain bad manners. 
He longs to the end of his life. He takes comfort in working on a script where his fatalism takes form. This script is about a man, he could be called Johnny, who founds out that he only has 24 hours to live. A bitter comedy as he calls it, because in the end his impending death turns out to be an illusion, the man lives at least another day. 
Perhaps Johnny is simply depressed.

The film on the other hand is everything but rational. By using confusion and often contradictory scenes I try to get the viewer to leave the path of rational thinking and invite him/her to ignite his intuition.

 

Categories:

Screenings / Awards: 
  • Cannes Film Festival, Marché du Film

    Cannes, France
    May 15, 2015
    market premiere

  • Salón Internacional de la Luz

    Bogota, Colombia
    May 13, 2015
    World premiere
    Best Director of Photography

  • Los Angeles Cinefest

    Los Angeles, USA
    May 16, 2015

  • Push! Film Festival

    Bristol, USA
    June 13, 2015
    Best Feature Film

  • Hollywood North Film Festival

    Trenton, Canada
    July 19, 2015

  • NewFilmmakers New York

    New York
    September 2, 2015

  • Hudson Valley International Film Festival

    Monroe, NY, USA
    August 15, 2015
    New York premiere

  • Mosaic World Film Festival

    Rockford, USA
    August 28, 2015

  • Iron Pointe Film Festival

    Jacksonville
    August 1, 2015

  • Auteur International Film Festival

    Los Angeles, USA
    October 16, 2015

  • Knoxville Film Festival

    Knoxville, USA
    September 18, 2015

  • Salt Lake International Film Festival

    Salt Lake City
    August 21, 2015

  • Internation Film Festival CinemaFest

    San Luis Potosí
    September 18, 2015
    Mexico premiere

  • News & Reviews
Information for theatres: 

student project: No
completion date: 2015-01-12
shooting format: Digital Arri Alexa
aspect ratio: 2.35
film color: Color
first-time filmmaker: No

Total votes: 79149