Game of Thrones and Industry star Kit Harington brought his directorial debut Psychopomp to Manchester Film Festival last night, telling audiences it was the first festival he has attended with the film and that screening it in the North felt “incredibly important” given where it was made.
The dark comedy short, filmed entirely across the North of England in places including Leeds, Kirkstall, Ilkley Moor and Barton-upon-Humber, was unveiled at Aviva Studios on 19 March, with Harington joined by actors Harry Melling and Ciaran Owens for a live Q&A after the screening.
At the heart of the film, Psychopomp is a dark, surreal road trip story tackling male suicide, following a young man called Harry, played by Harry Melling, who hires an assassin, Liam, played by Ciaran Owens, to end his life.
Harrington describes the film as having a “surrealist quality” and revealed the meaning behind the film’s name Psychopomp as a “spirit guide to the underworld”. But off screen, the focus quickly turned to the North itself, from locations to crew.
“This is incredibly important,” said Harington during the Q&A. “We shot this in the North, in Leeds, and we had the most amazing crew. Nick, with the production company Limehouse, was so brilliant.”
He added: “It’s got into a few festivals but this is the only one I’ve actually been to because it’s so important. We screened it here because it’s a film rooted in the North of England.”
The project was filmed over just three days, making full use of regional locations, with Harington even insisting on squeezing in the Humber Bridge, despite it taking “half a day” out of an already tight schedule.
For Harington, the film also is his first step into directing and a test of whether it’s something he wants to pursue longer term.
Quizzed on whether he ever sees himself stepping behind the camera again and directing after this, Harington said: “I’d love to. In some ways, I made this film really to see whether I enjoyed directing and whether writing and directing was something that I responded to and I really, really enjoyed it.
“It’s whether the industry allows me to go forward. I’m using this as a proof of concept of me being a director, so yes, I would definitely like to direct again.”
On Harington’s directorial debut, Ciaran Owens, who plays assassin Liam, said: “Having a director who understands the process of acting like that is worth its weight in gold. Kit has that in spades and he just trusted me and Harry to build a relationship.”
He added: “He gave us the freedom to try things. And that’s always what you want, really, as an actor, to feel that encouragement but to also have a keen eye for the detail that he wanted.”
The evening concluded with a screening of the gripping thriller The Good Boy, directed by Jan Komasa and starring Stephen Graham and Andrea Riseborough as a menacing parent duo. The script, originally set in Warsaw, has been adapted into English and is set in Yorkshire.
The film follows 19-year-old Tommy, played by Anson Boon, who’s seen enjoying a life filled with sex, drugs, parties, and violence, but that all comes to an abrupt end when he’s abducted by Chris, played by Graham. It’s a twisted, dark, at times comedic tale that sees Tommy shackled in an isolated suburban family home as Chris and his wife, Kathryn, set out to reform his unruly behaviour.
It rounds off a strong start for this year’s festival, which will screen 52 feature films, including 9 UK premieres and 8 world premieres, until 29 March.
