Face to Face with... Sam Holst

New Zealand director, Sam Holst, a former new director on shots, recently picked up the Crystal Bear for Best Short Film at the Berlin Film Festival for his short Meathead, the trailer for which can be seen above. Here, the Sweet Shop director talks about what the win means for him, how the film came about and what he's up to next.

Meathead recently picked up the Crystal Bear at the Berlin Film Festival for Best Short Film; how does the win make you feel?

It's incredibly humbling, especially in light of how competitive selection for the festival is in the first place. The programme was full of very strong shorts too, so there was a genuine sense of surprise on my behalf when it was announced. At the same time, it's a film I and many other people worked very hard on for a long time so we're all very happy. It also makes me love Berlin a lot.

Were you optimistic about your chances at the festival?

It's an honour to just be selected really, so I wasn't going there with the objective to win an award. But lots of people have responded positively to the film since we made it, so you never know. 

Where did the idea for Meathead first come from?

Over a beer with my friend, Mike Robinson. It was a story based on a real experience he had working in a meat works which I connected with on a few different levels, and a screenplay developed from there. 

How long was it from the initial idea to the first day of shooting?

It took a long time. I think we started developing a script in May, had it funded in December and then about a year later we started filming. It was an ambitious project so getting all the things in place to make it in the way I wanted to, took a lot of work. 

It's a great cast in the film, where did you find them?

The lead, Jesse, was cast from a school in a town nearby to the meat works where we filmed. He was a non-actor, so this was his first experience with anything in terms of drama, performance or film. Most of the guys in the meat works were employed at the facility where we filmed and were just so great. Any people we brought in from the outside had some connection or experience to the world we were exploring in an effort to maintain that level of authenticity through the cast. 

Is the meat facility in the film real and if so was it hard to find somewhere like that to shoot?

It is real. After looking at a few locations there was one that felt like a good fit for the film, in the sense that it was visually interesting and the people would kindly have us, so we developed things from there. We filmed when the plant was on-shift and people were working, with us adapting to the live environment that way. It took a lot of planning and detail to figure how to make that work before we started rolling. Everyone at the meat works was also really helpful in allowing and supporting this creative process. At the end of the day that's what made it at all possible really.

What made you want to make the short in the first place?

I was drawn to what is essentially a coming-of-age story set in a unique world. It touched on themes of acceptance, belonging, identity and environment that resonated with me and I felt might with others too. The realism of the story was something that I gravitated towards in the sense that this is an experience which actually exists in the world and had a truth worth telling. 

What was the hardest part of putting Meathead together?

The creative process of working out how to film a narrative drama in a live meat works environment was very challenging, but also hugely rewarding. The casting also took a great deal of time, travel and sessions to get right. 

How different is it working on a commercial project to working on something like Meathead?

The aspect of time is a major difference, where you can spend a couple of years completing a film, and commercials turn around much faster. Each pose their own creative challenges and have different objectives obviously, but the commonality is the collaborative expression of ideas and storytelling, which I enjoy a great deal regardless of the duration or format. 

Are you planning to shoot any more shorts?

I'd love to shoot more shorts, but at the moment I'm focusing on developing a couple of feature projects.

What's next on the agenda for you?

I'm looking to move to Europe in the very near future so that's a big point on the agenda and something that's really exciting. Other than that, to just keep writing, shooting and exploring ideas on film in different fields.