| Jimpa | |
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| Directed by | Sophie Hyde |
| Written by | Sophie Hyde Matthew Cormack |
| Produced by |
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| Starring |
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| Cinematography | Matthew Chuang |
Production companies |
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| Distributed by |
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Release date |
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| Countries | Australia Finland Netherlands |
| Language | English |
Jimpa is a 2025 drama film starring Olivia Colman and John Lithgow. It is directed by Sophie Hyde and written by Hyde and Matthew Cormack, of Closer Productions in Adelaide, South Australia. It had its world premiere at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival on 23 January 2025, and will also be screened at the Adelaide Film Festival in October 2025. It received mixed reviews from critics.
Hannah and her nonbinary teenager, Frances, travel to Amsterdam to visit their gay grandfather Jim (known as Jimpa). When Frances wishes to stay with their grandfather for a year, Hannah is forced to re-examine her parenting and her past. [1]
The story is largely based on Hyde's own family history. [2] [3] [4]
Jimpa is directed by Sophie Hyde, written by Matthew Cormack, and co-produced by Liam Heyen, Bryan Mason, and Marleen Slot. It is an Australia/Netherlands/Finland co-production. [1] [5] [6]
Some filming took place in Adelaide in March 2024, followed by filming in Amsterdam and then Helsinki, Finland. [5] [7] [8] As of October 2024 [update] the film was in post-production in Adelaide. [9]
The film had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on 23 January 2025. [10] [1] It will have its Australian premiere at the Adelaide Film Festival in October 2025. [11] Following the Sundance premiere, it was reported that the film was struggling to find a US distributor, with some citing the rise in anti-LGBTQ rhetoric in the country following the second inauguration of Donald Trump as a reason for the lack of studio interest. [12]
Critics' reviews after Sundance were mostly lukewarm, praising the performances of Colman and Lithgow, but suggesting that Hyde tries to cover too much ground, resulting in a meandering plot. [13] [2] [3] [4] Robert Daniels writing on RogerEbert.com, criticised the film's lack of nuance and subtlety, and called it a "sprawling endeavor" that lacks focus. [14]
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes , 52% of 23 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 5.8/10. [15] Metacritic , which uses a weighted average , assigned the film a score of 54 out of 100, based on 10 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews. [16]