Actor John Lithgow, who plays a gay grandfather in this film, has previously taken on LGBQTI roles in 'Love is Strange' (2014), in which he likewise portrayed an elderly gay man, and in 'The World According to Garp' (1982), where his character was a trans woman named Roberta Muldoon.
The film brings together leading cast members Olivia Colman and John Lithgow, who briefly appeared together in series three of 'The Crown', where they respectively portrayed Queen Elizabeth II and the UK Prime Minister Winston Churchill.
The film features one Academy Award (Oscar) winner — Olivia Colman, who won Best Actress for 'The Favourite' (2018) — and one Academy Award (Oscar) nominee, John Lithgow, who was nominated for Best Supporting Actor for 'The World According to Garp' (1982). He appeared in that picture alongside Glenn Close, who was later nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for 'The Wife' (2017) but lost to Colman. Lithgow also received an Oscar nomination in the same category the following year for 'Terms of Endearment' (1983). Like Lithgow, Colman holds a Best Supporting Actor nomination for 'The Father' (2020), as well as another Best Actress nomination for 'The Lost Daughter' (2021). In 'Jimpa', Lithgow plays "the father" of Colman's character; the film probes familial "terms of endearment" themes and positions her character as something of a "lost daughter".
The film co-stars director Sophie, whom Benjamin Lee notes in his review for 'The Guardian' as "...Hyde's own transgender non-binary child, playing a version of themselves".
In 2025 the film was chosen as the opening-night film at the Adelaide Film Festival in South Australia, where a number of its key creatives hail from.
The significance of the film's "Jimpa" title is that it is the nickname Frances (Audrey Mason-Hyde) uses for her grandfather, Jim (John Lithgow) - a blend of "Jim" and "pa", comparable to "Grandad Jim".
Director Sophie Hyde and actress Tilda Cobham-Hervey had previously worked together in those capacities on both '52 Tuesdays' (2013) and 'F*****g Adelaide' (2017). 'Jimpa' is their third major film collaboration.
Audrey Mason-Hyde undertook two roles on the film: she appeared in a leading role and also served as an executive producer. This is the third feature-length film Audrey Mason-Hyde has collaborated on with her mother, Sophie Hyde; their earlier collaborations were '52 Tuesdays' (2014) and 'F*****g Adelaide' (2017).
The film held its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on 23 January 2025. Earlier, its director Sophie Hyde had won the "World Cinema Directing Award - Dramatic" at the Sundance Film Festival in 2014 for '52 Tuesdays' (2013).
"This film features strobe effects" and "it contains mature material and may not be suitable for all audiences" as noted in the programme notes for the 2025 Sundance Film Festival.
The film has been regarded as director Sophie Hyde's most personal work to date.
Mat Kesting, Adelaide Film Festival CEO & Creative Director, said: "Adelaide Film Festival is honoured to announce the Australian premiere of 'Jimpa' as the opening film of this year's Festival. A tale of family and love, Sophie Hyde has bravely drawn on personal experience to create a film that is hopeful and much needed at this time. It will both tug at the heartstrings and set the tone for dancing well into the night — an ideal way to celebrate the opening of AFF 2025!"
Writer-director Sophie Hyde drew on the passing of her father, the queer family who brought her up, and her child's gender identity as the film's inspiration.
Filmmaker Sophie Hyde said of this film's Australian Premiere in 2025: "We couldn't be more pleased to be opening the Adelaide Film Festival [AFF] and celebrating the brilliant film-making community here, with a story that has such strong Adelaide ties. AFF has been a partner with us in the making of this film and I am very grateful to Mat [Kesting] and the team for their support and belief in this project. We made 'Jimpa' in Adelaide, Amsterdam and Helsinki, and I am really excited to screen it on home soil."
South Australian Minister for the Arts, Andrea Michaels, said in 2025: "I am delighted to reveal that 'Jimpa' has been chosen as the opening-night film for the forthcoming Adelaide Film Festival. It features two outstanding performers, Olivia Colman and John Lithgow, and was shot here in Adelaide. I am keen to see it and would urge everyone to secure their tickets early, as they are likely to sell out quickly."
John Lithgow appears as a gay grandfather in this picture. He had earlier portrayed another elderly gay man in 'Love is Strange' (2014), where his on-screen male partner was played by Alfred Molina — an actor who had himself previously depicted a gay character as Joe Orton's lover in Stephen Frears' 'Prick Up Your Ears' (1987).
Jimpa (2025) is the fourth feature film by director Sophie Hyde to be selected to screen at the Sundance Film Festival. Her previous films are: 'Animals' (2019); 'Good Luck to You, Leo Grande' (2022); and '52 Tuesdays' (2014), the latter of which earned Hyde the World Cinema Dramatic Competition Best Director Award at Sundance that year.
Director Sophie Hyde said of this film's selection for the 2025 Sundance Film Festival: "I'm delighted to be returning to Sundance and I look forward to presenting the work of our gifted creative team, including Olivia, John, Aud and our wonderful ensemble cast."
In 2025 the picture was chosen as the Opening Night film at both American film festivals NewFest Pride and Frameline49 in the United States, on 29 May and 18 June respectively.
In response to both NewFest Pride and Frameline selecting JIMPA as their Opening Night film at US queer film festivals in 2025, director Sophie Hyde said: "It is an honour to present JIMPA as the opening night feature for both NewFest Pride and Frameline following our premiere at Sundance earlier this year. JIMPA was created by a community of imaginative collaborators and features an extraordinary cast and crew of queer people and allies from The Netherlands, the United States, the UK, Finland and Australia. The stories we tell help us work out who we want to be, and this one is full of joy — a celebration of queerness told with warmth, humour and love. Now more than ever we must hold on to these feelings and to one another, and stand with the LGBTQI+ community, and especially the Trans community." David Hatkoff, NewFest Executive Director, added: "We are delighted to be part of this historic moment in which both NewFest and Frameline have chosen JIMPA as the opening film for our festivals. This speaks to the power of collaboration and solidarity within our community and is a true testament to the strength of queer storytelling and the importance of coming together in the face of challenges. By sharing this ground‑breaking film with our audiences, we are not only celebrating the work of Sophie Hyde and her remarkable cast, but also making a bold statement about the power of collective resilience in confronting adversity."
One of two feature films centred on family reunions to emerge from South Australia in the mid-2020s. They are 'Jimpa' (2025) and 'Kangaroo Island' (2024).
Two actors embodied Jim: Bryn Chapman Parish appears as the younger incarnation, while John Lithgow portrays the older "Jimpa". In the same way, the role of Mirjam is split between two actresses — Ani Sidzamba as the younger Mirjam and Romana Vrede as her older counterpart.
Sophie Hyde has directed two British actresses who have each won the Academy Award for Best Actress, in two successive films. They are, in order, Emma Thompson in 'Good Luck to you, Leo Grande' (2022) and Olivia Colman in 'Jimpa' (2025). Their Academy Awards for leading performances were for 'Howard's End' (1993) and 'The Favourite' (2018) respectively. Those wins are separated by roughly twenty-five years, whilst Hyde's two films were released only around three years apart.
According to 'Glam Adelaide', "after filming concluded in Amsterdam" in Holland (the Netherlands) in June 2024, "additional shoots" were planned to "take place in Adelaide and Finland in the coming months during post-production."
The picture is a production of Closer Films, Mad Ones Films and Viking Film. Major production financing came from Screen Australia and Align, supported by the Netherlands Film Fund and the Netherlands Film Production Incentive. It was financed in association with the Finnish Impact Film Fund, Aurora Studios, Cinéart, the South Australian Film Corporation, the Adelaide Film Festival Investment Fund and Mind The Gap Film Finance. Additional funding was provided by Kojo, Closer Films and Mad Ones Films. Post-production was carried out in Adelaide, South Australia by KOJO Studios and Closer Productions. The Australian and New Zealand release is being distributed by Kismet and The Unquiet Collective, whilst Cinéart is handling distribution in the Benelux region. International sales are being overseen by Protagonist Pictures, with Creative Artists Agency (CAA) managing North American sales. The film was developed with the assistance of Screen Australia and the South Australian Film Corporation (SAFC).
Filming on this family melodrama commenced in Adelaide, South Australia, in March 2024, with locations in the city centre and at the SAFC's Adelaide Studios in Glenside. Principal photography subsequently shifted to Amsterdam in the Netherlands (Holland), proceeded to Helsinki, Finland, and then returned to Adelaide later in 2024.
Both Daniel Henshall and John Lithgow have appeared in films titled 'Ricochet'. These are, respectively, the Australian short drama 'Ricochet' (2012) and the police thriller 'Ricochet' (1991), which starred Denzel Washington and was directed by fellow Australian Russell Mulcahy. The two 'Ricochet' productions were made approximately twenty-one years apart.
The film was shot across two continents — Australia and Europe — with location filming carried out in three countries: Australia, Finland and the Netherlands (Holland).
Jimpa (2025) is the third successive Sophie Hyde film to feature a 'Leo' connection. In her earlier picture Animals (2019), a character called Leo was played by Jamael Westman. Her next feature, Good Luck to You, Leo Grande (2022), saw the title role of Leo Grande portrayed by Daryl McCormack. In 'Jimpa' (2025), the cast includes an actor named Len Leo Vincent, who appears as Lou.
In his film review for the entertainment trade publication 'Variety', critic Peter Debruge describes the picture as a "semi-autobiographical drama" and notes that "Sophie Hyde's markedly unconventional family portrait salutes her father — a campaigner for gay rights — who died before the filmmaker's trans child had the chance to recognise his trailblazing nature."
This film, which centres on LGBTQIA+ subject matter and probes questions of gender identity and gender ideology, had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on 23 January 2025 — just days after the 20 January 2025 US Presidential Inauguration, during which the address asserted there are only two genders.
This marks South Australian-born filmmaker Sophie Hyde’s first theatrical feature shot in her native city of Adelaide since the production of '52 Tuesdays' (2013), which was filmed there in 2011.
John Lithgow didn't fail to inform his wife that he would be appearing full‑frontal — "stark naked" — in the film.
It is one of three successive films shot in Europe by South Australian filmmaker Sophie Hyde. The first, 'Animals' (2019), was filmed in Dublin, Ireland; the second, 'Good Luck to You, Leo Grande' (2022), in Norwich in the county of Norfolk, England; and the third, 'Jimpa' (2025), was shot across Finland and the Netherlands (Holland). The latter is the only one that was also filmed in Australia. Each of the three films was made in different European countries. The number of European nations involved amounted to four — two in the UK and two in Scandinavia.
Both actresses Olivia Colman and Tilda Cobham-Hervey appear in this film. Following this film, Colman is set to co-star in a film titled 'Wicker' alongside actor Dev Patel, who is Cobham-Hervey's real-life partner.
'Jimpa' (2025) is one of two South Australian LGBTQIA+ films that premiered in the mid-2020s; the other is 'Lesbian Space Princess' (2024).
It is one of a pair of South Australian feature films set to premiere in 2025 starring Olivia Colman, an Oscar (Academy Award) winner. The films are 'Jimpa' (2025) and 'The Fox' (2025).
