Director of Our Neighbour’s Ass, Max Goldberg, tells us about his comedy-drama film which follows a widow and a bothersome donkey.
Our Neighbour’s Ass is a short film, co-written and directed by Max Goldberg, that sees a widow left with the responsibility of caring for her late husband’s donkey who comes up against her neighbours’ frustrations as the donkey becomes a local nuisance. The film has just been announced as the winner of the Young Jury Award for Best Short Film 2024 at the UK Jewish Film Festival and will be shown at Hyde Park Picture House on 3rd December.
Leeds-based Max has worked in the film and television industry for eight years, with dreams of furthering his career into directing: “I’ve worked with pretty much all the major broadcaster and streaming sites as an assistant director, but I’ve always had aspirations to direct my own stuff. I’ve won the UK Jewish Film Short Doc Fund twice and worked my way up the ladder to be able to direct my first scripted piece with Our Neighbour’s Ass.”
Together with Richard Knight, Max wrote the script for the film: “Richard came with the first draft – it came from his personal life and experiences – and then we developed it together. I wrote some dialogue and scenes to inject some Jewishness into it, to make sure that it was all authentic, and that it felt real. It’s a film about loss, grief, and loneliness that has a beautiful balance of comedy and pathos, so it’s still entertaining while tackling some of the harder subjects.”
The crew behind Our Neighbour’s Ass were passionate about keeping the filming Yorkshire based: “We shot it at the end of June over four days, mainly in Alwoodley. We also filmed at UHC cemetery, Etz Chaim Synagogue, and in Cleethorpes, we really wanted to keep everything in Yorkshire. I like to describe it as a British Yorkshire Jewish film.”
Dame Maureen Lipman plays the starring role in the film, which came about from a personal approach by Max and his producer, Melissa Sorrell: “We were invited to a gala to announce ourselves as the winners of the Pears Short Film Fund and we knew that she’d be there. We pitched it to her in our Q&A and she was very responsive to it, which was really exciting. Once the gala had ended, Melissa had wandered off and came back 10 minutes later arm in arm with Maureen, and the rest is history!”
Maureen wasn’t the only star of Our Neighbour’s Ass; Max tells us why the phrase ‘never work with animals’ wasn’t true with Maureen’s co-star, George the donkey: “With my previous history of working in film and TV, I managed to hire the amazing team of animal handlers – First Choice Animals – from All Creatures Great and Small to supply us with the donkey. George played the starring role as Pablo, and he was unbelievably well behaved. He would bray at times, but it was more cute than a hindrance, and he was definitely driven by food!”
On 11th November at the UK Jewish Film Festival in London, Our Neighbour’s Ass had its world premiere: “It was received well; the laughs and applauses were in the right places. Everyone said they loved the film and their feedback was positive, which is always reassuring! We also had some surprise guests; comedians David Mitchell and David Baddiel were there with their respective partners. Baddiel came up to me and said he loved the film, that was amazing.”
Our Neighbour’s Ass has a Crowdfunder page to raise funds to pay for the post- production crew and raise money for film festival submissions, with incentives such as film posters and masterclasses available for those that are able to support.
Crowdfunder.co.uk/our-neighbours-ass-short-film or donate privately via email at ourneighboursassfilm@gmail.com
For tickets to the screening in Leeds, visit Hpph.co.uk