In “Jimpa,” generations come together in a meditation on the LGBTQ+ experience.

Directed by Sophie Hyde, the family drama follows Hannah (Olivia Colman) and her nonbinary teenager Frances (Aud Mason-Hyde) on a trip to Amsterdam to visit the titular character (John Lithgow), who is also Hannah’s father and Frances’ grandfather. The latest movie of Hyde’s to premiere at the Sundance Film Festival, “Jimpa” is based on her own relationships with her gay father and nonbinary child.

Hyde, Lithgow, Aud Mason-Hyde and cinematographer Matthew Chuang spoke to the Daily Bruin’s Sanjana Chadive at the Sundance Film Festival about the film’s underlying messages and its exploration of cross generational relationships.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Daily Bruin: How do the cinematographic techniques you used align with the film’s themes?

Matthew Chuang: The way we shot it visually is to make it feel honest and real to the people and communities in the film. It really is just making it feel real and authentic to that. For the flashbacks, we were very inspired by the photographer Nan Goldin. It’s finding that one image that encapsulates that moment and experience with that particular person. The flashbacks are pieced throughout the film with all the different characters. We just wanted to give an insight to previous experiences and how they formed who they are in the present film.

DB: As a character actor, you have played various personalities throughout your career. Did you learn anything about yourself or your acting process when bringing Jimpa to life?

John Lithgow: I don’t know that I learned anything, but the process was very new in all sorts of ways. Sophie is just intent on actors having a great time. She’s intent on all of us falling in love with each other and just bringing that love to the process. The great thing about the film is it’s an autobiographical film. You see filmmaking and you see how Sophie operates as personified by Olivia Colman. You see the film, and you’ll know the joy that I experienced working.

DB: How do the intergenerational dynamics in “Jimpa” portray the nuances of the LGBTQ+ experience?

Sophie Hyde: It was wild to be able to have our four older gay characters talking to a teenage, nonbinary character about ideas of queerness and also ideas of living and love and what that means. It was great to be able to see them enjoy each other’s differences as well as, at times, argue with each other. We always wanted to tell a story that felt like it wasn’t a singular story. It wasn’t standing in for any one part of a community, but it was exploring the idea of the expansiveness of community and how open, loving and joyful it can be as well

Aud Mason-Hyde: I think the thing to remember about LGBT communities, queer communities, trans communities, is that we are communities. There are so many of us, and we are all so different. We’re not a monolith. I think, really, the film is just about listening to each other, hearing each other out and finding not necessarily what you have in common, but what you love about one another. I think that really shines through, and I just want people to find that. I think that speaks to the nuance, and it speaks to this immense loss that we have faced across time in our communities but also this immense joy that we all have as well. I’m really excited to share it.