Award-winning Cornish director Mark Jenkin has revealed that he watched the science fiction TV series Quantum Leap as part of his research for his new time travel film. The film, titled Rose of Nevada, follows the story of a fishing vessel that disappears at sea and later reappears in a village 30 years later.
This latest project comes after Jenkin’s BAFTA-award-winning first feature Bait in 2019 and Enys Men in 2022. Jenkin explained that he wanted to reflect how he sees his home county, which he describes as “pretty mysterious.”
Jenkin shared his thoughts on the importance of atmosphere in storytelling: “What I’m really interested in is creating a very strong atmosphere around a simple story and trying to evoke or communicate how I see Cornwall, and some of Cornwall is pretty mysterious.” He added that film is an effective medium for conveying this mysterious atmosphere.
The story was written during lockdown by Jenkin and co-writer Mary Woodvine, who imagined a scene where a boat reappears in a harbour years after it disappeared in a storm. Woodvine noted that the initial assumption was that “all hands were lost.” From there, the pair faced the challenge of developing the story from that image.
Jenkin explained his approach to writing a time travel film: “Once I knew I was writing a time travel film I felt very conscious that it had to be different from Back to the Future—which for our generation is the definitive time travel film.” Woodvine added that time travel presents a complex challenge, as “everything’s got to make sense, everything’s got to tie up and it was really complicated.”
To better understand the concept, Jenkin tried to grasp how quantum physics worked but found it “really hard.” As a result, he watched a complete box set of Quantum Leap to help develop ideas for the film.
Time travel poses unique challenges for filmmakers, according to Jenkin. “You have to set out a set of rules to do with time travel and then you write the story and you can’t break any of your rules. You can’t have convenient moments in the film to serve the plot that contradict the time travel that you’ve set up.”
In Rose of Nevada, characters slip back in time 30 years through a sea mist. Jenkin described the focus of the film as addressing the “fall out of that” rather than focusing on the time travel itself. He also mentioned that the story needed to be set in a time before the internet, so characters couldn’t quickly solve the mystery.
Woodvine added, “It’s low-tech time travel.” The film has been showcased at several festivals, including Venice, London, New York, and Toronto.
Jenkin is preparing for a preview tour ahead of the film’s national release on Friday, 24 April. He will meet audiences at his home cinema, the Filmhouse in Newlyn, on Tuesday, 7 April, followed by other venues in Penzance, Falmouth, Redruth, Truro, Wadebridge, St Austell, Bodmin, and Exeter.
Jenkin noted that Cornish audiences have a unique perspective on his work. “From previous film tours, I realised the Cornish have a totally different take on my work,” he said. “There’s a sense of ownership because it is a Cornish film, so they may relate to the subject matter slightly differently.”
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