Australian Story on ABC and ABC iview profiles Sophie Hyde – Director Sophie Hyde is releasing a new feature film this week, but not without some trepidation. For Jimpais deeply autobiographical, shining a light on long held family secrets.
“I can’t believe I showed all of this,”
– she tells Australian Story.
“I can’t believe how vulnerable we’ve been. I can’t believe I let my family be in all of this”
Sophie Hyde is one of Australia’s most successful directors, working with some of the world’s best, including Emma Thompson in 2022’s Good Luck to You, Leo Grande. In Jimpa, acclaimed actress Olivia Coleman plays a version of Sophie and US actor John Lithgow plays her father Jim.
Jim came out to his wife as gay when Sophie was 13 months old and her sister was four.
Yet they stayed living as a family for the next seven years. How the family negotiated their unconventional lives would go on to influence Sophie when her own child Aud began to mature as non-binary.
“The gift I was given by my dad was to show you could live as your full true self in the world and not have to reject parts of your life,”
– Sophie says.
“My dad has been that person and now my child is as well, and they show us a way to live and be that is very beautiful.”
Aud Mason-Hyde plays a younger version of themselves in the film and despite the awkwardness of having their mother direct them in a sex scene, the experience has only brought Aud and Sophie closer.
With Jimpa, a version of Sophie’s family history has been released into the world, freeing the family from the secrets of the past.
“It’s taken a long time for me to be completely open about my family,”
– Sophie says.
“But the more that you make something a secret, the more shameful it is. The great thing I think about the choices that my family made was to not stay inside those secrets.”
Producer: Vanessa Gorman
Australian Story on ABC and ABC iview – Monday 11 February, 2026 at 8.00pm
Media Release – ABC
TV Central ABC content HERE
Australian Story on ABC and ABC iview profiles Sophie Hyde
