Never Like the First Time

Q. How many interviews did you conduct in total? JONAS ODELL: Benjamin, who did the interviews for the film, conducted around thirty interviews. I selected ten that he then went back and interviewed according to my instructions. I edited seven interviews and out of those I chose the four that are in the film. All the thirty stories were of course worth telling; the selection was more about which ones I thought I could do justice on film, and also which four would work together as a film. Q: Did you know the people you asked? JO: He started with people he knew and worked his way out toward friends of friends, neighbors, etc., and eventually to people he hadn’t met before. Q: BBC News reports that “nearly a third of sixteen- to twenty-four-year-olds lost their virginity below the age of consent (sixteen).” How old were you when you lost your virginity? JO: I think I was just over the age of consent. Q: What was your experience like, and how would you draw it? Black and white? Cut-outs? Finger painting? JO: It was quite matter-of-fact. Since it ended in a tent on a beach it might be done in sand animation, I guess. It wouldn’t make a very good film, though, I’m afraid. Q: There’s talk nowadays about revirginization. One year of celibacy equals born-again virgin. There’s even “hymen restoration” surgery, in which the thin membrane is reconstructed. If you had the chance to lose it all over again, what would you do differently? JO: I guess “revirginization” would be pointless unless you erased all memory of previous experiences. After all it’s not about membranes; it’s about the experience of doing something for the first time. So, I guess if I had no recollections of whatever mistakes I made before, I would be more than happy to make them again. Q: Did you learn anything from this experience? JO: What I thought was the biggest challenge for me was working with documentary material for the first time, and I thi