SPLENDID ISOLATION by Urszula Antoniak in post-production
In Post-production November 2021
- FRACTURES by EAVE graduate Eva Sigurdardottir, co-producer: EAVE graduate Eva Sigurdardottir is in post-production. The series is set in a tiny, rural Icelandic fishing village, where 45-year-old Kristin and her 15-year-old daughter, Lilja, move in with her parents, as she faces divorce. A pragmatic doctor, Kristin soon finds herself completely out of her comfort zone as she deals with her psychic mother, Johanna, forcing her to face the ghosts of her past. However, Kristin’s strict scientific world-view doesn’t go down too well with Johanna or Lilja, causing both tension and friction in their relationships. Johanna believes that she has the gift of being able to see and communicate with ghosts. This is a big part of her identity, and she feels that she has an obligation to share her gift, while Kristin believes that Johanna’s bipolar condition is the real reason for “the gift”. Meanwhile, Kristin has been micromanaging Lilja since her type 1 diabetes diagnosis. But the girl needs to be independent, especially as she’s experiencing love for the first time. FRACTURES is being produced by Arnbjorg Haflidadottir, Andri Omarsson and Hördur Runarsson for Iceland’s Glassriver, in co-operation with Belgium’s Lunanime and Iceland’s Askja Films. It received backing from the Icelandic Film Centre, Iceland’s Ministry of Industries and Innovation, the European Union’s Creative Europe – MEDIA programme, Screen Flanders and the Nordisk Film & TV Fond.
- TTB project DOUBLE HAPPINESS by Sebastian Mihailescu, producer: EAVE graduate and Romanian National Coordinator Ada Solomon, EAVE graduate Diana Paroiu is in post-production. The film follows Camil, a troubled 39-years-old man who wakes up one night without his penis. The nightmare continues when his partner Andreea also disappears after meeting a former lover. He sets out looking for her and, wearing women’s clothes, reaches a secret community dedicated to fertility, where no men are allowed. There he finds something far more disturbing. Diana Paroiu and Ada Solomon are producing through Romania’s microfilm in co-production with Ewa Puszczynska through Poland’s Extreme Emotions and Nina Frese through Germany’s Pandora Film. HiFilm Productions, another production outlet of Ada Solomon, is also co-producing. The project is being made in association with: Visual Walkabout, nomada.solo, Aeroplan Studios and XANF, with the support of the Romanian Film Centre, the Polish Film Institute, Film- und Medienstiftung NRW, and the Creative Europe MEDIA Programme of the European Union. The financial partners include: Cinema City Romania, Provident Financial Romania, Hochland Romania, Help Net and Bilka Steel. The project has participated in: EAVE Ties That Bind, Torino Film Lab Extended and When East Meets West Co-production Forum.
- SPLENDID ISOLATION by Urszula Antoniak, producer: EAVE graduate Floor Onrust wrapped post-production. The plot focuses on lovers Anna and Hannah, who have fled an unknown disaster and believe they have found a safe haven on a desert island. Once they reach an abandoned house in the dunes, Anna goes back to her routine of caring for Hannah, who is in a fragile condition. One day, Hannah sees someone on the beach – a hint that Death has followed them to the island and that their days together are numbered. “Splendid Isolation is an allegorical story about leaving your beloved to death,” explains Antoniak. “Time freezes when every moment you spend together could be the very last one. Saying goodbye is a process driven by hope and denial, cut short by the arrival of death. The one who leaves and the one who stays behind: both feel guilty of abandoning the other.” Antoniak, who has also written the script, poses the question of whether we could save our loved ones by sacrificing ourselves, and suggests that maybe the guilt we feel after the death of someone we loved overwhelms us because deep down, we know we could have but we didn't. Producers Floor Onrust and Noortje Wilschut assured the production, and secured the support of the Netherlands Film Fund and the Netherlands Film Production Incentive.
Page published 30 November 2021.
