Further Information

Contact:
anna@kusk.is
01 347 575 8656
I Can't Be Seen Like This on Facebook

Photo: Maureen Tetteroo

Who am I?
I'm Anna Gunndís, a writer and director who is studying filmmaking at the Graduate Film Department at New York University. I have to make a short film and it has to be this one.

And what is this all about?
I am studying filmmaking at NYU and I need to finance my projects. That’s why I’m here.

Making films costs money. That’s money that I don’t have. No matter how small I would make this film, it would always cost more than I alone could afford. So I have decided that I am going to try to make a film that will blow my mind and imagination further than I dare to think of. Therefore I need your help.

I have a long term goal. I want to build up a career which will lead me to a place where I can support other people I believe in.

Why Karolina Fund? I want you to be my financiers and my audience and I want to make this film for you. I want you to be a part of it and be able to enjoy the final product and have the feeling that you supported the project and that it was worth it.

Wait –what’s the story?
The story comes from my own mind and stolen memories. Two sisters decide to bake a cake for their dad's birthday, one of them gets her hair stuck in the handheld mixer and half of it is ripped off. After the accident something is broken in their relationship.

DIRECTOR'S STATEMENT
Appearance is important to most of us.
All of us have some physical characteristics
we don’t want anyone to see.

This is the story of a girl who always
wants to play the hero
- who needs to be strong, witty and pretty.

When an accident occurs
which might leave her visibly scarred for life,
she is incapable of reaching out for help.
Silence is a communication pattern
she learned from a very young age.

Sometimes your home can be a scary place
and sometimes your family is too far away
even though they are sitting by your bed
and holding your hand.
Sometimes you just can’t say the words.

This story is based on a real life experience.
When I was eight years old, my hair got stuck
in a handheld mixer and half of it was torn off .
I don’t remember much;
the body sends you into blackout.

I Can’t Be Seen Like This
is my attempt to fill in the blanks
of that experience.
It is a film about my scars,
my flaws
and my fears.

We must be able to laugh about our fears because we all have them - right?

Is this a drama? Is it a comedy?
A little bit of both - like life.

SYNOPSIS
The two little sisters Mia and Frida wake up early in the morning, right before Christmas in Reykjavik, Iceland. It’s their dad’s birthday and they want to surprise him, so they decide to bake him a cake. When things get out of control, as Mia’s hair gets stuck in the handheld mixer and half of it is ripped off, the sister’s relationship is challenged.

PROJECT DETAILS
I Can’t Be Seen Like This is Anna’s MFA pre-thesis project in the Graduate Film Program at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. The film will be shot in Reykjavik, Iceland in January 2015 on the new Sony F5 HD Camera. Total runtime will be 10 minutes. NYU Graduate Film department and faculty will supply equipment, insurance and guidance.

The main goal of the project is to make an intense comedy about an accident these two little sisters experience, and to explore how it affects their relationship. The film’s setting is a family home - a place which seems safe, but turns out to have its own domestic dangers.

The Soundtrack
The soundtrack is something that will be a very important part of the whole film. The music supervisor and composer Ariel Marx will compose the music for the film. She is a New York City-based composer for film and multimedia and a visual artist as well and creates animations, paintings and shadow boxes that tell original short stories. We are being inspired by Jon Brion, the composer who did the soundtrack for the film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. A little adventurous, a little dreamy and a little dark. Sister's love and mental and emotional chaos. Quirky, warmth and intricate layers of sounds, subtly hypnotic. That’s what we are going for.

Pre-visualization
The look of the film will have a lot of contrast in light and darkness, clean colors and a little child-like feeling to it. Each character has a special feel to it, special colors and special patterns. The look and feel of it will be a little bit like it’s happening inside of a snow globe.

Cinematography
Ines Gowland is the cinematographer on I Can’t Be Seen Like This. She is a talented filmmaker from Argentina and we are very much on the same page on how we want to shoot the film. The essence of the story is very important to her and she uses the camera to support the story and add some magic to it. We will use the new Sony F5 camera provided by New York University.

Production Design
A Production Designer is in charge of the overall look of the movie. They collaborate closely with the Costume Designer to ensure the film has a cohesive tone. They oversee all sets, set decoration, locations, props etc. If all goes as planned, I Can't Be Seen Like This will be designed by Egill Ingibergsson and Móeiður Helgadóttir.

Photo: dalla.is

Casting Choices
Ólafur Darri Ólafsson is one of the most amazing actors you can see on film. He has appeared in number of projects both on stage and on film, most recently on the TV-show True Detective and now he is filming The Last Witch Hunter starring Vin Diesel, Rose Leslie and Elijah Wood. Ólafur Darri is a great person to have on set, he is such a loving and giving character and the best part is – he really wants to be in this film because he believes in it.

Einar Aðalsteinsson will be playing the doctor at the hospital, a vital part in the story, a turning point for our main character Mía. He studied acting in LAMDA in London and worked as an actor at the Akureyri theater for two years until he moved to New York where he currently lives. He has appeared in number of short films, Bobo by Barði Guðmundsson which is now running the festival circuit in USA and Europe, “Future One Dollar” and“Double U” by Joseph Sackett and in my last film “Recipes”.

I am in a discussion with few Icelandic actresses to play the mom but the two little girls will be cast in Iceland in December 2014 and we are really excited to meet a lot of young and talented actresses to star in the film!

If you are interested in auditioning send us an e-mail at casting@kusk.is

Location Choices
This film is set in downtown Reykjavík, Iceland. This film has to be shot in Iceland and in Icelandic, it's that kind of story. An Icelandic story I want to tell. I wanted to work in my own language and I also wanted to become a bigger part of the filmmaking community in Iceland.

It is very expensive to shoot in New York and it’s also way harder to find my dream location without going far outside of New York where I wouldn’t know anyone and access to both people, places and equipment is way harder. The iron corrugated houses are a really special Icelandic thing and I just can’t imagine this family to live in a different house. It takes place in Iceland and therefore I think it has to be shot in Iceland. I also want to work with our talented Icelandic actors and discover new talents back home.

I have found the perfect location, a beautiful red iron corrugated house, the mom's costumes come from my mother's closet, and the car in the film is a red 1974 Volkswagen Beetle my dad has nurtured for more than 20 years.

QUICK FACTS

When will the movie be made?
January 6.-13. 2015 in Reykjavík, Iceland.

When will the movie be released?
Premiere will in May 2015 in New York.

Who will be in the movie?
The two girls and the mom will be cast in Iceland in December 2015. In other roles are Ólafur Darri Ólafsson and Einar Aðalsteinsson.

Who is working on the movie?
Most of the crew are very talented Gradute Film students at New York University. Some key crew members will be from Iceland.

Where does my money go?
The money that will be raised with the crowdfunding campaign on Karolina Fund will be used to cover travel cost, accommodation and food but first and foremost on production cost. That includes set design and costumes, lights and some camera equipment that we cannot travel with from New York to Iceland. We really want to spend the money on what you can see on the screen.

If the project doesn’t fund, do I get my money back?
If we will not be able to reach our goal no charge will be made on your card.

Will the Backer’s be invited to a screening?
You will be offered to come to the screening in New York or Reykjavík.

Photo: dalla.is

MARKETING / FESTIVALS / DISTRIBUTION
The film is aimed to appeal to moviegoers who enjoy a mix of comedy and drama. The chances of being selected to numerous film festivals as an NYU Student film are very high. Selection to festivals enhances the film’s marketability. A good short film that wins a festival prize will help boost a young filmmaker’s profile immeasurably. The distribution channel for short films begins with the film festival circuit. I Can’t Be Seen Like This will aim to premier and play at several of the A-List US, European and Asian festivals. We will also aim to tour women’s film festivals worldwide and be featured at women’s circles all over the world, emphasizing the fact that this film is written, directed, produced and shot by women. The goal is to build a wider audience and develop relationships with potential investors for a planned feature film, to be written and directed by Anna Gunndis for her thesis project at NYU. After a round of festival submissions I Can’t Be Seen Like This will be introduced to markets such as Oberhausen and Clermont-Ferrand, in order to sell it to pay-per view services, as well as to TV networks and online distributors that acquire short films. Buyers from around the world attend these markets for the sole purpose of acquiring films.

Photo: dalla.is

SUPPORTING THE PROJECT
Because this is a story about my life, I need it to happen in Iceland. As an Icelandic female filmmaker, it is important to me to be able to create my work in my own community, as well as making a name for myself and for Icelandic film abroad. I have a strong network in Iceland: my family and friends support me, as well as the entertainment industry and arts community I have worked with as an actress and a performer. Being a student at NYU is such a great support in so many ways, but it’s just as important to me to be a part of that Icelandic filmmaking community and let my voice to be heard. Icelandic women in film are way too few and we need to use this strong visual medium to show what we can do as artists and storytellers. In the fight for equal and fair representation, our strongest weapon is to show our own work -- then we can attempt to conquer the world!

There is one more incentive to shooting in Iceland: its unbelievable beauty. Reykjavik’s stunning atmosphere and the harsh winter will provide the right mood and color for my film; the story takes place around Christmas, when festive red and green lights still hang in the windows, lighting up the souls of the dark winter night.

We will be flying state-of-the-art camera equipment from NYU, as well as a close circle of crew members who are all working for free. However, there is still a great number of serious expenses: transportation, accommodation, meals, costumes, set-design, make-up and special effects.

There is a local and an international audience for Iceland’s stories. By leveraging my growing arts community in New York, I want to share the world I grew up in with a larger audience. I want to take my collaborators to Iceland, so that I can then share Iceland with the world.

Photo: Ingólfur Bjargmundsson

Photo: Aðalsteinn Eyþórsson