Back to selection
Filminute @ Filmmaker: Fredrik Thelander’s Thursday
Throughout the month of September, Filmmaker is partnering with the online short film competition Filminute, hosting five of its nominated titles and running interviews with the director’s of these one-minute movies.
Tell us who you are (where you’re from, background, previous credits as a filmmaker)
I am a film director from Stockholm, Sweden. I’ve been working as a director for the past ten years and I am currently running my own production company, Notre Dame Film. I started in the business as editor and motion graphics artist. After some time I found interest in directing and went to study film directing at IHTV in Gothenburg. After I finished school I was employed at a production company for about four years. At that time I made a lot of small commercial films. Mainly comedy spots. That really helped me to find and develop my own style I think. I also worked as creative at ad agencies as well as TV3 Sweden before I formed Notre Dame Film in 2011. I’ve always thought that extremely short format fits me well. And I really like to work with low key comedy focusing on reactions and expressions, rather than straight punch lines in the dialogue.
Describe your film in 100 words or less (plot, style, influences)
The film Thursday has a simple plot where a man has hired a private investigator to spy on his wife to find out if she is unfaithful. Indeed the investigator returns with disturbing photos from a romantic date where the couple ends up in an apartment. Disappointed, the man points out that the woman in the pictures is not his wife. Since I like to find small things in the frame I am inspired by Peter Sellers and Swedish comedy legend Gösta Ekman when making this kind of film.
What were the biggest challenges of making a one-minute film?
The biggest challenge was by far the weather and shooting at uncontrolled locations. A street that was to be used for a couple of scenes was suddenly cut off by a moving truck. That forced me to shoot the particular scenes in half the time that was planned.
