Kickstarter

THE NIGHT LAND - PART 1

In 2011 I graduated from art/design school (Gerrit Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam) by making a short narrative film. The story I wrote seemed to be too large in scope to be realised in one school year. On top of that, I was going to do pretty much everything myself, almost without any budget.

I decided to just go ahead and realise the first part of the story. It introduced a stoical businessman running his own company. It showed his routine of going to work everyday. Constantly looking. Looking at his favorite painting. Looking into the distance.. It ended with his secretary driving him to a remote area where he got out of the car and started walking. Walking into the night..

PART 2 - THE MAN HIGHER UP

We will discover why the protagonist seemed to suddenly escape his accustomed and controlled life. He ends up in a, for him, unfamiliar environment, which seems to be a hotel. Here the sci-fi background of the film will come to light. He meets the owner of the hotel, a cheerful young man, who reminds him of his night guard (whom he fired in part 1). This unexpected encounter frustrates him. He wants nothing more than to be left alone, so he tries to get rid of him.

While spending the night at the hotel, bizarre things start to occur. He ends up looking through the window in his room.. seeing something. Seeing someone familiar.

BACKGROUND

The whole thing started with something I love doing; walking, alone, through an empty city at night. Many ideas came to me that led me to the concept of forcefields, which goes back at least as far as 1912, appearing in William Hope Hodgson's fantasy story 'The Night Land'. 

The mood I had in mind for the film fitted perfectly with the dark and atmospheric music by (techno artist) Redshape. He already did a great job on the music for the first part and there will for sure be more of it in the rest of the film.

One of my favorite painters is Edward Hopper. While writing the story I revisited some of his paintings. I got excited when I noticed a large part of the story I just wrote being depicted in this 1957 painting called 'Western Motel'. It inspired and helped me to finish the story. As you can see in the video the painting itself plays a rol in the film as well..

NOW I NEED YOUR HELP

I would love be able to continue making 'part 2' and finish the film! For that I need your help. I just need this tiny wee bit of money, basically to be able to pay for some basic equipment and feed my lovely actors and crew. Also I would love to pay them at least a little bit this time.

I'm curious for where this adventure will leed us! I hope you are too.
Please check out the video for a teaser of part 1 of the film.

Thank you for your attention. Much love!