‘Live, Laugh - LARP’
This year we launched our first ever short film pitching competition with the aim of encouraging filmmakers to create queer cinema that will help guide the next generation of local talent. The competition consisted of two stages, starting with a written application, followed by the opportunity to pitch their project live to a jury of renowned professionals and an audience.
We’re excited to announce that the winning project is 'Live, Laugh - LARP' written by Moyna Söderstrand and produced by Ole Henrik Fuberg Karlsen!
'Live, Laugh - LARP' has been awarded an award in the form of an amount of DKK 20,000 for production costs as well as equipment rent worth DKK 50,000 from Odense Film Workshop, as well as a guaranteed place in our Nordic Lights program, which will be shown to MIX COPENHAGEN 2021. We reached out to Moyna to hear more.
Hi Moyna, congratulations on winning our first pitching competition, Queering the Pitch! How do you feel about winning?
It is a short film about a young woman and a young non-binary person who meet each other at a sci-fi LARP (live action roleplaying), and fall in love with each other while dressed as different characters. None of them know how to communicate with each other without interacting as their character, but we do see their true intentions in the LARP role-playing game, as the characters they portray do not hide who they themselves are. It's sci-fi and romantic comedy, as well as a classic tale of two opposites being attracted to each other.
Can you tell us a little bit about your project?
It is a short film about a young woman and a young non-binary person who meet each other at a sci-fi LARP (live action roleplaying), and fall in love with each other while dressed as different characters. None of them know how to communicate with each other without interacting as their character, but we do see their true intentions in the LARP role-playing game, as the characters they portray do not hide who they themselves are. It's sci-fi and romantic comedy, as well as a classic tale of two opposites being attracted to each other.
Wow, that sounds like a really exciting concept! What inspired you to participate?
I heard about Queering the Pitch through a friend who encouraged me to apply.
The prospect of pitching in a space where there would not only be other LGBTQ+ filmmakers, but also where my queerness would be the norm, sounded so overwhelmingly cool. I love being queer and I love creating movies, but I had few experiences where the two go hand in hand without having to explain myself or argue my case.
Queering the Pitch was an opportunity to be in a forum where I could just pitch an idea, and not my right to exist in a narrative.
This is exactly why we wanted to create this opportunity for LGBTQ+ filmmakers. So, what's the next step for you and 'Live, Laugh - LARP'?
My producer, Ole Henrik Fuberg Karlsen, and I are in the pre-production phase at the moment and are busy contacting the actors and film crew, which is really exciting. I'll write the last changes to the script so we can send it to the film crew in January, and then all the fun begins. We are shooting in the spring and plan to have the film finished in the summer of 2021.
Good luck to Moyna and Ole! We cannot wait to see the final result!
You can keep up to date on Moyna and Ole's work on 'Live, Laugh - LARP' through our website and social media.
Thank you to Odense Film Workshop for their generous sponsorship of Queering the Pitch and to our pitching jurors Nanna Tabor, Birgitte Rask, and Mette Bihl! Finally, also a thank you to Empire Bio for hosting our live pitch.