ELSA a heart-stopping short directed by Rebecca King to Premiere at the OSCAR-Qualifying Flickers Rhode Island International Film Festival
Nazi occupied Norway is the setting of this heart-stopping film ELSA, based on true events that happened to many Norwegian women during this time. Set in Oslo in 1945, this gripping tale explores a tense love triangle between a Norwegian civilian woman, her adoring neighbor and a German soldier. This compelling short is currently being developed into a feature film and will premiere at the upcoming Flickers’ Rhode Island International Film Festival. ELSA was written by Lizzie Nunnery and produced by Nina Yndis & Victoria Fäh.
As a filmmaker, director Rebecca was selected as ‘Ten Female Filmmakers to Watch’ by Aesthetica for Primetime Network following her debut short ‘Contenders’. She was commissioned by the International Sápmi Film Institute to direct an episode called ‘A Home Truth’ for a miniseries in lockdown. For theater, Rebecca directed ‘The Green Zone’ which was staged at the Furore Festival, Stuttgart Germany. As a script supervisor, she worked on Seasons one and two of the Emmy-winning HBO series ‘House of the Dragon’ and on Iain Softley’s ‘The Shepherd’ starring John Travolta and produced by Alfonso Cuarón.
Lead actress and producer Nina Yndis has won numerous awards for her work. She was recently seen in the psychological thriller ‘The Box’ alongside Anna Friel and Peter Stormare as well as ‘Mrs Sidhu Investigates’ with Meera Syal. Other credits include ‘Peaky Blinders’, ‘Call the Midwife’ and the hugely popular video game ‘Final Fantasy XVI’. Her upcoming projects include the futuristic series ‘The Fortress’ starring Russel Tovey, the Norwegian drama ‘In the Name of Love’ and the Polish feature ‘Fucking Bornholm’. As a producer, Nina created six short films and three music videos.
Award-winning screenwriter Lizzie Nunnery is currently developing an original TV series with Writer Spotlight 2024 and is in pre-production for her debut feature, ‘With Love’, with Blue Horizon Pictures. Additionally, she collaborates with Firebird Pictures, Tigerlily Films, and The Fold on various original TV drama projects. Nina and Lizzie met while working on Lizzie’s acclaimed play ‘Narvik’, in which Nina portrayed Elsa, the character who inspired the film. Although ‘Narvik’ primarily focuses on two navy soldiers stationed in the Atlantic, the interest in Elsa’s story led Rebecca, Lizzie, and Nina to explore her life, uncovering a forgotten chapter of history.
Starring alongside Nina, are the Norwegian actors Jonas Strand Gravli and Lars Berge. Jonas is known for his roles as Laurits Seier and Loki in the Netflix Original series ‘Ragnarok’ and Viljar Hanssen in ‘22 July’ directed by Paul Greengrass. Lars is a regular in the crime drama series ‘Wisting’ and played the title character in ‘Cherry Pop’ which won Best Film at London IFF in 2017.
ELSA will premiere at the prestigious 2024 Flickers’ Rhode Island International Film Festival in August.