Familiar Strangers Graduation Short Film

Familiar Strangers is a student-led graduation short film, made by aspiring filmmakers in their final year of university. This project is a culmination of our crew's interests and a way for us to hone and challenge our filmmaking practices we've developed over the last 4 years. We aim to send our film into festivals once it is complete.

During the days after her grandmother’s funeral, Freya is eager to return home and rid herself of pitying aunties and her sister’s displays of emotion. The house brings back too many memories, and she struggles to manage them. She accompanies her younger sister, Isla on a walk in the woods, if only to distance herself from the wake. When Isla lets it slip that she is trying to find the waterfall her grandmother took them to as children, what started as a peaceful walk turns into a dispute between sisters. The sisters separated, Freya gets lost looking for her way back, and stumbles upon a young version of her grandmother in the woods, and the confort she would have expected turns instead into sour disappointment at Freya's avoidance. After a series of eerie encounters with her familiar members, Freya is forced to confront her struggles to be reunited with Isla. Together again, the sisters reach the waterfall and support each other through their shared grief.

Familiar Strangers is a film about grief and the complexity of approaching it in the first experience of it. Freya feels lost after the passing of her grandmother, but her independent and stubborn personality stops her from sharing how she feels with her family. Isla, Freya’s younger sister, represents Freya’s sense of familial responsibility and a desire to return to childhood bliss (symbolised by the waterfall the sisters search for), and the sisters’ interactions illustrate how grief confuses Freya between coming across as strong for her family and allowing herself the space to be vulnerable. But by the end of the film, the encounters with ghostly members of her family, including her grandmother, force Freya to reevaluate her reactions and bring her the clarity to express her grief and support her sister.

Familiar Strangers uses a magical realist approach to explore the themes of the story. The forest acts as a magical space that places obstacles in Freya's way, and only once she has accepted her responsibility as a sister to Isla can she be reunited with her. With every encounter with her family members comes a realisation for Freya, until she understands that her avoidance is affecting her relationships. This is a story we hope anyone who has lost someone close can connect with, as we work to represent the confusing emotions that grief causes and how it fundamentally changes us and our outlook on life.

Losing a loved one is many peoples first experience of grief. Familiar Strangers looks to investigate and represent the complex feelings which come with grief and the journey to acceptance. For students, filmmaking can get expensive, and that's why we need your help! With your support, we look to create a safe and comfortable set which allows cast and crew to confidently give their all to the project. We can get more ambitious and really think about our potential location and casting options to elevate the quality of our film. With your support, we can bring out vision to life!

Every penny you give ensures that our production values match our creative vision. We aim to build a safe and collaborative environment for our entire team, with money being distributed evenly to ensure no one is working themselves too thin. With your support, we can make our vision come to life!

Here are a few departments your contribution will go towards:

• Securing fantastic locations! We look to use park grounds around Edinburgh which tend to come with a cost in order to help preserve the space. Using your support, we can gain access to beautiful locations which can feature as a backdrop in our film.
• Casting talented actors! As Familiar Strangers revolves around serious themes such as grief and loss, finding the right actors for such dialogue-heavy roles is a major priority for us to ensure we can create a nuanced and authentic portrayal of grief.
• Transportation! Although we aim to film in and around Edinburgh, ensuring our cast and crew can be safely transported to set and home is our priority. Along with this, hiring transportation to move around our large collection of equipment will be prioritised.
• Production Design! We will be putting a large percentage of our budget towards giving our fantastic production designer the freedom to create authentic and ambient sets.

MEET OUR DIRECTOR!

Hi! I’m Paula, an aspiring film director and script supervisor from Tenerife. I have always been drawn to the potential of film to creatively explore meaningful themes by incorporating surreal elements into realist stories. I am so excited to be putting this into practice as the director of Familiar Strangers.

This film is a labour of love and collaboration. I have been involved in developing the story and the depth of the characters to represent the chaotic emotions of loss and grief and how they affect our close relationships. Familiar Strangers aims to translate this into a rich and stylised visual journey inspired by magical realist stories. I can’t wait to bring Freya and Isla to life and share this film!

MEET OUR PRODUCER!

Helloo, I’m Abbie, the producer of Familiar Strangers.

Throughout my studies at Edinburgh Napier University, I’ve grown a strong passion for producing. I love crafting projects which deal with themes that can be hard to conceptualise and present on-screen. What caught my eye about Familiar Strangers was how the script dealt with a very human experience, grief, through an even more interesting lens, magical realism. I’m excited to shape a story which is so deeply human and work towards developing my ability in coordination and communication. I love balancing production elements through a creative approach, so I am super excited to do so with the support from an incredibly talented team.

MEET OUR WRITER!

Hello, I'm Sean, a screenwriter in my final year studying film at Edinburgh Napier.

Throughout university, l've cut my teeth writing comedies. However, I wasn't challenging myself, and I wanted to come into my final year with something dramatic that would allow me to showcase my range as a writer. Familiar Strangers was a perfect fit for this ambition, as it has allowed me to develop my character and dialogue work without being able to resort to my usual tricks. As a writer, I enjoy the process of creating a character and finding out who they are on the page. With Freya and Isla, I have been able to do just that.  

MEET OUR DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY!

Hello hello, I'm Max, Familiar Strangers' DOP.

Over the last year I've had such a great time working under Paula's direction on films 'The Hands of Men' & 'Lola's Room', so I knew from the second I was asked to be part of this project that it was going to be a dream to work on. I'm so lucky to be working with our producer Abbie on both of my graduate projects, and am confident that our team can make this story into a great film. Familiar Strangers' cinematography will play a crucial role in merging our magical realist elements with drama. Some key components of our intended photographic look include white mist lens filters, shaped natural light, and long lenses. I can't wait to go into production and experiment with the visuals!

MEET OUR PRODUCTION DESIGNER!

Hey, I’m Cat! I am excited to come onto this project as production designer to visually translate my ideas for a magical realist and fantastical story.

I am looking into creative ways to communicate the character’s spiritual and emotional journey such as how the natural and outdoorsy setting can be adapted to look like a liminal space, with additional mementos that heighten the ethereal feel of the character’s experience with the ‘other world’. I am looking forward to experimenting with the connection between nature and the human experience and blurring the lines of reality and fantasy with visual effects and collaboration with my fellow crew members. I can’t wait to see this film grow.

MEET OUR SOUND DESIGNER!

Hi, my name’s Hazel, and I’m an aspiring sound designer from Edinburgh. As a filmmaker, I’m often drawn to stories about women, queer identities, and music. I’m beyond excited to be sound designing our grad film, Familiar Strangers!

As a Magical Realist film, Familiar Strangers is the perfect opportunity to get creative and test my skills as a sound designer. Additionally, our story centres around two young women dealing with the loss of their grandmother. Having recently experienced this, I feel this will help me to convey their emotions honestly through the film’s soundscape.

I’m looking forward to working closely with our talented writer, Sean, and director, Paula, to bring their ideas to life. I can’t wait for everyone to hear it!

MEET OUR EDITOR!

I’m Ethan and I’m the editor for Familiar Strangers. I’m a 4th year Film student at Napier, and I’ve really enjoyed working on this project and being a part of this team. The themes of grief, forgiving yourself, and family relationships have always been really interesting to me as a filmmaker, and I’m excited about the chance to explore them.
Many of my previous projects have been drama or action film, so I’m really valuing the chance to work in the magical-realist setting of this project, and approach my edit with a new frame of mind.

Thank you for all the support! We couldn't do it without you.