My name is Ninna Pálmadóttir, and I am a director and writer currently pursuing my MFA degree in filmmaking at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts.

This is the biggest project in the program, the whole 2nd year revolves around it.

But I need financial support to make it happen. I am ambitious and set out to make a beautiful film and I want more than anything to shoot it in my home country, Iceland.

I was born and raised in a small town in north Iceland and have family roots from the east coast as well, where I want to film the project.

Being brought up surrounded by the raw and spectacular nature of Iceland has influenced me as a storyteller and it's important to me to bring that element into my work.

THE STORY

Paperboy (original title: Blaðberinn) is about a small town Icelandic boy, Breki, who takes a big leap towards manhood. It's his first day on his first ever job as the town's paper delivery boy. 

He goes on an adventurous first route around the town, seeing his small village in a different light before the sun even rises.

That morning he peeks through one of his neighbor's window - seeing something that he's not supposed to witness. With that knowledge he connects to the person inside and starts to ask himself questions about his innocent world.

DIRECTOR'S STATEMENT

The story is loosely based on a true event. Back when I lived in Reykjavík for University I walked home to my small basement apartment at six in the morning after a night of partying. At the door I realized I had forgot my keys, my phone had no battery and the night was a complete disaster.

A paper delivery guy was on his morning route and stopped where I was sitting on my stoop. He sat down with me, listened and hugged me. I never saw him again and I don't know his name.

But it got me wondering about how incredible human connection can be, even between complete strangers, and what really connects us all - simply being human. 

In this film I want to explore the raw emotions that unite us, as well as digging into the Icelandic small village life. 

It's a sort of a coming of age story, what is it really to grow up?

THE CAST 

BREKI: Trausti Hrafn

Trausti came to our audition in Reyðarfjörður and completely blew us away with his sincere presence and authenticity. It was important to us to find a local talent, a kid that actually knows the town, the streets and sees the mountains every day. 

There was no one better suited for this role than Trausti and we're extremely excited to work with him and watch him grow. 

THE WOMAN: To be revealed.

THE TEAM

CINEMATOGRAPHER 

Lasse Ulvedal Tolbøll

Lasse Ulvedal Tolbøll is an award winning cinematographer from Denmark. His work has been screened at festivals such as Sarasota Film Festival, Maryland Film Festival, Montclair Film Festival. He just won Best Cinematography at the First Run Film Festival in New York. 

Lasse gained interest in filmmaking during high school while making skate videos before slowly transitioning into making narratives. After living in Taiwan for six months, he started a masters program in Film and Media at the University of Copenhagen but dropped out when he was accepted into the grad film program at Tisch School of the Arts in New York City. He is now based in New York where he is a BAFTA Scholar sponsored by HBO.

SOUND DESIGN & MIXER

David Moragas

Raised in the Mediterranean woodlands, currently living between Barcelona and New York, David holds a bachelor’s degree in Media Communication from Pompeu Fabra University, where he specialized in the screenwriting field and an MFA in Film Directing from the ESCAC Film School in Spain. In 2015 he was awarded the La Caixa Scholarship to study an MFA in film directing in the United States. Currently he's student at the Filmmaking graduate program at NYU Tisch School of the Arts.

PRODUCERS

Kathleen Chew

Kathleen Chew is a writer, director, and producer from northern Virginia. She is currently an MBA/MFA candidate in Film Producing at NYU Stern and Tisch. In her first year at NYU, she produced and assisted on eight film projects. Prior to graduate school, Kathleen worked in theatrical stage management in New York and Washington D.C. She holds a B.A. from Georgetown University.

Þórunn Guðlaugsdóttir

From the heart of Reykjavík, Þórunn, a gratuaded actress, has a vast experience as a director, assistant director, producer and writer on a range of productions from short films to Hollywood's blockbusters. She has been working for the past few years at Truenorth, Iceland's leading film production company as well as in Tjarnarbíó, one of Reykjavík's theatres.

She founded her own theatre company in 2014 and is a hard working freelancer both on and off screen.

Þórunn worked with me on my first short, Little Rocks that we shot in Iceland in 2014 and was my submission film for New York University. I am so happy to have her again on board as my close collaborator. 

Kristborg Bóel Steindórsdóttir

Kristborg Bóel is a tv journalist and editor for a eastern local tv show in Iceland called N4. She is a journalist and website editor for the local newspaper. 

She's an educated teacher originally from the Teacher's University of Iceland and has a diploma in educational counseling from the University of Iceland.

I met Krisborg by coincidence this summer while I was teaching  a filmmaking course for teenagers in east Iceland and found out she lives in Reyðarfjörður, our location. She is an organizing force as well as being extremely well connected to her town's community. Her amazing spirit is a gift for this project and she is now working for the first time as an associate producer for the film.

THE LOCATION

Picking out a beautiful Icelandic town is rather easy, there are so many of them all around the island. 

I once worked on a television show shot in the eastern village Reyðarfjörður and was speechless by the beautiful mountains across the fjord. 

Somehow, while writing the story, I always imagined those mountains and kept coming back to that image. To me that is a strong sign to follow your gut instinct so I decided to scout the town this summer, meeting some amazing locals that are now a part of our crew. 

MARKETING/FESTIVALS/DISTRIBUTION

This film is set to be finished in post production in May 2018. It's important for young directors to apply for film festivals both to get their work recognized as well as meeting other filmmakers and producers around the world. I am highly ambitious about taking this project as far as I possibly can. 

Therefore I am set out to submit the film to major festivals including Sundance, Toronto, Berlin and Cannes as well as smaller festivals that suit the genre. I hope the film will attract interest with it's unique location and raw feeling of connection we all experience at some point in our lives. 

SUPPORT THE PROJECT (where does the money go?)

The cost of filmmaking can be very overwhelming. Specially for directors at this stage of their career when the goal is not to make money from their films, rather tell important stories as well as establish themselves as filmmakers. 

We need money mostly for transportation since we're traveling my talented classmates from New York to Iceland late October, as well as bringing a small crew from Reykjavík to the east coast for a few days. 

Other costs include: Transportation vehicles and gas, accommodating the crew for the shooting period, feeding the crew and cast three meals a day. We are lucky enough to get great camera and sound equipment for the project from school but need to rent minimal lighting equipment and additional rigs and lenses for the camera.

The specific costs will be broken down as follows:

- Plane tickets NYC - ICELAND and back (director, cinematographer, sound operator, actress): $1700 

- Accommodation and meals for the cast and crew: $4500 

- Equipment rentals: $1000

- Film festival submission fees: $500

- Car rentals, costumes, props: $300

Join us in making Paperboy (Blaðberinn)! 

We need you help!

- Ninna Pálma