Private Project

Are you dead? (Är du död?)

The factory worker STIG and his immigrant friend FELIX get separated as the winter wears on. This moves Stig more than expected. Nightmares of earlier sins contribute to a break with habits, which were once acquired for survival.

  • Florian Koehler
    Director
  • Aintzane Sánchez
    Director of Photograpy
  • Mathias Gustafsson
    Writer
  • Florian Koehler
    Writer
  • Aintzane Sánchez
    Writer
  • Simon Zandbergs
    Writer
  • Gianluca Dolfi
    Producer
  • Mathias Gustafsson
    Producer
  • Florian Koehler
    Producer
  • Aintzane Sánchez
    Producer
  • Simon Zandbergs
    Producer
  • Christian Bothén
    Key Cast
  • Ramtin Djalali
    Key Cast
  • Florian Koehler
    Editors
  • Simon Zandbergs
    Editors
  • Gianluca Dolfi
    Sound Design
  • Project Title (Original Language):
    Är du död?
  • Project Type:
    Short
  • Runtime:
    15 minutes
  • Completion Date:
    August 15, 2015
  • Production Budget:
    200 EUR
  • Country of Origin:
    Sweden
  • Country of Filming:
    Sweden
  • Language:
    English, Swedish
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - Florian Koehler

Born 4th of August 1989 in Frankfurt/Main, Germany.

Starting his creative life in the world of music, playing in a band for 6 years until the inevitable breakdown anticipated through too different individual goals. During this time, business studies became part of the game as a means to an end.

During his time at CMU in Colorado, he found a stronger connection to film making and another rather creative phase began. Film studies in Karlstad, Sweden followed where the idea of Är du död? was created and executed. Having moved on to Jönköping in order to finally finish his business degree shows determination, but also the societal influence on him when it comes to financial security. A struggle between creative sensitivity and income. A trade-off well known from film making and music, not being quite bold enough to leave the German stereotype of avoiding uncertainty behind, or just not trusting enough to dare the possibility of sleeping in the streets.

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Director Statement

This urban lifestyle of working to live, where you spend a huge part of your life in a job that doesn't really mean anything to you, is a big deal. You can get quite self-righteous and ignorant if you have to make certain experiences; some disappointments or losses or the self-realization of having wasted too much time, maybe.

I think we just don't define work correctly because we think about it as something that gives some kind of security and pays our bills and should most likely not be fun. Because if it's fun, it can't be work. Why would you need to get payed if it’s fun, right?

Work should be something fulfilling, something that provides us with a purpose in the broader context. That, what you might be remembered for, or simply some contribution, which maybe even only one person will benefit from in any way possible. If you’re not doing that, I wonder if you could say you’re alive. In that sense work is very much essential.

So, if you’re not making even the smallest of a difference, would it really matter whether or not you’re still alive? That is the question we're asking: Är du död? - Are you dead?