Private Project

Clay

20-something year old Agnes, seeks independence in traveling to Iceland on her own. With a promising job as an au pair for two twin girls, she seems to have found the perfect base for her search in personal reinvention. But once arriving, Agnes quickly meets a darker truth as she is thrown into a world of distress, with a mother fully embodying the word ‘abuse’.

Henceforth, she is forced to take action in a desperate attempt to sort out the situation – whilst not being completely sorted out herself.

  • Leonard Rääf
    Director
    Renard Rouge
  • Leonard Rääf
    Writer
    Renard Rouge
  • Flook L. Nielsen
    Producer
  • Mathias Skaarup Schmidt
    Producer
  • Rosemarie Mosbæk
    Key Cast
    "Agnes"
    Doggystyle, Renard Rouge
  • Þóra Karítas
    Key Cast
    "Iris"
    Sense8
  • Project Type:
    Short
  • Genres:
    Thriller, Drama, Coming of age
  • Runtime:
    34 minutes 15 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    June 28, 2019
  • Production Budget:
    50,000 EUR
  • Country of Origin:
    Denmark
  • Country of Filming:
    Iceland
  • Language:
    English, Icelandic
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    2.35:1
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - Leonard Rääf

Leonard Rääf | Writer/Director
holocenestudios.eu

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Director Statement

"Clay is the shapable. The moldable. The type of material that will move accordingly to your specific directions. Take after your actions. Then eventually it gets burned, and that shape gets stuck for ever. Only changing as it cracks down. Becoming an even worse version of its original form.

When thinking about what shapes us, some of us are lucky enough to wonder whether a safe environment in our upbringing let us pursuit our dreams. I know I do. Trying to become a filmmaker was never looked down upon. More so encouraged. So what about the other end of the spectrum? The ones growing up in total distress. Where it’s not a question of “full parental encouragement”, but perhaps something more fundamental like feeling safe or not.

This is the story of an abusive upbringing and the effects it can have on behavior. To enhance, I wanted to tell it from the perspective of the identical. Exploring it through the story of two twin girls. With our main character, an au pair, who happens to be thrown into their lives as a potential savior, yet how hard it can be to intervene as an outsider.

‘Clay’ is a thrilling exploration of human behavior, moral and pride – told in the setting of the cold yet pure Scandinavian landscape."