Swimming Lessons
We meet Saira and Aleena. Two immigrant girls who are sitting on the sideline during their class’s swimming lesson. Saira is infatuated with Geir, but her future is about to change forever.
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Tommy NaessDirectorBrother, The Apartment, Communicate
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Tommy NaessWriterBrother, The apartment, Communicate
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Erlend Haarr ErikssonProducer
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Yasmin Melody MoussaviKey Cast
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Anna Pauline SharmaKey Cast
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William MyrmellomKey Cast
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Ghopi PrabaharanKey Cast
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Bjørn LeirholKey Cast
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Project Title (Original Language):Svømmetimen
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Project Type:Short
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Runtime:6 minutes 4 seconds
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Completion Date:June 11, 2017
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Production Budget:60,000 USD
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Country of Origin:Norway
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Country of Filming:Norway
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Language:Norwegian
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Shooting Format:RED
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Aspect Ratio:1.85:1
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Film Color:Color
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First-time Filmmaker:No
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Student Project:No
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Palm Springs International Short FestPalm Springs
United States
June 24, 2016
World Premiere -
Nordic PanoramaMalmø
Sweden
September 19, 2016
European Premiere -
San Jose International Film FestivalSan Jose, Ca
United States
October 16, 2016 -
Julian Dubuque FFDubuque
United States
May 21, 2017 -
Savannah FFSavannah
United States
October 25, 2016 -
Western Nordic IFFAalesund
Norway -
Souq FFMilano
Italy -
Bergen IFFBergen
Norway
September 29, 2016
Tommy Naess started out as a as a commercial still photographer in New York and Norway. He has had a long and successful career working on a wide range of projects. The transition into working with film as a media began by creating music videos for bands that he photographed and commercials that where filmed at the same time as an advertising campaign was photographed.
He has made music videos for such legendary black metal band’s as, Gorgoroth, Audery Horne and Sahg .
“With my films I want to tell stories of real people that we meet or pass on the street everyday.
Quite often, the ideas originate from stories I hear on the news or read in the newspaper. It’s my way of making a statement about the society we live in. I want the stories I tell to make people think, I want my films to matter.”
I got the idea for Swimming Lesson after reading an article in a local newspaper about a Kurdish immigrant girl that had been killed by her father after dating a Norwegian boy. Right away I wanted to write a story on how these girls must feel. How it must feel to be Norwegian, Danish, French or simply European in everyday life but to also belong to the culture of the region or religion you parents belong to.
Not to be able to chose whom you marry or fall in love with I see is the case in many cultures. As arranged marriage it might be more dramatic and forceful in some cultures we will also find this in some cultures and religions here in the west.
In this film you meet two Norwegian immigrant girls and the cultural differences they meet in their everyday life by being Norwegian in a school situation and at the same time belonging to their parent’s culture.
To be able to choose whom you love is for me a human right witch I put as one of the highest values for a human being today. Love should be independent of politics and religion.
With this film I set out to make people think about how our values are different, how our cultures define who we are. I hope that people can look at this film and feel Saira’s situation.