The Reading
When on a publicity tour for her best-selling memoir, a writer is forced to confront secrets from her past when an estranged childhood friend shows up unannounced.
Interview with Writer/Director Nora Jaenicke
Congratulations! Why did you make your film?
I kept thinking about the tendency that storytellers (myself included) have of turning biographical events into fictional ones and about the thin line between facts and fantasy - how they can merge in the writer's mind. At the same time, there is this responsibility that we all have toward the actual people and events in our lives that see them involved as well. It's an interesting conflict/tension to explore, and I know of many artists who struggle with having to justify themselves with their loved ones for the stories that they choose to tell. At some point, I felt as if I was "exploiting" the world around me to produce my work. I found myself constantly eavesdropping on other people's conversations and taking notes whenever someone said something interesting or worth exploring in a story. "Wait, but I am not like that" is what someone who is close to you and recognizes themselves in one of your characters might say. But as writers, we do this all the time. We merge different people that we met in real life and in completely different circumstances into one fictional character. We borrow from our own past. Life becomes our muse and we let real-life events inspire us. With The Reading I wanted to tell the story of an award-winning writer being confronted with having modified a story from her own past for the sake of good fiction. What Elsa (the film's protagonist) doesn't remember is that there was someone else in the story she chose to tell who had a completely different perspective on it.
Imagine I’m a member of the audience. Why should I watch this film?
Our film makes us reflect on the power that we have as storytellers. It also sheds light onto the suffering that some people endure to be who they are and the responsibility we have toward each other as human beings. Elsa didn't realize that her telling Jake's father "his secret" ended up ruining his life. Whether she was aware of it or not, she chose to write about an experience that saw him involved as well. In her story, she exploited a "biographical event" from her own past and modified it for the sake of "good fiction." The very same event changed the course of Jake's destiny forever.
How do personal and universal themes work in your film?
Since our film deals with themes of queerness and coming out, it automatically also promotes a more inclusive society, and that is precisely the atmosphere and culture that we have created on our film set as well. Films like ours can do their part, small as it may be, to shed light on these wrongs and, we hope, encourage people to right them. More than anything, though, this film aims to spread a message of vibrant acceptance: Be who you are and let no one force you to do differently. The diversity of our crew serves as an example of the message that we are trying to transmit.
How have the script and film evolved over the course of their development?
I wrote the first version of it last year. Then I kept thinking about it wherever I went, and I kept feeling that there was still something missing in the story. It felt unfinished and unpolished. Eventually, I developed a new version of it with my co-writer Bobby Peretti, during one of the screenwriting retreats that I run in Italy. The collaboration was a success. We are both very happy with the result.
What type of feedback have you received so far?
We are still waiting for our premiere... With the current situation, we are not sure, if our film will be screened at a festival anytime soon.
What are you looking to achieve by having your film more visible on www.wearemovingstories.com?
It would be great to be able to make more films in the future. Meet interesting people to collaborate with.
Who do you need to come on board (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists) to amplify this film’s message?
We are still looking for someone to help us with distribution, as we went way over budget during our production.
What type of impact and/or reception would you like this film to have?
Ideally, it would play at many festivals all over the world.
What’s a key question that will help spark a debate or begin a conversation about this film?
What is it about? Is Elsa guilty for what she did?
What other projects are the key creatives developing or working on now?
I am working on two feature screenplays: A coming of age script that is set in France, precisely the Rose Farms were they produce Chanel Number 5 and a Psychological Thriller set on the Italian island of Stromboli. I am also currently working on the Online Version of my Screenwriting Retreats and a few short stories.
Interview: April 2020
We Are Moving Stories embraces new voices in drama, documentary, animation, TV, web series, music video, women's films, LGBTQIA+, POC, First Nations, scifi, supernatural, horror, world cinema. If you have just made a film - we'd love to hear from you. Or if you know a filmmaker - can you recommend us? More info: Carmela
The Reading
When on a publicity tour for her best-selling memoir, a writer is forced to confront secrets from her past when an estranged childhood friend shows up unannounced.
Length: 10:04
Director: Nora Jaenicke
Producer: Shreejana KC, Ruya Koman, Nora Jaenicke, Alex Kruz
Writer: Nora Jaenicke and Bobby Peretti
About the writer, director and producer:
NORA JAENICKE is an award-winning filmmaker residing between Cambridge and New York City. She grew up in Italy with German parents and studied Film Studies at the European Institute of Design in Rome and Screenwriting at Vancouver Film School. Later on, she was able to deepen her studies in Psychology and Creative Writing by obtaining a Bachelors of Liberal Arts at Harvard University Extension Studies, while on a full scholarship. She has worked in Cologne, Germany, for a Documentary Film Production Company and as a Set Designer in Los Angeles, before starting to write and direct her own films. Her feature-length screenplay Whales was selected to be a part of the Kitzbuhel Writing Residency in August 2017 and was a semi-finalist at Nashville Film Festival and the Beverly Hills Film Festival. Her first feature film, based on the award-winning short film Whales, that she wrote, produced and directed, is slated for production in May 2020. When she is not writing or making films, she runs a screenwriting retreat in the heart of Tuscany and a Film Festival on the Italian island of Elba.
BOBBY PERETTI is a screenwriter based in New York City. He studied Writing and Film at Johns Hopkins University, where he wrote and directed a short film – The Cyclist – with funding won from a student grant. He has co-written an independent feature film currently in preproduction, written episodic web series content, contributed pre and post-production copywriting for The Bend Creative, and worked as a script doctor for Alphabet City Films. He has given script workshops to student filmmakers, read and reviewed scripts for Big Beach Films and Nostos Films, and he coordinates directing workshops for The Directors’ Collective NYC.
SHREEJANA KC is an engineering post-graduate in Computer Engineering and Rural Development who is currently pursuing her PhD in Computer Science. As a person, she is independent, ambitious and someone who knows what to achieve from life. She has worked in different sectors including Education, NGO/INGOs in a leading position. She is the founding CEO of RR Shree School of Technology which is a Visual Effects (VFX) and Animation Academy and production company based in Kathmandu, Nepal. Currently, her sole purpose is to bring her company RR Shree School of Technology as the country's finest training school and production house. She wants to bring the new state of the art technology and train the new genome of youth, especially women, technical human resource to be self-sustainable so that they can live with dignity and high self-esteem. She also wants to show the world that Nepal is too at par with international level of production. She is also pursuing her PhD in cloud computing, being the first lady in the country to achieve this milestone and set up an example for the generations to come. She is here to make a difference in terms of empowerment. She loves to talk about ideas and innovation rather than people. She has been working right from her young age and she sees thing differently. Just like she has been educated, trained, groomed to be here standing, she wants her country's women to have that education level which could make them feel confident about themselves and be empowered. In fact, that is also the vision of RR Shree School of Technology to be a socially responsible organization.
Key cast: Devin Burnam, Ruya Koman
Looking for: film festival directors, producers, sales agents, buyers
Facebook: Nora Jaenicke
Hashtags used: #thereadingshortfilm
Other: IMDb
Made in association with: Shreejana KC, Alex Kruz, Nora Jaenicke, Ruya Koman and Gofundme Campaign
Where can I watch it next and in the coming month? Festivals all over the world, hopefully! Once this Corona Virus madness is over.