Paradis by Neilson Black

Director Neilson Black started writing Paradis in July 2015. It is a completely fictionalised story, but based on two themes. After 5 short films, each achieving moderate screening success, Paradis’ objective is two things: an experimentation of moving towards feature films, and taking the festival and media exposure to a higher level.

After film school Neilson became a runner and set assistant for 5 years whilst writing on the side. He started his own production company Pattern Maker Films and began writing, directing and producing films.

Paradis is about an ensemble of messed up characters living in a messed up situation led by the main lead Dominique, who is a suffering writer with a sex addiction. He is also in a failing relationship with his estranged and slightly crazy literacy agent Avril. To get help he sees his Therapist; a person whom hates his job and wants nothing more but to quit. The other lead Lizette is Dominique’s ex-girlfriend and she works in a local restaurant as a waitress. She is suffering from her own addictions which have something to do with a mysterious man with an erectile dysfunction Marek. She is also harassed by a sexually perverted Restaurant Manager at her job.

Lizette (Solveig Haugen)

“The long short film genre is interesting to me because it is an area where you can make mini feature films on a very small budget. It is also the closets taste to shooting a full length movie. I wanted to steer in this direction with “Paradis” because it is my sixth film where all my previous projects have been 16 minutes (which is still considered slightly long for a short) or less. However there are cons as well as pros to this market: featurette’s are harder to place on the festival circuit and for media exposure. But I wanted to make Paradis for the right reasons and that is solely what it is: a long shot film, as well as personal practice for a full length feature.” – Neilson Black.

Dominque (Sebastian Badarau)

“Being a lover of French cinema and experimented with a French actor in my short film Set Point, I wanted to return to this style. The day of making my film in Paris is in the pipeline, I wanted to achieve this ambition with “Paradis” but my budget wouldn’t allow it, so on this occasion Paris and I had to wait. However London is very multicultural place, and on a day when I was walking through the neighbourhood Warwick Avenue (W9) in London, the setting for the film was born. The landscapes and buildings in Warwick Avenue are beautiful and the Little Venice river is an example of London’s gems.

Based on these factors I dreamed up a make believe version of Paris which is where the characters would then be placed. As I said it wouldn’t be too far from the truth because London (especially zones 1 & 2) is a largely foreign occupied anyway. So with the right locations within W9, I would be meeting Paris halfway, making the story still believable to the audience and enormously co-operative to the budget I had. If all these elements worked well together, it would be a charming place to take the audience too for an hour.” – Neilson Black

Currently the film is nearing its final stages of post production.

The film presently has a shortened version. which is entering festivals.

Find out more about the movie on its official website at: www.paradisthemovie.wordpress.com

Post by Jennifer Niejadlik