Thanks For Everything

After a series of coincidences two strangers happen to meet on a deserted bridge at night. They have little in common but they do share one thing.

Director Biography - Frank Aron Gårdsø

Director/writer/producer/editor Too Much (2000) starring: Jørgen Langhelle Kaffe (2001) starring: Sossen Krogh Monica (2001) starring: Merete Vold Love Never Dies (2003) starring: Gustav Adolf Hegh & Bjørn Jenseg O- The Movie (2015) Takk For Alt (2017) starring: Hans Jacob Sand, Jan Fredrik Grøndal Henriksen, Gorm Alexander Foss Grømer, Karine dybvik, Kim Rune Gulland, John Brungot Art Department En Får Væra Som En Er (2017) TV Series (Art Director) Om det oändliga (2017) (props) Folkevalgt (2016) Tv Series (property master) Lost In Time (2016) Tv Game Show (Game Developer) "Den siste viking" (2014) TV series (property master) (2014) En duva satt på en gren och funderade på tillvaron (2014) (assistant decorator) ... aka "A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence" - International (English title) (imdb display title) Blind (2014/II) (property master: second unit) "Lilyhammer" (art department) (2012-2013) "En vakker dag" (2011) TV series (property master) (2011) "Zebra Grand Prix" (2009) TV series (set designer) (2009-2010) De andre (2009) (assistant property master) "Hotel Cæsar" (carpenter) (2008) "Top model Norge" (carpenter) (12 episodes, 2006) "Klisterhjerne" (2003) TV series (props) Oblivion (2003) (assistant property master) "Endelig fredag" (2002) TV series (set decorator) "Fox Grønland" (2001) TV series (assistant art director) "Agurknytt" (1999) TV series (carpenter) (1999) "Virre virre vapp" (1998) TV series (set decorator) "Virre virre vapp" (1998) TV series (props) "Bot og bedring" (1996) TV series (painter) "Bot og bedring" (1996) TV series (set decorator) Cinematographer O (2015) En kväll med Peter Jöback (2011) (TV) Sivert Høyem i Sentrum (2009) (TV) Actor Mørke sjeler (2010) .... Driller #4 ... aka "Dark Souls" - International (English title) (imdb display title), USA (festival title) ... aka "Zombie Driller" - USA (alternative title) Markus og Diana (1996) .... Journalist "Offshore" .... Oilworker Make Up Department Fox Grønland" (2001) TV series (special makeup effects artist)

Director Statement

Many aspects of life are considered pure luck or just a simple coincidence. Some are a mix of both. Being at the right place at the right time is something you don’t know until someone else tells you that it is so, or might have been so. The same can be said about the story behind Thanks For Everything, as well as the script itself. I would use just a simple coincidence to begin with, then later on in the development luck took over for a short while, until coincidence came back. It all started one summer day when me and my friend wanted to write a story that could be made into a film of some sort. The topic could be anything as long as we found it intriguing and interesting. After hours of thinking, doodling, arguing and writing it was time for a little break. It was during this break that the idea about one man who wants to jump off a bridge to end his life, but meets another man that’s already there was born. That was the basic idea that ended up as Thanks For Everything. Then the script went through multiple rewrites until I was happy about it. It was important that the character of Tom did not come across as a man who knew everything in a deep philosophical way, but rather have a deep understanding about life in general due to experience and knowledge. In my mind Tom is on the bridge due to exactly that - experience and knowledge, but on the other hand Marius is there for the lack of it. It is when those three things meet the story unfold. Slowly we get under the skin of both Marius and Tom. They both reveal things about themselves in their final hour on the bridge. When it comes to Marius, he is a man who just had enough at that time in his life. A series of coincidences has lead him to the bridge he is standing at. Ready to jump to his death. In order to not make Marius turn into a sorry and pathetic creature, it was important that we show him as a person that got style, that has a decent place to live, having a job, being on top job interview and so on. The only thing Marius lack is experience and knowledge. Nobody will survive in life if they never experienced decline and adversity of some sort. So as Tom so well put it in the film when Marius tells about his life experiences. - it’s a little bit common. As for the location itself, we were looking for a bridge that could give us high production value without us having to do much to it props wise and lighting wise. We had limited recourses, limited time to film and limited space on the bridge itself. So after a few days of location hunting we found the perfect bridge that was not used much at night. Now the only challenge we had was the orange light that illuminated the bridge at night. Should we block it off, should we light it ourselves or should we do a mix of everything. We ended up using the orange light entirely. It gave us extra warmth to the somehow dark story. A coincidence. Later we adapted the orange theme throughout the whole movie. There is element of it in every scene. It ties the movie together in a gentle subtle way. The music the composer, Kim Berg put on the imagery was decided before we started filming. It was important that the music we used would not be what everyone would expect it to be. We could have gone for the classic piano or strings through the whole film, but that would be wrong and too obvious. Since both Kim Berg and myself has a love for the style of music from the 80’s, we quickly decided that this is the right path to take. Same goes with Gloomy Sunday that ends the movie. That was the first musical element that was a 100% certainty that we would use. We just had to make a new version of if. As a reference we looked at Susann Sundfør theme song from the movie Oblivion which she did with M83. We wanted this heroic electronica theme to end the whole film.

Credits

• Frank Aron Gårdsø Director O - The Movie

• Frank Aron Gårdsø Writer O - The Movie

• Frank Aron Gårdsø Producer O - The Movie

• Kim Berg Producer
  

• Hans Jacob Sand Key Cast “Tom” Kongens Nei, Flukt, Valkyrien, Lilyhammer

• Jan Fredrik Grøndal Henriksen Key Cast “Marius” Sjåføren

• Gorm Alexander Foss Grømer Key Cast “Police” Oleanna

• Karine Dybvik Key Cast “executive assistant/drunk lady” Høvdinger, Se meg

• Kim Rune Gulland Key Cast “Dr. Balloon”

Specifications

• Project Type: Short

• Runtime: 29 minutes 50 seconds

• Completion Date: April 22, 2017

• Production Budget: 12,000 USD

• Country of Origin: Norway

• Country of Filming: Norway

• Language: Norwegian

• Shooting Format: RED

• Aspect Ratio: 2:35

• Film Color: Color

• First-time Filmmaker: No

• Student Project: No

Awards

• Barcelona Planet Film Festival Barcelona Spain May 1, 2017 Official Selection

• TMFF - The Monthly Film Festival Glasgow United Kingdom April 30, 2017 Finalist

• Los Angeles CineFest Los Angeles United States May 30, 2017 Semi - Finalist

• Aab International Film Festival Moga, Punjab India May 21, 2017 Official Selection

• Direct Short Online Film Festival May 26, 2017 Official Selection

• Feel The Reel International Film Festival Glasgow United Kingdom May 31, 2017 Official Selection

• UK Monthly Film Festival Watton United Kingdom April 8, 2017 Official Selection

• Bucharest ShortCut CineFest Bucharest Romania June 25, 2017 Official Selection

• IndieFlicks Monthly International Film Festival Manchester United Kingdom July 5, 2017 Official Selection

• Berlin Flash Film Festival Stuttgart Germany Official Selection

• FIVE CONTINENTS INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL Puerto la Cruz Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of July 3, 2017 Best Drama, Best Lead Actor, Best Cinematography, Best Short Film

• St. Lawrence International Film Festival - SLIFF Online New York United States July 1, 2017 Winner Best Film

• SHORT to the Point Bucharest Romania July 9, 2017 Official Selection

• 12 Months Film Festival Cluj-Napoca Romania July 16, 2017 2. place - Director of the month

• TMC London Film Festival London United Kingdom July 28, 2017 Official Selection

• NORMAN FILM FESTIVAL Norman United States September 23, 2017 Official Selection

• Sanford International Film Festival Sandford United States October 18, 2017 Official Selection

• PORTUGAL INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL Póvoa de Varzim Portugal September 15, 2017 Official Selection

• ARFF Berlin // Around International Film Awards Berlin Germany February 4, 2018 Official Selection

• Move Me Productions Belgium - Film Festival Belgium August 2, 2017 Official Selection

• Västerås Filmfestival Västerås Sweden September 16, 2017 Official Selection

• Miami Movie Fest Miami United States August 31, 2017 Finalist

• Yellowknife International Film Festival Yellowknife United States October 25, 2017 Official Selection

• SCANDINAVIAN INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL Helsinki Finland October 25, 2017 Winner - AWARD OF EXCELLENCE

• Focus International Film Festival United States October 1, 2017 Winner Best Director, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor

• TiSFF, THESS INTERNATIONAL SHORT FILM FESTIVAL THESSALONIKI Greece November 20, 2017 Official Selection

• Indian Peacock International Film Festival Barasat India October 5, 2017 Official Selection

• Marina del Rey Film Festival® Marina del Rey United States October 7, 2017 Official Selection

• Alexandria Film Festival Alexandria United States November 10, 2017 Official Selection

• Goa Short Film Festival Kothrud Pune, Maharashtra India October 28, 2017 Official Selection

• London X4 - Seasonal Short Film Festival London United Kingdom Honourable Mention

• Woodengate Film Festival Baia Mare, Maramures Romania October 25, 2017 Winner Best Actor, Silver Award Best Director

• Oslo Independent Film Festival Oslo Norway November 25, 2017 Winner Best Short Film

• Ouchy Film Awards Ouchy Film Awards Switzerland October 30, 2017 Official Selection

• West Texas Film Festival Odessa, Texas United States November 8, 2017 Official Selection

• Digital Griffix Online Film Festival Montreal, Quebec Canada November 1, 2017 Official Selection

• PickurFlick Indie Film Festival Gurgaon, Haryana India December 16, 2017 Official Selection

• Miami Independent Film Festival Miami Beach, Florida United States November 5, 2017 Official Selection

• Accolade Global Film Competition La Jolla, CA United States November 28, 2017 Award of Excellence - Director, Actor, Supporting Actor, Cinematography

• Canada Shorts - Canadian & International Short Film Fest. Canada December 9, 2017 Awards of Excellence

• Culver City Film Festival® Marina del Rey, CA United States December 5, 2017 Official Selection

• Headline International Film Festival —Canada— Canada December 23, 2017 Awards of Excellence

• LA Shorts Awards Los Angeles United States December 16, 2017 Bronze Award

• Gold Movie Awards Goddess Nike London United Kingdom November 16, 2017 Best Of The Month, Best Cinematography, Best Short

• Best Shorts Competition La Jolla, CA United States December 12, 2017 Award of Excellence

• Chandler International Film Festival Chandler, AZ United States January 12, 2018 Official Selection

• Catharsis International Film Festival Beerse Belgium February 28, 2018 Official Selection

• RedCornerFestival January 4, 2018 Winner

• Snowdance Film Awards Los Angeles United States January 13, 2018 Best Narrative Short, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress

• Global Film Festival Awards Los Angeles, CA United States November 30, 2017 Best Original Story

• Eurasia International Monthly Film Festival Moscow Russian Federation January 27, 2018 Semi - Finalist

• Global Motion Picture Awards February 14, 2018 Best Cinematography

• The Norwegian International Seagull Shortfilm Festival Sveio Norway February 16, 2018 Official Selection

• Falcon International Film Festival London United Kingdom March 27, 2018 Official Selection

• Hollywood Screenings Film Festival Hollywood, CA United States Semi - Finalist

• Oniros Film Awards Aosta Italy Best Cinematography

• AWORD SHORT INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL Los Angeles, CA United States October 13, 2017 Best Short

• Paragon Film Festival Los Angeles CA United States October 20, 2017 Official Selection

• BANGKOKTHAI INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL Bangkok Thailand October 15, 2017 Official Selection