Ikkuna News: Tolerance is the ability or willingness to accept something, in particular the existence of opinions or behavior that one does not necessarily agree with. When such a topic meets art, one can expect a special outcome.
Susanne Hedman, a director who screens films in film festivals and Martin Karlsson, also a film director, thought of working on a new and inspiring project.
It started with applying for funding from the culture foundation, Karlsson says.
– The application was accepted and thus began the journey. I am composing music and writing the song for the project, says Erik Sjöholm, a musician from Ostrobothnia.
Interesting topic. The topic in itself is interesting and at the same time abstract.
That is what art projects are about. There is a clear message to the audience, yet not so easy to find.
– Instead of having fear fighting the unknown, one needs to embrace the fear with open arms and love the unknown. This is what we bring to the conversation, says Sjöholm.
Isabell Ström, a theatre artist and a graduate from Novia Physical Theatre and Arts, will be doing the choreography for the movie. She is also singing alongside Erik as the female lead.
– The people involved are trying to bring the message of tolerance of all kind in a short movie format. It will be a music video about three to five minutes in length.
Project realization. It is very hard to express tolerance and even harder to have an opinion about it.
The team plans to go to schools and youth centers to perform the song and get feedback. They plan to perform in companies too if they get the permission.
– The lyrics for the project have come a long way. We started with a few set of lines which kept evolving and changing as the project went forward, says Sjöholm.
The challenge would be in convincing the people with the message. The artists point out that everyone of us have prejudices no matter how open we are.
– They are hard to talk about. The challenge to portray this in a movie is not as simple as thought.
The team is hopeful of finishing filming by September this year and the whole project by November. They have plans of showing the movie in film festivals apart from performances. It will also be available online.
Rathan Kumar
