Who wants to be a grown up?

One of the first things you should know about writer/director Nini Dahl Kjeldner is that she has written a script entitled Road Rage: The Musical. I know, right? I’m pretty sure you agree that we all need this film in our life.

The second thing you should know about Nini is that her short film Shhh! is a stunning portrayal of loss, love and missed opportunities. Didn't see that coming did you? A filmmaker with a point to make, but determined not to take life too seriously, readers, please let me introduce you to Nini Dahl Kjeldner.

Given her penchant for a good musical, it only seems right for us to start at the very beginning of Nini’s story. Born and raised in Norway, she had her first taste of the showbiz world when a star of children’s television and their yellow bird puppet visited her kindergarten. Coincidentally this led to Nini’s first experience of death. Creeping up to peek inside the box where the bird was kept, she found it lying lifelessly inside. Don’t worry though, she doesn’t seem too scarred by the whole experience and this was when I realised that Nini finds the humorous side of pretty much everything. (I know - how healthy, right?) If we fast forward through her childhood, Nini then heads to theatre school to study acting and by her own admission, is a “terrible actress”. I wonder if she’s being sweetly self deprecating but she laughs and insists that, no she really wasn’t good. She does admit though that she was “really good at telling others what to do… but that light didn’t go off”. If it had, would she have come to Directing quicker? We’ll never know. Instead, Nini felt it was time to try and be a ‘grown up’ so she trained and became an Architect. Which is definitely, proper grown up. After qualifying and working in New York for a period, Nini felt the tug back towards film and her creative voice. She describes it quite simply, “I thought architecture was the most sensible thing to do in the creative world, but I had a deep need to find out who we are, what things we do and why we do them. Architecture is more surfaced based”. So, turning thirty, Nini moved back to Norway and began studying for a BA in directing. Her new path was set and the writer/director was born.

Jump ahead to today and Nini is based in London and (amongst other things) has made the powerful short film Shhh! As we chat over a glass of wine in the Everyman on Baker Street, Nini’s entrenched sense of humour is clear and she freely admits ”I struggle to say anything very serious or grown up”. It’s interesting then that her first funded short film (Shhh!) is anything but a comedy.

Shhh! packs a huge amount into its succinct 11 minute run time. Embracing love and loss, a workaholic woman struggles to switch off from the office when she is on holiday with her girlfriend. When she starts to suffer the beginnings of a stroke, hallucinations and vivid dreams emerge, but is it too late for her to change? I have to be honest, I watched a lot of short films last year (around 260 if you’re interested) and Shhh! stands strong in my top five. It is beautifully shot, with stunning performances from Ingvild Holthe Bygdnes and Camilla Spidsøe but above all it conveys a truth about life that many films miss. I was intrigued to find out what led Nini to telling a story about two people in love and facing life's biggest fear. Like many writers, she explains that the story came from a culmination of experiences at the time (not least attending a medical emergency at the Opera where she worked as an usherette). She also tells me there was also a certain degree of strategy at play. Having not initially secured funding for the aforementioned Road Rage: The Musical, Nini was determined to write something that would fit the criteria for funding from the Norwegian Film Institute (NFI). Laughing she tells me she decided she was “gonna make a film that it’s so easy to say yes too, they can't say no’. Sounds like a good strategy, but did she find it easy to work within that sort of framework? Nini pauses before admitting that her Architectural background definitely prepared her for working within certain margins and restrictions. It’s an important quality to have. We all have to work within some form of boundaries, so to address this early on and use it to your advantage is (in my opinion) priceless.

Ultimately then, was she happy with the outcome? She nods, adding “I felt that I evolved as a storyteller”. Audiences are definitely agreeing, as the film has been welcomed into Festivals from London to lndia, Costa Rica and Greece. It’s no surprise to me that the film has reached such diverse audiences, as the themes transcend boundaries. The core story is one that we can all relate to regardless of age, gender, sexuality or culture. It’s clear that this universal appeal is also important to Nini, “Trying to say something about life that can resonate with other people is one of the things I’m most proud about”. And so she should be. Whilst Nini certainly doesn’t want to take life too seriously, she is serious about the stories she wants to tell and the lines she wants to challenge. Yes, Shhh! is a story with LGBTQI+ characters, but the story is not about them being LGBTQI+. I asked Nini about this and she told me that she wanted to “talk about life and take away sexuality” She continues, “I wanted to picture the world for my characters, as it should be”. This is about as serious as Nini has been so far, until a smile creeps across her face and she ends with laughter, “that’s my political activism. You shouldn't have to make films solely about being a minority”. I can’t help but feel if we all had more conversations like this then we could make larger strides in diverse representation.

With Shhh! in the can and now living in a post Brexit London, I wonder what Nini’s next challenge is? She’s currently embarked on a programme to write a feature script within three months and plans to head to the Met Film School to study animation. More than once during the time we spend talking, Nini reflects that her life plans haven’t followed the linear path she initially thought they would. “It is what it is...you plan but then something happens and there is nothing you can do about it. Things can change and they change so fast”. So what about more short films? She reassures me that there are definitely more shorts to come. “I love making short films. I realised I can do that just for me and it doesn't have to be something you have to try and go somewhere with. I don’t have to be on that crazy business wagon.”

The more we chat, the more relaxed Nini becomes. I get it. It’s hard to sit with a perfect stranger and talk about yourself for hours. (I’m also sure there’s plenty of people for which that would be a dream). I’m intrigued though to find out a little more about Nini’s use of comedy in her life and work. She nods, “I know my short film is very serious but my natural voice is more comedic..what I’ve learnt from the more serious film is to connect with the more painful things about being human and bring them in...so it’s not so superficial. Comedy is great when you use it to tell stories you couldn’t tell any other way.” In life Nini finds that the worse things get, the more amusing she finds them. So is humour a cultural trait then? She smiles, “all Norwegians take pride in being the country that is closest to the English humour, then I moved to Denmark and they were like, no, we are the closest to English humour!” In terms of her storytelling will some of this humour make it into Road Rage: The Musical? She assures me it will, along with female empowerment and amazing driving scenes. ( If anyone knows anyone who wants to finance a girl power, fast paced, road movie/musical short, now’s your chance).

Over the course of the evening chatting with Nini, I’ve learnt a lot, so let’s finish with two pieces of wisdom from her: Number one, “If you want to meet a Norwegian, go to the Scandinavian Kitchen” and number two, “If Paris Hilton making a lasagne on YouTube can break the internet, then I can certainly make a film and find an audience.” (If you haven’t seen the Hilton video, check it out. I did and I have no words. None. Apart from gloves). But sorry, back to Nini to sum things up and offer a little encouragement for us all, “Things are always changing, so do what you want to do and hopefully there will be someone saying, I quite like that.”

(postscript - During our chat Nini did threaten that “after Brexit I’m gonna take all the cinnamon away”, so if you can’t find any, I’m just letting you know the facts)

(post, postscript - Shhh! Has just been accepted in the Leeds Queer Film Festival. If you’re headed to the festival, be sure to check the film out!)

Shhh! (11 minutes, 2019)

Written & Directed by: Nini Dahl Kjeldner

Produced by: Christian Schüssler

Starring: Ingvild Holthe Bygdnes & Camilla Spidsøe

Nini Dahl Kjeldner on Instagram @nini_kjeldner