Research & Development in Oslo -- King of Norway

King of Norway is a deeply personal story exploring estrangement, the cost of return, and unbreakable love. This is not a story about Norway from the outside — it is a story made from inside a culture I have been in the long process of reclaiming. My Norwegian lineage was interrupted when my dad was injured in an accident as a child. After he passed in 2011 from complications, I made a short film about it with the support of kind folks like you and Fractured Atlas.

The short (see above if you fancy a peep) was shot as proof-of-concept, screened at festivals worldwide, won "Best Short" at the Napa Valley Film Festival, and earned cinematographer Van Nessa Manlunas an Emerging Cinematography Award from the Guild. The feature script followed. Film Independent selected me for their Directing Lab, where I was mentored by Catherine Hardwicke. The New Cinema Network at Rome's MIA Mercato Co-Production Market supported the project, and AFI — my DWW+ alma mater — selected the script for their prestigious alumni reading series.

The film had real momentum when the pandemic brought everything to a halt — heartbreaking, but in hindsight a necessary period of deeper gestation. I know now what was missing: I was still too disconnected from Norway, and as a result, from the film's core. Being on the ground there — revising the draft, building the right team — is what was always needed, and what is now possible.

I'm grateful to share that I've been accepted to Oslo University's Norwegian language intensive, with a partial scholarship. With your support, I'll live and work in Oslo for all of June and July — studying the language, immersing in the culture, and building relationships with Norwegian producers, actors, and collaborators — to return and shoot in summer 2027. 

While this film is deeply personal, it is also universal. Themes of estrangement, loss, and love are ones everyone carries — I witnessed this firsthand when people approached me after screenings of the short, sharing how cathartic the story had been. I make films because they helped me feel less alone during hard times. My hope is that this one does the same. 

I know that none of this would be possible without the generosity of people like you, and I am deeply grateful for your consideration and any support.