LAST NIGHT OF THE YEAR
Ivana Hucíková
Slovakia
An infamous former reality-TV celebrity, who has fallen from grace and hit rock bottom, gets a chance to discover who she really is.
SYNOPSIS
Nora, a disgraced former reality-TV celebrity in her 60s, starts working as a taxi driver to pay off her debts. Every night, she puts on a lavish fur coat, an eccentric persona and drives random people around. Everybody immediately recognises her. But when she looks into the rear-view mirror, she doesn’t recognise the woman looking back at her. Over the course of a very cold New Year’s Eve, the wild and challenging encounters in her taxi start to take a toll on her. Will the morning allow Nora a glimpse behind her impenetrable armour to see who she really is?
INTENTION
The main character of Nora is inspired by a real-life person: Nora Mojsejová, a reality-TV celebrity whom everyone in Slovakia knows. Gaining recognition in the early 2000s mostly because of her over-the-top lifestyle, unbothered personality and unfiltered language, she is both loved and hated by many. I remember her in her prime and I witnessed her fall from grace. I’ve always been drawn to stories of people who don’t feel like they belong and as someone who has experienced these feelings myself, Nora’s story resonates with me on a personal level. With this short film, I’m imagining her life 20 years after her reality-TV stardom. Alone but undefeated, she wants to get back up on her feet again. But she slowly starts to understand that Nora is really just a persona, an armour for her. Scared to discover what’s really inside, she puts on her mask every night and plays her part. The visual style is very much inspired by the neo-noir genre. The city in which Nora drives endlessly resembles a labyrinth, a place (both physical and mental) that one can’t seem to escape. Stuck in her old taxi during this seemingly never-ending night, it resembles an experience similar to that of purgatory.
DIRECTOR
Ivana Hucíkova
Ivana Hucíková is a film director from Slovakia. She was a Fellow of the UnionDocs Collaborative Studio in Brooklyn, where she co-directed the award-winning short documentary film Into My Life (Tribeca, HotDocs, POV shorts). She is currently working on her PhD in Documentary Film and developing new projects as a freelance director.
PRODUCER
Monika Kraft
Monika Kraft is a Czech producer who runs the creative production company NO CAP Collective. Her portfolio consists of commercials and internationally acclaimed collaborations.
COPRODUCER
Michala Cellerová
Michala Cellerová is an emerging producer, who brings in experience of strategic and financial thinking based on her long-term agency background. She is complementing Monika Kraft as a co-producer on Last Night of the Year.
Genre
Neo-noir drama
Length
30 min
Language
Slovak
Shooting location
Slovakia
Production company
NO CAP Collective (Slovakia)
Estimated budget
€250.000
Secured funding
Own investment - €10.000
Looking for
Coproducers, Financing, Partners