A Very Friendly Search Party
short film
A Very Friendly Search Party is a comedic short film about two friends, one night, and an accidentally stolen dead dog.
The film is my funny little love letter to Malmö—from fatally beige dinner parties to underground queer raves, to scooter mishaps and dead phones, to the bond between our two misfit bisexual heroes.
The premise is based on an urban legend that was told to me as real gossip in high school. While I love comedy, this project was also a chance to portray a part of Sweden that feels familiar to so many of us but that we never get to see on screen: queer people of color interacting with each other without centering trauma. In other words: people just getting to be people.
In this case: the people are also living out a hellish night due to some stranger than fiction events. (But hey, who among us hasn’t, am I right?)
This project was selected and funded by Film i Skåne’s Talent to Watch Program in 2022. The project is currently in post-production.
Written, directed, and produced by C. Grace Chang
Starring: Dilan Apak as Meryem, Summer Masuda as Kat, Per Leyonmarck as Oscar
Financed by Svensk Filminstitutet, Film i Skåne, Filmcentrum Syd, BoostHBG.
Special thanks to Flaskpost Film, Alta Art Space, Celsius Projects, Hummusson, Krua Thai, Tamnack Thai, Francis Patrick Brady, Ranya Asadi, and the Thoreson family.
CREDITS:
Writer/Director: C. Grace Chang
Producers: Mónica Hernández Rejón, C. Grace Chang
Executive Producers: Hussain Currimbhoy, Louis Leung, Fredrik Rönnqvist
Unit Production Manager: Eger Tiitus
Cinematographer: Fredrik Rönnqvist
Gaffer: Michel Montiel
Sound Recording: Sebastian Waga
Set Designers: Aimé Dabaddie, Jon Aagaard Gao
Wardrobe: Mary-Anne Buyondo
Hair & Makeup: Linda Norrman
1st Assistant Director: Louis Leung
2nd Assistant Director: Shanise Maxwell
Lighting Assistant: Elena Bernal Piñeiro
Sound Assistant: Filip Vester
1st Camera Assistant: Simon Öhlund, Konrad Welinder
2nd Camera Assistants: Sara Forghani-Eklund, Hannes Bjerkén, Thea Lindström
Runners: Gustav Thoreson, Herman Rasmusson
MUSIC by Aramis Silvereke, Elvin Matz, Alexander Westlund
FULL CAST:
Dilan Apak as Meryem
Summer Masuda as Kat
Per Leyonmarck as Oscar
Catherine Brenner
Sakarias Eriksson
Isak Gustafsson
Sabrina Sutikno
Ranya Asadi
Aimé Dabaddie
Corrado di Lorenzo
Yahia Saleh
Javi Lopez
Hadil Aladin
Ninnie Yeo
Jon Gao
Maria Nikoli
Amanda Filipsson
Elna Elmståhl
Li Brun
Jo Jampanaya
Rrezarta Rama
Alex Härnqvist