Romance inspired by “Call Me by your Name” and “Before Sunrise” with a comedic touch of “Clerks”.

LOGLINE:

Two boys meet in a peculiar, small city and spend one day together during summer. Their accidental meeting was meant to be a quick hookup, yet ends up being a journey of two lost boys, who learn how to be vulnerable and sensitive to each other.

SUMMARY:

“Two Boys and the Wicker Giraffe” is a short film about two boys, who spend together an extraordinary day and night.

Janek is an indecisive, melancholic university graduate, without any romantic or sexual experience. Sebastian is a colorful twink, frustrated with his dating life, full of one-night stands and shady men.

Instead of a beautiful summer in Italy or a nostalgic night in Vienna, the setting of this romance is a sad-ugly workers' estate in a small city, somewhere in Northern Poland, where such peculiar things as the biggest wicker-giraffe monument in the world could be found.

It’s a story of a first love that happens between two people in the most unexpected place possible. It's a quirky and tender in form. It’s an impossible meeting of people who were not meant to be together in given circumstances, yet they learn what it means to love and to be loved for the first time.

BACKGROUND: 

The story is directly inspired by the director's personal experience, which he refers to as “Call me by your Chełm” (Chełm sounds in Polish similar to English "name" as in the "Call me by Your Name") - Chełm is an ugly city district in Gdańsk - a city in northern Poland, where the director spent a few weeks in the company of his first love. The wicker giraffe is also real and it is located in his home-town near Chełm. Just as "Call Me by Your Name" combined some of the most beautiful places from a few different Italian cities, as one scenery, our film will do the same, but in a peculiar and semi-ugly Poland. You can see the Chełm's magic below:

When it comes to the film inspirations: From "Before Sunrise" (Richard Linklater, 1995)  I'm taking the inspiration when it comes to story structure which takes place during one day. From "Call Me by Your Name" (Luca Guadagnino, 2017) I'm inspired by portraits of two main characters. And at last, from the "Clerks" by Kevin Smith, I'm inspired by the form and the way, the world is presented in a unique, ironic way.

“My story didn’t have a happy ending, yet left me with a lot of warm and funny memories, for which I’ll be forever grateful. And I want to make a film strictly about those first love experiences, which are cringe, yet positive. I want to tell, that it is okay to fail in love, especially the first time. The first love is a moment where you’re able to learn much about yourself and be recognized in the eyes of another person as a similar vulnerable, weirdo. And I believe it is important to be with people with whom, we can be vulnerable weirdos” - Michał Wasilewski

What We Need & What You Get:

I’m experienced with making independent filmmaking on a small budget, yet I desire to make this film in the most professional and comfortable conditions there are, to achieve the highest possible quality. Unfortunately, all alone I'm not capable of hiring and paying all of the creative talents that I've met over the years. To do the film right, I need help to collect the budget for:

• Inviting to the project my dream Crew: talented DOP, set decorators, gaffers, a script doctor, and professional actors. 
• Rental of professional camera and lighting equipment
• Renting the locations
• Transport and logistic costs, catering (the most important part of the film set!)

1 PLN is an equivalent of 0.23 Euro

The Impact and Risks & Challenges

• I don't want to make another sad, gay movie, which you can see dozens of at the film festivals. I want to make a universal story about two people falling in love, with its unique and warm charm. It's not a story about coming out, toxic parents, or problems with being gay. Those themes might be present in a movie in a subtle way, yet the main focus is on the first experience of falling in love, and the positive, yet cringe aspects of that. 
• The film will be in Polish language, to keep it organic and natural, but it will be submitted to many major film festivals all over the world.
• The shooting period was meant to be the end of this summer, but it will probably be the spring of 2025 year. In that scenario, the movie would be completed by the end of the 2025 year, but its release might be delayed due to some creative processes even to 2026.
• I've already made two short films and a few music videos. My first film "Endgame" was selected to a dozen film festivals, and was a finalist at the "Next Generation Indie Short Film Awards 2023", at the same gala where the famous director, Rian Johnson was given a special award for his unique creative style. My second movie "The Border Game" is just starting its festival career, and was already selected for a film festival in Poland, in less than a month after being finished.

It is important to me, to finish things that I've started, and this will be my most personal and complex project. 

You can see Endgame and my director's showreel in the section below.

ABOUT ME:

Michał Wasilewski (born in 1996), I have a master's degree in Film Studies at the University of Gdańsk. I've done multiple film courses like Speaker's Avenue acting/directing workshop with Jagoda Szelc ("Monument", "Tower. A Bright Day"), a screenwriting masterclass workshop with Marcin Ciastoń (screenwriting award at the Polish Film Festival in Gdynia for the movie "Operation Hyacinth"), and directing courses both on a basic and advance level with the director Agnieszka Smoczyńska ("The Lure", "Silent Twins") through the Film Spring Open foundation.