How KHALID came to Lift-Off
Jacob Pilgaard has been on Lift-Off’s radar from the start of 2018 when his film Behold Such Clown received an official selection at Manchester Lift-Off 2018. We research a little more into Jacob filmmaking background and quickly saw he had worked on other Danish production which had also been selected to screen with Lift-Off.
About the project
KHALID is about a man who dreams of becoming a police officer but has to settle working as a bouncer when one night he stumbles upon a girl in need of help. And at the same time, he must navigate in a criminal environment and keep his temper under control.
Synopsis: This story is about the bouncer Khalid, a 2nd generation Arabic immigrant trying to find his place in the world. Khalid’s drive is justice – he really believes in helping people. Even his little brother, Carlos, the leader of a criminal gang, has a certain code. Having chosen different paths in life, still the brothers are united in their grief over their younger sister, Jannah, who was raped and killed a few years ago. We are also introduced to the two cops, Morten and Morten, who know Khalid very well. Through the Morten’s we find out that Khalid has tried to become a cop but was rejected due to his past thus destroying his hope of really being able to do good.
During the night Khalid first rescues a very drunk girl from a sexual predator, just barely controlling himself. Later on he has to protect another young girl, Pernille, from being beat up by her mean ex-boyfriend Chris and some of his friends. When they have been chased of, Khalid promises Pernille that she will be alright, that everything will be fine. However, a few hours later the Morten’s come back to the club to tell Khalid that Pernille is in the hospital, in a very bad shape. Khalid rushes to the hospital only to find Pernille completely beaten up by Chris and his friends. The sight of this fragile girl and her gaze when she whispers that he promised she would be fine results in Khalid finally gives in to his anger. Having learned the location of Chris and the others he seeks them out and completely destroys them leaving them all behind in a bloody mess. Eventually he returns to the hospital and waits for news about Pernille’s condition.
The Writer & Director
Having finished the 18Frames film school in Funen as a screenwriter Jacob Thomas Pilgaard founded Willow Film in the spring of 2016. The first production, Behold, such clown, went on being selected for over 50 international film festivals winning 34 awards, including best short at the Manchester Lift-Off festival in 2018. The follow-up, The Casting of an innocent woman has so far won 16 awards and has among others been selected for the Motovun Film Festival and Odense International Film Festival. The next film, Khalid, is currently in pre-production and is a venture into a more gritty and violent universe based on true events. Also in development is the political thriller feature Only the dead.
The Producer
Signe Fejer is a Danish short film producer placed on Funen, where she grew up and still lives. She is deeply founded in the filmmaking society and the productions here, and her latest short film THE CASTING OF AN INNOCENT WOMAN (2018) has won several awards from various festivals and is now selected for competition at OFF - Odense International Film Festival. She is currently finishing a BA in Media Science and Script Development and has just returned from the pitching forum at Filmfestivalen Grimstad in Norway, where she pitched KHALID. Signe has participated in producer-programs at Odense Film Workshop, where she met Jacob two years ago and is now a producer at Willow Film, she is also a part of the film collective Super8.
