KRISHA
LOGLINE A holiday celebration turns ugly when a troubled woman returns to the family she abandoned years ago, in an attempt to prove that she has changed. SYNOPSIS Following a prolonged battle with addiction and self-desctruction, Krisha, the black sheep of the family she abandoned, returns for a holiday celebration. But what begins as a moving testament to the family s capacity to forgive soon spirals into a deluge of emotional bloodletting, as old wounds are torn open, and resentments are laid bare. Krisha is expanded from the award-winning short film of the same name, which was awarded Special Jury Recognition at South By Southwest (SXSW) 2014. PRESS Exhilarating (...) a stunning central performance. THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER Intimate and unnerving (...) a ferociously impressive feature debut. VARIETY A sharp breath with no exhale; shot and paced like a thriller. INDIEWIRE An emotional gut punch of a film. VANITY FAIR
DIRECTOR S NOTE This film actually started back in the summer of 2012, when I was trying to make my first feature. It turned out that I had overestimated the amount of resources and support available to me, and I wouldn t be able to pull off what I had envisioned. It was the worst week of my life. Ironically, I had a nervous breakdown, similar to the main character in the film. I took the material we shot for that feature and spent a year rethinking and editing everything into a short film. I ended up being really proud of it, and it also had some success. After really thinking about it, I knew in my heart that I wasn t done with the story. I always wanted to be as ambitious as I could and to take this character very seriously. I wanted to go on this journey with her. In the late summer of 2014, we were in production for the new feature version of Krisha. In my mind, I was getting one more chance to make it right. This time, the shoot was the complete opposite experience for me. Looking back on it, I think it was one of the best few weeks of my life. An amazing group of people came together to give it their all. It was what movie making should be about like-minded, creative people collaborating to make something special. There is something beautiful about a group of people that come together as a family and put everything they have into a dream. If that dream turns out to be something special, then it s even more rewarding. -
A CONVERSATION WITH TREY EDWARD SHULTS What was your inspiration for Krisha? An incident occurred at one of our family holidays that was somewhat similar to the way Krisha plays out. This incident, along with other matters from my life and other family members lives, served as the main inspiration for the film. At the time, it was where I was creatively, and Krisha was the kind of film I wanted to make. How did the feature get off the ground in such a short time after last year s premiere of the short? We were all hungry to make another film and didn t want to sit around waiting for the perfect investment opportunity. We set a date and goal: Go back to SXSW next year with a feature film. Whiplash was very inspirational to me, and I thought, That s a film that s way bigger than ours, so it has to be even easier for us to make a feature in a year. When you have a certain kind of drive and a realistic goal, you can achieve a lot. We had an independent film budget, half the cast is played by family members, and we shot the film in my parents house. So, it was a combination of being ambitious but realistic. I knew in my gut that I could take what I learned from the short film, apply it, and then make a great feature very quickly. The longer we were to wait, the less likely the feature was to actually happen. We had to take this wave of support the short was getting and ride it. Did you find it difficult to write about the themes that exist in this film? Not at all. Whenever I write, it s about personal stuff, and it often flows out of me. For Krisha, I just tried to tell the story as honestly as I could. I never really approached it in an intellectual way. I never said, Here are the themes I m going to tackle. I put things from my family into it, as well as other parts of my life. To me, the heart of the film is about someone who is at war with their own self someone who desperately wants to be loved, but doesn t love herself yet. There are themes of love, hate, family, motherhood, and addiction, but I wanted them to all come out organically from the story we told. How did you cast the film? First, we brought everyone back from the short film. The lead role, Krisha, is my aunt, whose actual name is Krisha. In the film, my mom and grandmother are sister and mom to Krisha, as they are in real life. The rest of the cast is comprised of amazing actors who happen to be great friends of mine, though I met Bill Wise and Chris Doubek specifically for the movie. The whole cast felt like a real family. It was beautiful.
How long was the shoot? Just one week I think it was actually 8 days of shooting, and 1 extra day of rehearsing. We have a lot of long takes in the film, so I wanted one full day to rehearse with a few actors, but mainly, I needed that day to rehearse with the camera and sound crews. I thought if we could rehearse those long takes and build confidence from the technical side, then we d be able to knock those shots out. What was it like directing your aunt in the lead role of your first feature film? It was fantastic. Krisha is an amazing actress, and we ve both been able to witness each other grow over the years. Krisha has a background in theater and her inclination is to go a little bigger, so on some occasions, I just had to be there to tell her to take it down a notch. Stylistically, what were you trying to achieve in how the film was shot and edited? Everything we did was character motivated, so that we could put the audience in Krisha s state of mind. The first half of the film is in a 1:85 aspect ratio with long takes and wide lenses. I wanted to feel how Krisha did, in the moment of everything, and I wanted these wide lenses to really feel the house, the family, and the life Krisha could ve had. As the film progresses, it switches to a 2:35 aspect ratio, and finally a 1:33 aspect ratio to give an effect of the walls closing in on Krisha. By the very end of the film, we were on very claustrophobic tight lenses, in this smaller aspect ratio, and dove right into Krisha s own subjective reality. I approached the editing the same way as the visuals to make everything from Krisha s point of view, as we go on this journey with her. The film fluctuates between long takes with no cutting at all, to montages that are hopefully overwhelming at times. By the end, the viewer is in Krisha s subjective state, so a lot of things happening may not actually be occurring, but just going on in Krisha s head. What did you want from the score of the film? The score also echoes Krisha s point of view. Brian McOmber composed the score, and I was very involved. I wanted the film to feel epic for Krisha, and the score was instrumental in achieving that. The score is really unique and weird, yet very cohesive as it shifts and progresses through the day to represent Krisha s increasingly deteriorating state.
CAST BIOGR APHIES KRISHA Krisha is an old, easy-going hippie but the anxiety is beginning to show. Inside, she remains tense. Krisha is a beautiful enigma. She believes she is finally ready to see her family after a 10-plus year absence. Krisha has put in the work, and in her mind, truly changed for the better. She is ready to prove it. The tragedy of Krisha s own heart is not enough to break her but may be enough to break those around her. KRISHA FAIRCHILD Krisha, (2015), Krisha (short), (2014), The Killing of John Lennon, Andrew Piddington (2006), Highway, James Cox (2002) ROBYN Robyn is the most stable and reliable person in the family. Nothing matters more to her than her loved ones, and she is willing to do anything for them. The family get-togethers always take place at Robyn s, and they always run smoothly. But this year, she s letting Krisha return. Robyn will always have a place in her heart for Krisha, but she knows the pain Krisha once caused. ROBYN FAIRCHILD Krisha, (2015), Krisha (short), (2014) DOYLE Doyle is the wild card he is a lovable bastard, and always the biggest personality in the room. He is a best friend, an asshole, but usually both. He doesn t put up with any bullshit. He calls it like he sees it. Doyle sees a lot of himself in Krisha which only makes him question whether Krisha really is ready to see her family again. BILL WISE Results, Andrew Bujalski (2015), Pangea, Malcolm Murray (2015), The Samaritans (short), John E. Bryant (2015), Krisha, Trey Edward Shults (2015), Boyhood, Richard Linklater (2014), Computer Chess, Andrew Bujalski (2013), Waking Life, Richard Linklater (2001) T R E Y E D W A R D S H U LT S W R I T E R, D I R E C TO R, E D I TO R, P R O D U C E R was born in Houston, Texas, in 1988. His first foray into the film industry was on Terrence Malick s upcoming film, Voyage of Time. It was on that film where he worked in the camera department as a film loader. From there, he interned on Malick s The Tree of Life, and then as the camera department production assistant on Untitled Terrence Malick Project. Shults short film, Krisha, premiered at SXSW in 2014 in the Narrative Shorts category, where it was awarded Special Jury Recognition for Cinematography. The short film went on to play many other film festivals, including the HollyShorts Film Festival, where it won the award for Best Narrative Short. In the summer of 2014, he completed the feature version of Krisha. Krisha is Shults first feature film.
INTERNATIONAL SALES CAST CREW VISIT FILMS 173 Richardson Street Brooklyn, NY 11222 Office: +1-718-312-8210 info@visitfilms.com Cannes Office Lerins S8 CANNES PUBLICITY BRIGADE 548 W. 28th Street Suite #332-334 New York, NY 10001 Office: +1-917-551-5855 info@brigademarketing.com Krisha Krisha Fairchild Robyn Robyn Fairchild Doyle Bill Wise Dr. Becker Chris Doubek Olivia Olivia Grace Applegate Alex Alex Dobrenko Chase Chase Joliet Trey TECH SPECS Run Time: 83 min Aspect Ratio: 1:85 2:35 1:33 Shooting Format: HD Sound: 5.1 Country: USA Language: English Production Company: Hoody Boy Productions Writer / Director Producers Executive Producers Cinematography Editor Original Score Sound Design Justin R. Chan Wilson Smith Chase Joliet Jonathan R. Chan JP Castel Drew Daniels Brian McOmber Tim Rakoczy