What This Is

SYNOPSIS: A brother and a sister, Anders and Robin, moves back to their parents old house where they lived as children, to start a new life. Their parents died when they were kids and they haven’t been back since then. Under their uncle’s protection the house has remained almost exactly the same as it were, so for the siblings it’s like stepping back into a lost time. They have hardly been there for a week before they find themselves in the middle of an emerging zombie apocalypse and now have to fight their way out of the house, taking on both zombies and the ghosts of their own memories. The zombies are very real physical threats to them, but also be serve as metaphors for their childhood traumas.

Last year, in 2022, we finally started production on this project, which we have cradled for over 10 years. We finally started shooting the feature film Sombi together with a small but talented crew. It was the biggest project we had done before, but thanks to our crew’s dedication we managed to finish the extremly big task of shooting everything we had set out to shoot in the 14 days we had. It was one of the most humbling experiences of my life, but it’s funny how at the end of something like that, all that remains are the happy memories.

As of now, we have shot about 90% of the movie and are gearing up for the final stretch. This is the last chance we have at that location, so we have to get everyhthing we need now. We are positive that this will be possible and every little contribution you could give, every share and every engagement with this campaign will help getting us there!

An Idea 10 Years in the Making

The idea for “SOMBI” came to us about 10 years ago and was at that time just two people who would end up in a zombie apocalypse, fight a little and then escape. The core of that is still in the movie – two siblings, none of them properly equipped to fight zombies (though one a little better than the other), their interactions with each other make it funny, and it all takes place in this wonderful location that we have – an 1800’s house in the Swedish countryside. What’s been slowly building during these 10 years is the whole story around it.

Anders, Ztefan and I, Simon, are friends from high school and always had a passion for creating art, film or otherwise. After graduating we have all been moving around and rarely stayed in the same area as eachother for extended periods of time. We have always made sure to meet up when we can and the talks of future projects have always been there, and the project that never left us was this – “Sombi”, the zombie movie. When we finally felt ready to start the process of actually making this movie sometime in 2018, the idea had grown into a feature film with a lot more depth than originally planned.

This movie is a typical indie movie in every way, and as such we have had to be creative with what we’ve already got. The movie is very much built on the wonderful location that we have, the 1800’s house with the little pond and the big old trees surrounding it, and it has influenced a lot of the creative decisions both concerning the story and the techniques used to bring it to life. As I often find it does, all pieces came together in the end to create a wonderful little story about two siblings’ fight for survival that is equal parts emotional drama and pure, bloody entertainment.

This project has come to mean a lot to us, and my hope is that your contribution will be the final piece that allows us to bring this project home. We are so close to finishing the shoot, and we are immensely thankful to everyone who’s contributed thus far. Down below you can read about who we are and what we have done so far, as well as what we intend to do with the money you contribute.

What We Have Done So Far

Last year we finished the daunting task of shooting most of the script, leaving only a few things we deemed could not be done at the same time due to limited resources and time. We all have other occupations, so to gather even for the 14 days we had was hard enough. Adding more would not have been possible. We still decided to shoot as much as we could to make as much as possible with the time we had, and that we did. We started before the sun went up and didn’t stop until it went down. It was exhausting to say the least, but we got it done and finished with almost 12 hours of material.

Martin, our special effects makeup artist, and his assistant Michelle, made 15 zombies for the shoot. Sara and Anders, our lead actors, did many dramatic and funny scenes, as well as several fights, coreographed by our stunt coordinator, Daniel. Acting as some of the zombies we had a few professional stuntmen and -women too to really sell the action.

Since then, in addition to preparing for this year’s finilizing shooting block, we have worked on the edit. We have also started to experiment with sounds for the zombies and we believe we have a formula to make them really stand out in the sea of zombie movies. It takes time of course, since we do most of the post production ourselves as of now, but it looks promising!

What We Will Do With the Money You Contribute

The money will first of all secure the comeback of our amazing crew from last time, which is our biggest priority since they all were the reason that we managed to complete the shoot last time. At least half of the money will go towards their pay, housing and travels. In addition to the ones returning we are recruiting a few new faces, some as extras and one in a special role.

We will also be looking for a car that we can use as a postal service car. It is for a crucial scene in the beginning of the movie and we want it looking good. The Swedish postal service has proven difficult to work with, so we will now be looking for our own custom made car. Lastly, we are of course dedicating a large chunk to material for the special effects makeup, since we want it to look as spectacular as it did last time.

This campaign will be up and running past the end of production, and funds received after that will instead go towards post production. While I do the editing myself, we might hire a sound editor and a professional color grader, and we will also need a score. Our movie has great potential and we don’t mean to waste any of that. Every penny contributed to this project will be put towards making it a better movie, that is a promise!

Cast & Crew

Here is a list of the people we have so far attached to our project.

Simon, Anders & Ztefan

We are the three main producers of this film. We met in high school and have stayed friends since graduating in 2011. The idea for this film has existed for about as long. Simon is a graduate of Toho Gakuen in Tokyo, Japan, where Film Production was his main course. He is the writer/director of the movie. Anders went to film school on Gotland, Sweden and will be one of the lead roles – Anders, who carries the same name. He is also a great Photoshop artist and has a lot of technical skills that the rest of us can only dream of. Ztefan is an underground poet and musician, but will gladly dip his hands into anything that’s art. He has contributed with a lot of the depth that this project has come to have (probably because he is the smartest in the crew). This mix of expertise has already proven incredibly valuable and all of our hands will be seen in the final product.

Sara Lewitan Stålnacke – Robin

Sara is our second lead role. Here is a message from her:

“I have worked as a freelance actress since I graduated Skara Skolscen in 2019. Since then I have, just like most, worked with many different things. I have worked on stage with smaller ensembles, acted at an amusement park, in short films, commercials and soon in my first feature! I have done a lot of voice over work for a while, but will strive towards going back to working on stage now that the restrictions of the pandemic are slowly being lifted. I’m looking forward to this exciting collaboration with Aclem Productions on the movie Sombi!”

This was our first time working with Sara and upon finishing the shoot we’d just like to add that she is an amazing actress and a name to look out for in the future. She has really brought the character Robin to life and we expect her to be an audience favorite for sure!

Martin Hansen – Special Effects Make-Up Artist

Martin is a skilled special effects make-up artist from Denmark who has worked on a large variety of both big and small projects before, including “The Neolith” and the Academy Award nominated short film “Silent Nights”! His latest job before our movie was the Danish movie “Englemageren” about a serial killer, which has just come out this summer in Denmark. He has many years of experience of professional work in the movie business and is the most experienced member of our crew. Thanks to him, every single zombie you will see on screen will look very different from each other, so they will each have their own personality despite being dead.

Daniel Hansson – Stunt Coordinator

Daniel is an up-and-coming stunt coordinator based in Stockholm, who has a lot of experience doing stunts of his own too! We are extremely impressed by his creativity in making up interesting fights and he has made the movie 1000 times cooler that we dreamt it could be. He has a profound understanding of the role of stunt coreography and action design in movies that goes beyond just making it look real. He really has a great eye for what’s cinematic and knows how to balance big and small stunts. As filmmakers we have had a blast working with him!

Rasmus Gustavsson – FAD/B Camera/Electrician

Rasmus from RG FILM joined the crew in the last minute with all the technical knowledge that we didn’t have, and with five extra arms to rig both camera and lights with simultaneously. It might have been only two, but in that case they were moving fast and doing the work of five. He also helped out a lot with creating schedules and making sure we stuck to them, which is ultimately probably why the shoot went so well and we finished all the scenes we set out to shoot. He was originally hired to do the B Camera part, but he really became the glue that pieced the crew together and made the movie happen!

Rasmus Elton – Björn (uncle)

Gustav Michaelsson-Vendel – Erik (father)

Svea Larsson – Carina (mother)

Vinston Wilde – Anders (young)

Selma Mannung – Robin (young)

Why should you be excited?

The movie is a Swedish language production and is rooted in Nordic culture, but our cinematic language is inspired by many international films – including American and Japanese cinema –and the idea behind the movie isn’t to make it exclusively aimed towards a Swedish audience, but rather to introduce our unique culture and scenery to an international audience. What we have seen so far we have some heartbreaking performances that will capture everyone’s hearts, some intense action scenes that will leave you at the edge of your seats – and some of the most terrifying and cool zombies I’ve seen. We call it a drama-action-comedy with zombies (implying horror) and we’re really giving all of it 100%.

We like to jokingly say that zombie movies are universal, but it’s not untrue that they build on a very universal sense of fear. Specifically, zombies can be said to build on the fear of what happens when we can’t communicate with each other, so what better theme for a movie trying to communicate something in a non-universal language? Don’t worry though, there will be subtitles, we promise (laughter).

We set out to make a movie that is both easily accessible, easy to understand and entertains that part of the brain that just wants something to keep it busy with mindless action AND that will make you feel for and care about its characters and tell a proper story. We believe that we have found the perfect balance. We are combining this with our love for old-fashioned practical effects and horror-action. If these things are dear to you, please consider donating to our movie to help us deliver a product that lives up to our high standards.

With the last shooting blocking finished, we have proven that we are able to pull off the production of a movie and make a tight schedule and limited resources work, so you can rest assured that this project will be brought to the finish line, looking every bit as cool as it should, and also telling a compelling story that will leave you feeling for the characters.

Other Ways You Can Help

Not everyone can contribute with money and we are fully aware of this. If you can’t, but still feel you want to help us, consider sharing our campaign and spread the word about what we are doing. GoFundMe has some great tools for sharing, so please use them to let your friends, family, colleagues and rich acquaintances (laughter) know! You are also more than welcome to follow our Instagram account and Facebook page for updates about the project and behind-the-scenes-footage.

/Simon

Director of SOMBI