Oona Olivia O'Hagan
" Welcome to the sky line"
Bio
Oona is a Danish director who, for the past six years, has been working as a 1st Assistant Director in both Denmark and Norway. Now, having been inspired by many talented directors and photographers, Oona feels she has gathered the experience she needs to debut as a director herself.
Her main goal is to transform everyday situations into symbolic and peculiar dream-like worlds that seem tempting to explore. In offering a contrast to the social realism genre, which the Danish are otherwise famous for, she aims to address themes like death and grief with color and beauty — as these are the types of films she prefers herself, to endure and process what might otherwise be very dull scenarios in real life.
Synopsis
A young woman named Flora, uses a strange telephone service to leave a message for her departed brother. Shortly after she starts speaking, he answers from the beyond. Joyful to have her brother back in her life, she visits the phone booth every day, though it seems that their relationship no longer feels quite the same as before.
‘Welcome to the Skyline’ is a visually beautiful and touching story about grief, longing, and the refusal to let go.
STATEMENT
This project is meaningful to me personally for many reasons.
It will be my debut as a short film director and mark a new time when I will turn my attention to my own projects. "Welcome To the Skyline" came to be at a time where I wanted to shift gears - and in doing so, I felt the need to say goodbye to what no longer helped me grow as a person. During this time, I came across a story from Japan, about a man using a telephone box to talk to his departed cousin. That inspired me. I thought this was such a lovely way to approach the subject of death.
The death that I came to write about in this story, is a metaphorical one. Grief comes in many forms and from many things, and it all need to be processed in some way.
Coincidentally, it also became a symbolic and beautiful farewell to my grandmother, who plays a supporting role in the film, and sadly past away a few months after filming. She was one of the best people I knew, and I am grateful to have her forever living in my first film. I have yet to leave her a message on the phone and thank her.