301:, Hold Me Down has been universally lauded by critics, called "a powerful, powerful drama" by CNN. âHands down near the very top of the list of the best films I've seen in 2018 and many other years as wellâ, Unseen Films; âIâve seen a lot of short films in my 37 years, and Iâm finding it difficult to recall one that was more emotionally affecting than Hold Me Down", Cultured Vulture; âRaw and teeming with social dialogue, Hold Me Down is a powerhouse short film that takes a sledgehammer to gender roles whilst never loosening its grip on the audienceâs collarâ, UK Film Review. Hold Me Down won the award for Best Short Film at
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the next several months, Gillis and Adams met regularly to talk about her life, the struggles that she faced, and what she hoped that the film would convey. She invited Gillis to the events she worked and taped dressing room conversations for him to study. Throughout the process of writing, Gillis would read aloud for Adams to confirm the authenticity of the depiction.
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and put up hundreds of posters in the public housing projects in the area, advertising the castings. In Combs' studio, the two interviewed hundreds of women survivors of sexual abuse, violence, and prostitution. Over the course of nine months, the cast was assembled through the process of auditions, callbacks, screen tests, and rehearsals.
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Post production was done in Sweden throughout 2016. The score was composed by Jonas Söderman Bohlin and performed by renowned cellist Kati
Raitinen. Sound design was done by Aleksander Karshikoff at Across the Alley and the grade by Ola BĂ€ccman. Visual cleanup was done by William and Sebastian Rosso.
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in the summer of 2014 and would remain Gillis' closest collaborator for the next several years. Feeling that it would be important that each role be played by women who had real-life experience of the struggles depicted, Gillis, Combs and friends handed out 10,000 flyers in the streets of the Bronx,
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In
January, 2014, Gillis revisited a similar event for the purpose of getting in touch with the women affected and begin the project. At a blacked-out barbershop in Queens that served as a brothel at night, Gillis met Unique Adams, a young woman then pregnant with her first child. Over the course of
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but that proved to be an illicit event similar to the one depicted in the film. After witnessing a young woman have sex with a man on the floor of a crowded room for single dollar bills, he was shocked and asked her if she was okay. She told him that she had a two-year-old daughter and that this was
200:. Upon realizing the scope of the problem - what he perceived to be gross societal inequities - and feeling that that "reality" had not been adequately documented, Gillis set out to make a film that he hoped would shed light on some of the struggles endured by women in poverty in the United States.
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Niclas Gillis first became aware of the issues that the film addresses when he moved to New York from his native Sweden in 2009, then 19 years of age. As one of the only white male students living on campus at the college he attended, he was invited by fellow residents to what he thought would be a
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Lucy
Bidwell, in addition to the 47,000 dollars that he personally borrowed and the 30,000 dollars that More Media lent to the production on the hope that the film would eventually be picked up by The Swedish Film Institute. Five months after filming, in January 2016, the institute together with
128:(the national Swedish broadcaster) which included the film in its program "Moving Sweden". In order for the film to qualify for Swedish funding, post production was done in Stockholm with the participation of Swedish production company Bob Film Sweden, which assumed European rights to the film.
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Sveriges
Television finally approved their application, including Hold Me Down in the 3% of films awarded the "Moving Sweden" grant. Post production was thus relocated to Sweden, where Gillis completed the film with the participation of Bob Film Sweden.
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When the screenplay was completed, Adams introduced Gillis to Prince Combs, a Bronx resident familiar to the "after-hours" circuit. Impressed by the authenticity of the screenplay and what he perceived to be an important subject, Combs came on board as
105:. With a running time of 28 minutes, it sets out to explore the cyclical nature of American poverty and the conditions that push many girls and young women into prostitution. Following its world premiere at the
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Hold Me Down was shot entirely on location in the South Bronx: in the Mott Haven housing projects, in a local
Chinese restaurant, on the New York subway, and in an actual brothel. It was filmed on a
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The film depicts a day in the life of a 19-year-old single mother who works as a stripper at an illegal nightclub to support her child. It is filmed on location in the South Bronx: in the
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Jarred by what he witnessed and the understanding that her predicament was not unique, Gillis began to more seriously study U.S. history and its bearings on present-day
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Due to the complex nature of the production, Hold Me Down would take nearly three years to complete. Produced by The
Collectif and More Media with support from
109:, Hold Me Down has been lauded by critics for its authoritative realism and the outstanding performances of the cast, called "a powerful, powerful drama" by
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by Joshua
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The film was edited by Niclas Gillis. Before the end credits begin, it reads "To Unique".
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To go into production, Gillis raised 70,000 dollars through private sponsors (
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380:"Moving Sweden: 5 starka kortfilmer fÄr premiÀr pÄ Göteborg Film Festival"
520:"Hold Me Down (2018) REVIEW - A Powerful Film You Should Watch Right Now"
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309:(the national Swedish broadcaster), as well as
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490:. 29 January 2017 – via www.imdb.com.
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297:Following its world premiere at the
152:Cheryl Juniaus as Chastity's mother
662:English-language crime drama films
617:Crime films based on actual events
303:Harlem International Film Festival
140:Syrah and Serenity Harris as Fayth
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393:Radio, Sveriges (21 June 2017).
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547:Down, Hold Me (14 March 2018).
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173:Ralph Carter as the bouncer
161:Nicole Cochran Adams as Nik
75:is a 2017 Swedish-American
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632:American crime drama films
627:American drama short films
549:"Hold Me Down (full film)"
164:Miranda Collier as Silence
143:Tanisha Lambright as Nisha
122:The Swedish Film Institute
602:Swedish crime drama films
597:Swedish drama short films
170:Mike Strickland as the MC
158:Barbara Moore as Miss Ida
155:Alexis Williams as Lilly
137:Tianna Allen as Chastity
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188:regular house party in
35:, as no other articles
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577:http://holdmedown.org/
474:Svenska Filminstitutet
167:Shavon Thomas as Cakes
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502:"Hold Me Down (2017)"
647:2010s American films
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506:www.unseenfilms.net
307:Sveriges Television
126:Sveriges Television
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