t h e   w o r l d

A day filled with the delights of summer freedom, spent exploring fields, woodlands and riverbanks, is underlaid with bittersweetness, as two 10-year-old tomboys resort to tussling instead of talking.  

The line between playing and fighting is blurry. The rules of their games are easily broken. Beneath the summertime euphoria of tomboy kinship, lies a painful unsaid truth; a shared knowledge that, sooner or later, must be confronted.

t h e   t o m b o y s

Talia and Nat are playing a game of emotional catch, passing a ball of frustration back and forth. There is a competition for physical dominance, which Talia seems to be losing, over and over again. 

Grief, fear and anger live beneath the surface. Something is threatening their connection and neither is equipped to deal with it.

The truth comes out. Nat is moving away. Talia is losing her soul mate. Someone has to be brave and ask the questions.

Will you miss me?

Will you remember me?

Will you ever come back to me?

t h e   h e a r t

'I Can See' It is a love letter to the childhood best friend that got away and the power of tomboy affinity. 

The cinematography (by Ailsa Aikoa) will feel intimate and deeply immersive. It is a film that gets inside the sensory experience of tomboy-hood, brimming with atmospheres of endless summer, boundless horizons, nostalgia and longing.

The colour palette (by Alex O'Brien) will be sumptuous, leaning heavily into the rich tones created by low sun, and embracing deep shadows, natural light, and the vivid textures of skin and landscape.

The sound design (by Joe Jackson) will play a crucial role, utilising rich layers from the rural landscape: the hum of bees, the trill of birdsong, trickling streams and gushing rivers, the swipe of bracken against blue jeans, the quiet rustling of leaves as dusk descends… 

The score (by El Hardwick and Kit Gordon) will be minimal and delicate, intertwining with and borrowing from the sound design.

d i r e c t o r ' s   s t a t e m e n t

The ‘tomboy’ in cinema is so often portrayed as a solitary figure, either the odd one out within a group of boys or juxtaposed against the ‘girly girl’. A film that centers on a powerful connection between two young tomboys is incredibly rare. I have yet to see this type of friendship brought to life on screen and feel a strong pull towards honouring this overlooked dynamic. 

Necessary films that explore complex friendships between young boys have been celebrated. Equally, there’s a well trodden path of wonderful cinema that delves into friendships between young girls. This is a coming-of-age friendship film through the eyes of kids rarely made visible on screen - kids who exist at the intersection of girlhood and boyhood.

I’m coming to ‘I Can See It’ from a place of shared experience with the young protagonists, as someone who has vivid memories of my ten-year-old friendships - of what they felt like and what they meant to me - especially as a queer child, in search of belonging. A goodbye between two outcasts holds an extra pang as this nature of fellowship is not easily found. The childhood feeling of losing a kindred spirit is familiar to so many of us. It’s a specific kind of heartbreak that is a right of passage, one which holds both beauty and pain.

w h y   t h i s   f i l m   m a t t e r s   (director's statement cont'd)

The undefinable magic of queer childhood friendship is underrepresented in cinema. And yet, for so many of us, this form of intimacy is hugely significant in our early reckonings with who we are and who we become.

I grew up in the 90s and early 2000s, under the shadow of Section 28, with no language for the multiplicity and nuance of queer experience, and with no window into what a queer future might look like for me. Even so, I remember being able to see queerness (though I didn’t know that’s what it was at the time) in one other kid. There was an elusive and mysterious magnetism that helped us find each other. The adults called us "tomboys".

Most of us queers and gender renegades who grew up during this time (or before) are left trying to understand what happened to us. We try to remember those years where we so clearly knew who we were before society piled on the shame. Our film is an act of remembering and re-living a passage of childhood freedom, a freedom that is too often cut short by a multi-phobic world. Our film honours a child's capacity to deeply know who they are, without sign posts or pinpointing language, just an intuitive knowing, shared between kindred spirits.

It’s as vital as it ever was to create cinema that connects with the complexity and richness of a child’s perspective, to truly pay homage to both the awe and terror of being a 10-year-old, and to leave any condescension or flattening at the door. When I think of movies like, ‘The Spirit Of the Beehive’ (Spain - 1973) or ‘Where Is The Friend’s House’ (Iran - 1987), I’m struck by how both films escaped heavy state censorship. By staying close to the gravity of a child’s viewpoint, these films managed to break through suppression and ask audiences to remember, yes, but also to recognise what has never left them, to recognise what remains of their inner child, and to tend to them. 

In a deceptively quiet way, ‘I Can See It’ holds hands with this lineage.

b e h i n d   t h e   c a m e r a 

Our team is made up of award-winning filmmakers, with numerous BIFA and BAFTA nominations and two BAFTA wins in their portfolios. Other festivals include, BFI Flare, BFI London, BFI Future, Encounters, Tribeca, LSFF, SXSW, Berlin Critics’ Week and The Iris Prize, with films shown on Channel 4, Netflix, and Amazon Prime.

Meet just a few members of our core team below ~

w h e r e   t h e   m o n e y   g o e s

We're a small, passionate team making a film that we believe deserves to exist, and we want you to see exactly how your support will bring it to life.

c a s t  a n d  c a s t i n g - 12.5%

We’re determined to find two young people who truly resonate with this story. Children who embody the energy of these characters and naturally fit into the world of our film. To do this, we are investing in a casting director and will be carrying out street casting, alongside traditional agency routes, to find our two leads. 

w e l f a r e  a n d  s a f e t y - 8.5% 

We recognise our safeguarding responsibilities to these two young actors, as well as to our crew. Due to this, our budget not only includes the regular chaperone and DBS fees, but also a fee for an intimacy coordinator and a welfare rep. While all of the intimacy in the film comes in the form of play-fighting and a portrayal of best-friendship, we want to ensure that our young actors have every protection in place to ensure a consent-lead working environment. 

c r e w  - 17% 

Our crew is made up of creatives who intuitively understand why this story matters. Each team member has expressed a personal connection to this story. We are keeping it extremely lean, with a 1st AD, Script Supervisor, DoP, Camera Assistant, Gaffer, Sound Op, DIT and runner, along with the welfare representative and intimacy coordinator.

k i t - 17% 

To bring the visceral visual language of ‘I Can See It’ to life, we want to use the best kit we can afford. Our lighting package will be stripped back to basics as we utilise the natural light of summertime, so our biggest investment will be in a camera package that can capture the vivid textures of Talia and Nat’s world.

l o c a t i o n s - 16%

We’ve been able to find our dream location, and negotiate it to be provided in kind. However, as most of our crew are based in London, we will need to provide accommodation and transport costs, to ensure their comfort over the three day shoot.

p o s t - 14% 

This is where the film will truly come together, where the sumptuous colour palette will meet the visceral sound design. From our editor, colourist and sound designer, to an original song and musical score, we’ve lined up an incredible team to carry this film to completion. 

o t h e r - 15%

Insurance, festival submissions, contingency, and greenlit fees add up, and are necessary to include in the budget. These are the small things that are crucial to help bring this film to a global audience.

t h a n k  y o u 

Thank you for helping us make this very special film a reality. 

Image Credits

Header Image (Lisa Sorgini)

Image 1 (Lisa Sorgini)

Image 2 (Monster, Dir. Hirokazu Koreeda)

Image 3 (Summer 1993, Dir. Carla Simón)

Image 4 (Tomboy, Dir. Céline Sciamma)

Image 5 (20,000 Species Of Bees, Dir. Estibaliz Urresola Solaguren)

Image 6 (Lisa Sorgini)

Image 7 (Monster, Dir. Hirokazu Koreeda)

Image 8 (Tree Of Life, Dir. Terrence Malick)