In 1996 a young film student finds a mysterious photograph misplaced and alone behind the counter in the camera store where she works. The snapshot, showing a miserable looking young man placed between a smiling elderly couple, on a beach, makes her curious. Who is this odd trio? What are they doing together on this beach? And why isn't the print picked up? Newly out of film school, the director in 2001 starts an investigation with the tools available to an amateur detective at the time; friends, family, colleagues, a notice in the local paper, putting up wanted ads in the neighborhood and calling up a private investigator she finds in the phone book. Her offbeat search for answers and the three random people in the photo, slowly becomes a portal to a web of forgotten memories, relationships, young dreams, and destinies spanning many years back in time and across the world. Weaved together, the stories and people we meet in New York 81, tell a humoristic and moving tale about life and ties between people.

biografia

Jannicke Systad Jacobsen (b 1975) is a Norwegian writer and director, based in Oslo. She directs documentaries and fiction films with a great humorous flair. Previous films include the feature film Turn Me On, Dammit (2011) which won Best Screenplay at Tribeca Film Festival, national film award Amanda for Best Picture and Best Cinematography, and had theatrical release around the world, the short documentaries The Clown Children (2005) and War On Paranoia (2003) both shown in numerous film festivals and the cult TV-documentary Sandmann - The Story Of A Socialist Superman (2005) produced for Norwegian, Swedish and Finnish TV and nominated for national TV-award Gullruten for Best Documentary. Jannicke studied directing at FAMU – the Czech National Film School and London International Film School. She also studied theatre science and anthropology at the University of Oslo.

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