American film Keep the Change, a different kind of romantic comedy, was screened before international audience on the last day of the Official Selection – Competition. The debut feature film directed by Rachel Israel follows an emerging relationship between two autistic people who met at a support group.
“This film took us six years to make. It was inspired primarily by the dating experiences of Brandon Polansky, who portrays the male character. Also, I wanted to avoid and counter stereotyped perception of autistic people. Love stories involving such people are rarely shown on the screen,” the director stated at the press conference. She further noted that working with non-actors was the best collaboration ever for her: “I have cared about the non-actors a lot and we have developed the story together. For example, Samantha Elisofon, who portrays the main character, has changed a lot, while the initial idea of having a professional actor play opposite Brandon did not work.”
Israel has already explored the idea in a 15-minute film. “In adapting the short film to a feature film, we decided to go deeper, rather that extending the story. We created conflicts based on the couple’s disparate characters,” the director explained.
Financing of the film started up with a crowdfunding campaign, which helped the filmmakers to find an investor and also get several subsidies. The film charmed the audience at the Tribeca Festival in New York. “We hope that the Czech audience, too, will be smitten by the film,” Samantha Elisofon expressed her wishes.
