Neighbour

Oliver overhears his neighbours having sex. Through his voyeuristic excitement, the upstairs tenants become his obsession. One night the neighbours' sounds of passion turn into violence and Oliver can no longer remain a passive listener.

Oliver moves into an old apartment building in a tiny decaying town. On the first night in his new home, he overhears the upstairs neighbours having sex. Oliver gets carried away and pleasures himself to the sound of their lovemaking. Through voyeuristic excitement, the fourth-floor tenants become his obsession. Gradually Oliver begins to overhear sounds of violence and muffled cries of pain. At first hesitant to intervene, he finally calls the police. Turns out the local policemen are friends of the Man upstairs. Instead of helping, they start terrorising Oliver. During the night a dark figure breaks into his apartment to send a message - don't meddle with other people's lives. Panicked, Oliver wants to leave the apartment, but an argument erupts upstairs. Suddenly bullets blast through the ceiling - he has become a witness to a murder. Now he must escape his pursuers in the old apartment building and stay alive long enough to call for help and expose his neighbours’ dark deeds.

Keywords: sex, individual vs society, violence

Director's note:
Neighbour is a suspense thriller with dark humour and explosive violence. The central theme is voyeurism - the tendency to watch others' actions in situations where watching (or listening) is considered inappropriate. In a thriller about eavesdropping, the two most important design elements are Perspective and Sound. Throughout the film, we strictly stay in the perspective of the main character: we experience only what he hears, sees, and goes through. And since it’s a story about listening the film's soundscape is arguably even more important than the visuals. The sounds we hear through the walls are muted, distorted and often confusing, which leaves the final interpretation of events to the viewer’s mind. Combined with the confined setting - one flat and the surrounding apartment building - the unique restrictions of the story create perfect conditions for an intense thriller, with psychosexual undertones, intense violent action and morally ambiguous characters.

Producer's note:
Our first collaboration with Oskar Lehemaa's short film Bad Hair (2019) screened at Sundance, Fantasia, Fantastic Fest and dozens of other internationally acclaimed festivals. It showed his potential as a director and his ability to create worlds. I like his handwriting as a director and also how he addresses personal topics in his films, elevating them with genre elements and making them unique experiences for the viewer. The cinematic worlds he creates evoke a wide spectrum of emotions, sometimes even those we may be embarrassed to admit to ourselves. Oskar has been busy directing stop motion animation projects for a few years and now is finally ready to introduce to the world his debut feature film project called “Neighbour”. The project is in early development, as Oskar is currently in the process of writing the 1st draft of the script and we have also put together the first package of visual roadmap for the film. We are looking for partners to make this film into a thrilling reality – our doors are open for co-producers, sales agents, distributors and also private financiers, who love the project.