Sunnan - My Love For You
Who do we become when we do not deal with our past?
Directed by Nicolina Knapp
Words by Katie Huelin
In the evocative music video for Sunnan’s track My Love For You, director Nicolina Knapp invites viewers to confront the barriers we construct around ourselves, exploring themes of loneliness, loss, and vulnerability.
With an eye for storytelling and a cinematic touch inspired by the dusty, expansive qualities of a western landscape, Knapp transforms the masculine facade into an exploration of grief and connection.
Sunnan - My Love For You, delves into themes of loneliness, loss, and nostalgia. What was the conceptual catalyst behind the music video?
I find that it’s hard to start defining how exactly music brings things up in us people. It’s subjective. And really visceral. Sunnan’s My Love For You struck me with sore layers. Raw textures with such honesty. The yearning voice and the tentative rhythm just naturally brought my mind to a place of deep longing and a hurt. A soft cry for help. The song seems to have a rather clear theme of romantic love, but my state of mind and indulgement in a specific visual language at the time led me somewhere else less obvious and more purely entangled than romantic love. Instead, I kind of wanted to confront the personal walls that might stand between ourselves and other humans to love openly. Who do we become when we do not deal with our past? This thought made me dive into the main character and his story.
Personally, I had also been thinking a lot about men and their heritage. How modern society views them, what is passed on from before, how they deal/don’t deal with grief. Broad strokes. The loneliness and facade of the man interested me. So I wanted to take that masculine facade and transform it into vulnerability. Deep sadness waiting to be seen. The story that I wrote turned out to have a deeper meaning for everyone involved, which became a guiding light that it was right for us.
One of the first things Sunnan told me is that they dreamt of shooting a film on the stark film-island Fårö. A magical island that means a lot to the band in special ways. So I wrote the story with the Island in mind and of course suddenly, the minimalistic, harsh landscape became the only setting that would make sense to explore the topics of the script. As ideas often unfold, it just makes sense. A lonely man who finds himself on his childhood island and is reminded of a story he had tried to forget. Losing his brother at a very young age.
How did you come to connect Arvid Kornstrand’s bold approach to cinematography, with Sunnan’s narrative songwriting?
Arvid is a completely interesting human being and I’m so glad we have crossed paths. Everyone should find him and try and talk to him. He treats things like no other. He has this wise soul, also a love and eye for classical methods and purposeful cinematography that really woke me up and inspired me in a new way. Nowadays that craft seems rare. Arvid has a tremendous amount of intention, he always strips things down to its essence. Still he’s super playful and curious. Since I was interested in a fragmented way of telling a clear story (and that is a challenger) our common traits of searching for the reasons behind things worked well together. Can we say more with fewer components?
Seeing his and the team's work combined with the music on set was a beautiful experience. I really thought “oh shit, the footage looks like the music sounds to me”. Which was the goal with this music video — to extend the whole audio-cinematic concept that Sunnan has into a visual world.
The stark, Nordic winter landscape of Fårö must have presented unique filming challenges. How did you navigate these, and in what ways did the island’s connection to Ingmar Bergman inspire your creative vision?
It’s crazy that we were never scared to make this island justice, considering how much history it has. (We should have been scared). When you are there in -10 degrees, in the emptiness, it just does something to you and it’s spirit takes over. Arvid and I went there alone months before to recce in the cold winter, and we just got carried away. We basically witnessed the island's landscape live in black and white. We talked a lot about how we wanted to portray such a place. We did have one or two existential crises in that harshness (revenant fantasies), sometimes we were bizarrely staring at some huge piece of snow-covered rock. Realising that it’s a challenge to not rely on grand locations and lots of details and connections people can make. There is mystery in the quietness and emptiness. There is history and timelessness in the air. There is so much simple beauty here in this place, how will it not take away from the protagonist? Or just become a backdrop? How do we make it into this magical reality of his, not just amazing paintings of a landscape?
The way Fårö looked, and with its deeply rooted film history, we decided the film would be shot in black and white. Definitely paying homage to Bergman but without looking at too much of his work, really. His work was more a spiritual thing and aesthetic awareness, rather than a guideline. To keep our way of shooting, classical.
Erik Ehn's performance is pivotal to the video's narrative. What led you to cast him, and what qualities did he display in the audition that made you aware he could perform this emotionally filled role?
I don’t know where to begin with Erik. Firstly, Erik never auditioned. The casting director Lina Malmeström sent him my way and out of many faces we could not forget him. I emailed him one of those long emails you aren’t sure if someone will have time to read. And when we met there were far too many coincidences that brought us closer together with the project. A strangely special timing. Erik’s presence, humility and tenderness about his experiences — the way he speaks and moves and looks around him with so much life — it just was meant to be him for the film. He’s some incredible sparkling force.
Getting to know Erik as an actor through this project was unforgettable, really, for me as a director. He brought me closer to my own ideas. I didn’t know yet that I could have that experience with an actor. Actors can be intimidating and strong, and I hadn’t worked with many on that level before, and the way that he encouraged me to feel so free and confident in my visions and choices made all the difference. He made it important to have a space of trust and curiosity, which is something that will forever stick with me. That is how I want to be moving around in this world.
“I kind of wanted to confront the personal walls that might stand between ourselves and other humans to love openly.”
The video can be described as a Scandinavian-Western with slow-pacing and minimalist outdoor sets. How did you balance these elements to create a cohesive and compelling visual homage to the relatively young genre?
Someone described our film that way, and it kind of made sense? Maybe? Sounds intriguing and pretty. I don’t know much about what makes a genre “it”, I’ve never gotten into that type of film knowledge. Perhaps since my way into film-making is through other arts.
The way I see it, we all just bring what is within us to make a film and it contains the things that resonate with us. And I try to not have rules or a box of what it should fit into. I think this film lets itself be a mix of different substances. Surely, the music has the slow, far stretched desert pace. Allowed for a certain rhythm, certain light and darkness. A certain sensitivity and also power. The music has dusty western qualities that we tapped into. We put our gut feeling into it, and thrilled thoughts of what it would be. This is what it became and I am forever proud of such a personal piece.
Starring Erik Ehn
With Benjamin Gibson & William Gibson
Director: Nicolina Knapp
Producer: Ida Larsson
DOP: Arvid Kornstrand
Editor: Nik Kohler
Colorist: Julien Alary
Set designer: Angelica Nyman
Costume: Liselotte Bramstång
Make-up: Soley Astudottir
Casting: Lina Friberg
Gotland Casting: Elinor Isenberg
1AD: Benjamin Gabrielson
Production Manager: Emil Nissen
Stylist on set: Evelina Emanuelsson
Props: Travis Sproul
1AC: Jesper Lundqvist
2AC: Filip Ehrenstråhle
Gaffer: Pontus Hellberg
Gaffer: Olof Jonsson
VFX & Online: Evelina Åström
Film Lab: Nina Boriri - Focus Film
Artwork: Willow J. Flores
Co-produced and partnered by CANADA, Iconoclast DE and B-reel Films
Executive Producers: Lia Eliasson and Nicolina Knapp
Sponsored by: Homage
Extra big thanks to: Lars at Helgumannens Fiskebodar, Bondans Gård, Fårö Kyrka, Ljud & Bildmedia, Asmblr, Kulturrådet, Sportfiskarna Gotland, Kerstin & Klampe, Ola Nyström, Julia Blochmann, Mynta and Sunnan