UW-Milwaukee Graduate’s Short Film Will Screen At Cannes

Jessica Knap of Cedarburg is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee film program. Her short film, “Forget Me Knot,” which tells the story of a grieving widower, a little boy, and a pet fish is screening at the Cannes Film Festival.

Terry Bell: There’s an opening sequence in this movie – it’s one single moving shot – and it’s held for a good minute or so. I haven’t seen anything like that since “Touch of Evil,” which was directed by Orson Welles. What gave you the idea to do that?

Jessica Knap: When I thought about my film, I wanted to think about nature, and I thought about the grass moving, and the trees moving. So I wanted to emulate that same thing with the fish, because fish are so fluid when they move.

TB: I don’t want to give anything away, but the theme of this film definitely seems to be reincarnation.

JK: Yes, it is. Since my family is a little bit older, losing a family member is such a big thing for me. So having that hope and that belief that maybe they’re still there watching over everyone, for whatever religion it is. I also have a very close connection to animals, and so I thought about, what if that person was still with you, but as someone else?

TB: When you were making this movie, did you have any idea at all that it would end up at the Cannes Film Festival?

JK: No. That was not in the plans, I guess!

TB: But it was a possibility. This has been done at UW-Milwaukee before.

JK: Yeah. UW-Milwaukee gives the opportunity for some pieces to go over, and they fund that for the students, instead of the students having to pay that amount of money to submit – they give them that opportunity.

TB: What do you hope people will take away from your movie?

JK: I hope they take away not taking life for granted, in a sense. Because I feel often we just go through our busy lives, and not really think about it, and we don’t take a moment to breathe, and to think about where we are in that moment in time. And I think that’s why I shot it the way that I did, simply because it was so fluid in movement – to kind of slow down time and really analyze what’s going on around them.