Swiss actor Elijah Knight will star in the new short film Welcome to London, directed by Martin David Edwards.
“It’s a romantic comedy about the lives of people in their 30s who are trying to follow social conventions against their inner will,” says Knight. “They realize they’ve put themselves into situations they aren’t necessarily ready for. My character, Matthieu, and his fiancée Veronica visit Mathieu’s former best friend Luca, although maybe he was something more than just a friend… During the entire visit, Luca keeps hinting to secrets of the past: the kind of secrets one does not want to come about right before a wedding. And it all bears the question: will Luca jeopardize his best friend’s marriage?”
The short film will be shot in London’s Crystal Palace area and will also serve as a potential proof of concept for a feature film. Luke Lindemann, co-star and executive producer of the film, is one of Knight’s best friends.
Knight comments, “We met 10 years ago in St. Gallen when I was in college. We were in the student theater together and then he moved to Hong Kong. I then moved to China and visited him in Hong Kong multiple times. He’s one of my best friends and it’s always nice when you get to work with people you appreciate deep down. So, this is not just a movie, it’s also a reunion.”
Co-star Nabila Dolfini has much to say about her character: “Veronica is from Lugano, which is in Ticino, the Italian speaking part of Switzerland. She and her fiancé Matthieu pay his old best friend Luca a surprise visit, which might change the course of their wedding. Deep in her heart she is an artist, but she never had the courage to follow her calling. It turns out that, truth be told, she does not want to marry Matthieu.”
Veronica also represents the conflict of many women who, at the age of 30, are faced with the question of motherhood versus career. Her dream of becoming an artist seems ever more distant as her relationship also takes an unexpected turn.
Knight also shot Detox Inn in Engadin Graubünden in June, directed by Andreas Elsener. The story follows Sandra, a young influencer, who retreats to a remote hotel in the Alps for a “digital detox”. She soon realizes that something is wrong with the hotel and its owner. The short film is funded by seven cultural foundations in the canton of Graubünden.
For his role in the short film Dracula, Son of the Devil, he won the Supporting Actor Award at the Best International Film Festival.
He also recently worked on the thriller film The Safe and the hit TV series Unbreak My Heart. He is also starring in the upcoming Paramount+ TV series Miss Fallaci, based on the life of writer Oriana Fallaci, played by Miriam Leone and directed by Giacomo Martelli.
