Sci-Fi Dominates New Nordic Genre Boost Slate

Sci-fi is the dominant genre with the Icelandic project East by Eleven by Olaf de Fleur (Brave Men’s Blood), Norwegian Substitute by Henrik Martin Dahlsbakken (Returning Home) and Deep Down by Izer Aliu (To Guard a Mountain).

For his feature debut Icelandic born Thordur Palsson (2015 Nordic Talents winner) has turned to Norway’s FilmBros Productions for his psycho horror The Damned. 

The Finnish female directors - the experienced Saara Saarela and newcomer Hanna Bergholm- are going to film respectively a dystopian future Lapland in Memory of Water and the chiller Birds of a Feather, while Danish director Tor Fruergaard is preparing the animated horror Bente and the Mutant Scouts.

A total of 83 projects applied for the second Nordic Genre Boost offering NOK 200,000 single grants in development support and access to two residential workshops with tutoring in script development, marketing and sales. As in 2015, the first workshop will be held in conjunction with Helsinki’s Nights Vision International Film Festival (April 13-17, 2016) and the second one during New Nordic Films’ Co-production Market in Haugesund (August 22-25, 2016) where the seven projects will be pitched to potential co-financiers.

Valeria Richter, Nordic Genre Boost Project Manager said: “We are delighted that the interest for developing such a variety of genre projects in the Nordic countries continues to be very strong. We look forward to working with new and experienced talents and to welcoming new guest tutors like Todd Brown, Head of International Acquisitions at XYZ Films, and Lindsay Peters, Market and Industry Director at the Frontières International Co-Production Market."

Petri Kemppinen, Nordisk Film & TV Fond CEO said: “It is thrilling to see the high level of ambition and originality of this year´s edition. I am very confident that the Nordic Genre Boost pitches will again be one of the highlights of the Nordic Co-Production and Financing Forum in Haugesund”.

The 2016 Nordic Genre Boost projects are the following:

BENTE AND THE MUTANT SCOUTS
Denmark. Animation. Body Horror Fun. First feature by Tor Fruergaard, written by Sissel Dalsgaard and produced by Claudia Saginario (Good Company Films). Bente (10) is sent to scout camp and has to fight off mutants with her new friends; a disgusting, fun and absurd universe.

BIRDS OF A FEATHER
Finland. Horror drama. First feature by Hanna Bergholm, written by Ilja Rautsi and produced by Mika Ritalahti (Silva Mysterium). A 12-year-old perfectionist girl, Tinja, hatches a bird-like doppelgänger to carry out all her buried worst impulses. 

DEEP DOWN
Norway. Sci-fi. Third feature by Izer Aliu, written by Magnus Aspli and produced by Mikael Diseth (Fantefilm Fiksjon). A drilling mission in the Arctic Ocean turns up a strange substance that marine biologist Maria must uncover in order to survive what has been unleashed.

EAST BY ELEVEN
Iceland. Sci-fi. New feature by writer/director Olaf de Fleur, produced by Kristin Andrea Thordardottir (Poppoli Pictures). A global organization, UNCC, have launched a physical memory system to manifest memories from prisoners for investigative purposes. 

MEMORY OF WATER
Finland. Dystopian drama. New feature by Saara Saarela based on the eponymous novel by Emmi Itäranta, co-written by Ilja Rautsi and produced by Misha Jaari and Mark Lwoff (Bufo Ltd). In a futuristic Lapland, water is a luxury, rationed by the military. When a young woman discovers a secret water source she has to decide if she is ready to risk her life by letting the water run free.

SUBSTITUTE
Norway. Sci-fi thriller. New feature by Henrik Martin Dahlsbakken, written by Jan Trygve Røyneland and produced by Finn Gjedrum (Paradox Rettigheter). Memory archivist Eric returns from his sudden death as a so-called human substitute, all new and ingested with most of his memories, only to discover that he was murdered.

THE DAMNED
Norway. Psychological horror. First feature written and directed by Thordur Palsson and produced by Kamilla Hodøl and Emilie Jouffroy (FilmBros Productions). Set in 1874 in an Icelandic frontier village, Eva starts losing her perspective as group mentality and survival instinct trump human ethics in a community crazed by guilt and superstition.

Among the first seven Nordic Genre Boost films were the Danish sci-fi drama Teenage Jesus, voted Best Pitch in Haugesund, the Norwegian fantasy/sci-fi Bright Sky by Troll Hunter director André Øvredal and the Finnish horror Bodom by Taneli Mustonen, now in post-production. 

For further information check: NORDIC GENRE BOOST. 

Contacts:
Petri Kemppinen  petri@nordiskfilmogtvfond.com

or Valeria Richter valeria@pebble.dk