Sæther and Loe go back a long way, from the early 90s when they were youngsters in Trondheim, sharing a passion for film and shooting music videos. “I used Erlend as an actor for one of my short films and already at the time we had discussed the possibly of directing together. Erlend is a great storyteller and we felt that together we could pull this project together,” says Sæther to nordiskfilmogtvfond.
Inventory is the story of the 66 year-old razor-sharp poet Lena Faber. The film follows her the day her last collection of poems is being published. That morning, the publisher calls her and says the reviews are not good. Then the bookstore where she is supposed to take part in a reading, cancels at the last minute because of an inventory problem. Hurt and angry, Lena sets out in the capital and slowly but surely, becomes aware that she is doing her own inventory over her life and contemporary society.
“Few films deal with aging people who often feel rejected by society once they have passed their ‘use-by-date’. This will be the main theme for Inventory, told with Loe’s typical dark and cynical humour,” says Sæther.
Still in the early stages of development, Inventory will be produced by Hans-Jørgen Osnes and Sæther for Motlys. Loe has also written a novel of the same name (based on the script), published in April by Cappelen Damm. Rights have been sold to Denmark, Sweden, Russia, Slovakia and Serbia.
Loe has already adapted several of his novels for the screen, such as Gone with the Woman, Detector, An Ordinary Day at Work and the animation film Kurt Turns Evil, based on his children’s novels.
As for Sæther, he has several projects in the pipeline for Motlys. After Dag Johan Haugerud’s multi-awarded I Belong, his next feature to hit Norwegian screens on August 9 is the romantic comedy Kiss Me You Fucking Moron by Stian Kristiansen (The Man Who Loved Yngve). He will also produce Yngve Sve Flikke’s feature debut Wait Blink.