Strong 2017 line-up, including two Sundance titles.

Your company Final Cut for Real has two co-productions competing at Sundance, the Swedish film The Nile Hilton Incident by Tarik Saleh and US documentary Strong Island by Yance Ford. How did you get involved in each project?
Signe Byrge Sørensen: ATMO in Sweden (which produces both documentaries and fiction films) presented The Nile Hilton Incident to producer Monica Hellström and I. The film is set in Egypt and shot in Arabic, with Fares Fares in the lead role. It has a close connection to the real world by virtue of its realistic approach and we really liked it. Scanbox has Scandinavian distribution rights. 

With Yance Ford’s Strong Island, we got involved through our long relationship with Joslyn Barnes of Louverture Films who produced the film via Yanceville Films, US. We had worked with Joslyn on Concerning Violence, Shadow World and Life is Sacred. 

I’m co-producer and DR K has broadcasting rights. Yance Ford worked almost a full year with Danish editor Janus Billeskov Jansen and his assistant Waltteri Vahanen. 

What is the film about?
SBS: Yance Ford tells the story of his brother, a black American who was killed 20 years ago by a white man. There was never any trial. Yance investigates the case and the film shows how the killing affected his entire family. The project is very close to our hearts. 

Generally speaking, what are the criteria for Final Cut for Real to board a project? On average how many films/co-productions do you handle each year?
SBS: The company consists of four producers –myself, Anne Köhncke, Monica Hellström and Heidi Elise Christensen- and one post-producer, Maria Kristensen. We do mostly documentaries and have now started to work in fiction as well. We try to have 2-3 minor doc co-productions and one minor-fiction co-production at any one time. 

We produce or co-produce films made by directors with a strong vision. 

Would you say that the success of The Act of Killing and The Look of Silence has established Final Cut for Real’s trademark internationally and that it's easier today for you to raise financing for your projects? SBS: Yes the two films have established our company and made it easier to raise financing for Joshua Oppenheimer’s next film. More people answer our phone calls etc but of course every film is unique. We also work with new directors who have to prove themselves.

Is it harder today to get the backing of national broadcasters? 
SBS: National broadcasters in Europe are under pressure, politically and financially. We meet commissioning editors who have smaller budgets and less freedom to take decisions. Plus we have to compete against many other Scandinavian docs of high quality. So yes, it is tougher today.

How important is VOD in your revenue stream? Do you separate VOD rights?
SBS: It’s starting to play a role. We can feel it because every financier is concerned about obtaining VOD rights. We try to make use of VOD rights and negotiate non-exclusivity to have the films on more platforms. There is new money coming in from the bigger players like Netflix, but it is still not enough for us to change our financing models. 

What achievement were particular important for you in 2016? The Oscar-nomination with The Look of Silence?
SBS: The Oscars were amazing. The first time with The Act of Killing we didn’t know what to expect, and got a lot of support from the DFI, Cinephil, Drafthouse Distribution in the US etc. With The Look of Silence, Participant Media came on board as well on the distribution side. We were better prepared and could make a better use of the process to highlight the issues related to the killings in Indonesia and their connection to the US policies at the time. With Les Sauteurs, a film made with a shoestring budget, it was fantastic to get a lot of attention and praise at festivals, such as Berlin. The directors Moritz Siebert and Estephan Wagner’s collaboration with Abou Bakar Sidibé [the Mali hopeful migrant who became a third director in the process] was very special. The fact that the film was told from a migrant ‘s point of view made it very unique and gave a new perspective to the refugee discussion. 

What films will be delivered in 2017?
SBS: I’ve produced together with Heidi the doc Transformation (working title) by first time director Camilla Mafid. It’s about three characters in South Central Los Angeles, who fight an everyday battle to stay out of crime. Camilla brought the project to us as she had taught in a prison in L.A together with creative producer Stine Fischer Christensen. DR Sales handles world sales.

We also have Death of a Child by Frida and Lasse Barkfors, produced by Anne. It’s part of a trilogy about taboo issues in the US society and the impact it has on families. The first film Pervert Park was about sexual offenders; Death of a Child is about parents who forget their children in their cars, causing their death. The third film in preparation is School Shooters, about parents whose children go on a shooting frenzy at school. 

Both Transformation and Death of a Child will be launched in the first half of 2017.

Monica has two documentaries that will be delivered later in 2017. 

  • No Regrets (working title) by Sun Hee Engelstoft is about young Korean unmarried women who become pregnant and have to decide whether to keep the baby or give it away for adoption because of pressure from society. 
  • The Distant Barking of Dogs by Simon Lereng Wilmont focuses on a 10 year-old boy whose life has been impacted by war-torn East Ukraine. There will be two versions: one for adults, and one for children, seen a from the boy’s point of view. We feel it’s important to make documentary films for the next generation that are artistically strong.

Monica and I are also minority co-producers on the Irish fiction film Good Favour by Rebecca Daly that will be delivered in 2017. 

What is Joshua Oppenheimer’s next project?
SBS: He is working on a documentary and a fiction project, but it’s still early days and I can’t say much about them. I will produce both projects.