Danish director Annette Olesen (pictured - Minor Mishaps, Borgen) and Norwegian novelist/screenwriter Erlend Loe have teamed up for the adaptation of Loe’s award-winning novel Muleum into 125 webisodes, a feature film and TV series produced by Yngve Sæther for Motlys in Norway.
The existential air movie Muleum focuses on the 18 year-old Norwegian girl Julie who tries to figure out what she wants out of life when her entire family dies in a plane crash. She has a serious death wish herself and boards airplanes in the hope that they will also crash, but they always land, forcing her to look at her life and the world around her. “I first read Erlend Loe’s novel on a flight and immediately loved it,” said the director to nordiskfilmogtvfond.com. “The book has Loe’s typical dark humour. It is written as a diary over a year; as I am aware that youngsters are increasingly looking for short content as visual entertainment, I thought this project could offer a perfect opportunity to test new storytelling formats.”
Currently in early stages of development, Muleum is being written by Olesen and Loe as a transmedia project consisting of ten hours of fiction (or 125 webisodes of 5-10 minutes and a TV series) and a feature film. The core audience is young girls and women as well as Loe’s adult fan base. “We would like to use part of the webisodes as launching pads for the feature film, “stresses Olesen.
The project has received development support from the Danish Film Institute. “So far we’re exploring all financing opportunities while writing the script”, says Olesen.