Trier’s third feature after Reprise and Oslo, August 31st is co-written by the director’s usual collaborator Eskil Vogt. On the eve of a retrospective dedicated to a celebrated female war photographer, her husband and two sons discover an unsettling secret from her past that throws their lives into chaos. Major cast (tbc) include Gabriel Byrne, Isabelle Huppert and Jesse Eisenberg. The film is co-produced by France’s Memento Films, Denmark’s Nimbus Film, Bona Fide Productions in Los Angeles and Animal Kingdom in New York.
Recent Nordic films co-produced by Arte France Cinema include Aki Kaurismäki’s Le Havre and Lars von Trier’s Melancholia. Around 25 feature films each can receive co-production and pre-buy financial commitment from Arte’s film production arm with investments ranging from €100,000 to €500,000. Applications are also open to three documentaries a year.
In 2013 the French/German cultural channel increased its viewers by 33%, reaching 2% of the market. Viewership on Arte’s web platform also increased by 28% compared to 2012 with an average 10.8 million monthly visits. Popular drama series aired in 2013 include SVT’s Real Humans (1.343 million viewers average per episode for 5.4% share), followed by Top of the Lake (3.9% share/860,000 viewers) and DR’s Borgen Season 3 (2.8% share/699,000 viewers). Catch up TV had 8 million viewers average in 2013, up 39% and again, among viewers’ favourites were Real Humans and Top of the Lake. ARTE’s DVD outlet Arte Editions upped its revenues by 10% thanks to documentaries and TV dramas including the three shows cited here above.