WRITTEN BY: Annika Pham
Present in Cannes with a record four films in official competition and two at Un Certain Regard, Scandinavia’s leading regional funder unveiled four new titles.
Celebrating 30 years in 2022, Film i Väst gathered on Friday a dozen top directing and acting talents and producers at its annual international press launch, set in an eye-catching seaside villa in Cannes.
The leading Swedish co-producer which has over 30 features and series set to premiere this year, proudly introduced its six Cannes entries: the Palme d’or contenders Triangle of Sadness, Holy Spider, Boy from Heaven, R.M.N. and Un Certain Regard selected Sick of Myself and Godland.
In his usual lively pitch, star director Ruben Östlund reiterated to the press his wish to take the audience in an unexpected direction and keep them on the edge of their seats with Triangle of Sadness. Actors Henrik Dorsin and Carolina Gynning discussed Östlund's multi- takes technique to search for the perfect scene and on-set tension found usually on theatre stage.
Holy Spider's main actress Zar Amir Ebrahimi, emphasised director Ali Abbasi’s delivery of a censor-free film about Iran, and said: “I want the audience to get emotional, scared and to see Iranian women in a different light [than in the usual State-controlled Iranian films].
Meanwhile Norway’s talented actress Kristine Kujath Thorp gave a short description of her challenging physical transformation and anti-hero character in Kristoffer Borgli’s Sick of Myself.
Four new co-productions were announced, three of which are backed by Nordisk Film & TV Fond.
- Together 99 by Lukas Moodysson, produced by Memfis Film, Sweden.
The sequel to the director’s 2000 hit Together (Tillsammans) will be set in 1999, 24 years after the first film, with the same core group of friends living in a collective. “Together 99 will be the world's saddest comedy,” said the Swedish director, most recently associated to HBO Max’s Gösta. “It’s about getting old, looking back, regretting everything you have done, or regretting nothing, lying awake at night missing someone you have not met in twenty years, longing back and looking forward,” said Moodysson who wrote the script.
Reprising the roles of Göran and his friend Klasse are Gustaf Hammarsten and Shanti Roney respectively. The film is being produced by Memfis Film in co-production with SF Studios, Film i Väst, support from the Swedish Film Institute and Nordisk Film & TV Fond. SF Studios will handle the premiere in Swedish cinemas in September 2023. REinvent handles sales. - The Hypnosis by Ernst de Geer, produced by Garagefilm, Sweden.
The comedy drama starring Asta Kamma August and Herbert Nordrum, is written by rising talent de Geer and Mads Stegger (Beforeigners, Nach). We follow the couple Vera (30) and André (30) who gets the chance to pitch their startup business at a prestigious competition. Right before, Vera tries hypnotherapy to quit smoking, with an unexpected side effect: she loses all social inhibitions. But André finds it extremely hard to deal with it.
Speaking to nordicfilmandtvnews.com at the Film i Väst launch, Nordrum (The Worst Person in the World) said he was thrilled to partner de Geer again, after having starred in his multi-awarded short film The Culture. “Here my character has a desperate need to be liked and to fit in. But he also has high ambitions and wants to stand out, which is kind of contradictory. He has trouble accepting his girlfriend’s new spontaneous behaviour.”
August (most recently cast in Björn Runge’s anticipated Burn All My Letters), said playing a character who loses her boundaries was ‘liberating”.
The film produced by Garagefilm’s Mimmi Spång was co-produced by Film i Väst and Norway’s Mer Film, with support among others from Nordisk Film & TV Fond.
Scandinavian Film Distribution will release in 2023. Totem Films handles sales.
- Kalak by Isabella Eklöf, produced by Manna Film.
The director of the multi-awarded feature Holiday and co-writer of Ali Abbasi’s Border, has set her sophomore feature in Greenland in the 90’s. Based on Kim Leine’s autobiographical novel, the story centres on Jan, a family man and nurse, constantly on the run from himself after being sexually abused by his father as a teenager.
The film is produced with Momento Film, Film i Väst with support among others from the Fund. Filming is due to start this fall, with a premiere in 2023 handled by Scanbox.
- Hunters on a White Field by Sarah Gyllenstierna, produced by Most Alice Film.
The suspense drama is based on a novel by Mats Wägeus. Toplining the cast are Magnus Krepper (Queen of Hearts, The Unlikely Murderer) Ardalan Esmaili (The Rain, The Charmer) and Jens Hultén (Skyfall, Mission Impossible-Rogue Nation).
Three men-Alex, Greger and Henrik get together to go hunting in the woods during a weekend. An initial spell of hunting success sharpens their instincts and stirs a sense of rivalry. However, one day, all animals vanish and the forest turns eerily quiet. Yet the men are determined to continue the hunt.
Debut director Sarah Gyllenstierna who started her film career in New York as AD to Spike Lee said in Cannes she was fascinated about the book’s theme of the hunters, identifying with the preyed animals, as they gradually lose their perspective of who they are. Production is due to start in August. The project is being produced by Maria L Guerpillon and Charlotte Most, in co-production with Film i Väst, SVT and support from Swedish Film Institute’s Moving Sweden. The release is set for next year.
Already announced, Zentropa’s highly anticipated TV series debut of Thomas Vinterberg - Families Like Ours - was pitched via a video link by the Oscar-winning director, who said he is finalising the script, co-written with Bo hr. Hansen. Meanwhile producer Sisse Graum Jørgensen who was on hand in Cannes, confirmed the start of principal photography set for September between Denmark, Trollhättan, Sweden and the Czech Republic among others. “It will be is conventional [European] co-production, not a streaming series,” insisted Graum Jørgensen who said the series will premiere early 2024.
Elsewhere, Film I Väst CEO Michael Fellenius took the opportunity to announce the opening in August of the first Nordic large-scale virtual production studio in Trollhättan based on 12k laser projector technology developed by Barco. The project made in collaboration with Igelkott Studos, is meant to open up new markets and contribute to a sustainable film production in Västra Götaland region.
Film i Väst also launched its latest research paper, 'Creative Overload’ written by journalist and festival programmer Wendy Mitchell. The report looks at the "golden age of content" from the writers and directors' perspective, the pros and cons of the booming content market but also the greater divide between films for the big screen and series for VOD. Check the report here: www.analysis.filmivast.se
RELATED POST TO :
PRODUCTION /
FEATURE FILM /
SWEDEN