Haugesund closes with best pitch prize to Amanda Kernell’s The Curse-a Love Story

With The Curse-A Love Story, Swedish director Amanda Kernell goes back to her Sámi roots, first explored in her breakthrough debut Sámi Blood.

The main character-the young female reindeer herder Maidi relies on the leader of her community, Heikka, who has a crush on her. When Maidi falls in love with Heikka’s cousin, Heikka gives her a curse. The young girl has to break it to set free.

During her pitch in Haugesund with her producer Eva Åkergren (Nordisk Film), Kernell asked the 200+ industry delegates: “Does anyone know how to break a curse? You have either to confront the person [who inflicted the curse] or break free,” said the director who herself believed she was cursed, aged 21, and moved away.

“With this film, I want to explore how to get rid of trauma, abuse, and a curse,” explained the director who wants to deliver a message of hope. “It’s a film about healing, which is what we need,” she said.

The jury of the Co-production Market consisting of Nordisk Film & TV Fond CEO Liselott Forsman, the Sundance Film Festival’s Heidi Zwicker, the Rotterdam Film Festival’s Inke van Loocke and writer/director/producer Hisham Zaman, praised Kernell’s pitch for being “deeply personal and truly compelling.”

“It promises a unique story about love in a lonely world, focusing on healing rather than victimizing as it allows us into a young woman's journey into breaking a curse. We were impressed by the vision, depth, and sincerity of the project and by the clear collaboration between writer-director Amanda Kernell and producer Eva Åkergren.”

The €4m project is being co-produced by Forest People, with support - for now - from the Swedish Film Institute, Nordisk Film and Filmpool Nord and the International Sami Film Institute . Filming around Kiruna, Swedish Lapland, is due to start in the summer 2024.

HOPE
The Curse-A Love Story was among an impressive slate of 24 projects that often used the genre form to tackle stories of resilience and transformative journeys full of hope.

Buzzed about features included the UK projects Gunnar’s Daughter, Who Goes There, Denmark’s Bestiere, Norway’s Stargate, Pesta, Zarzis, Sweden’s Nipster, The Home, and the documentary Souls of Tape.

Projects in the works in progress that enthused New Nordic Films’ delegates include Thea Hvistendahl’s atmospheric chiller Handling the Undead - presold by TrustNordisk to numerous territories, Dag Johan Haugerud’s drama trilogy Sex Dreams Love, Richard Holm’s disaster movie The Abyss handled by REinvent on behalf of SF Studios, the family drama comedies Biru Unjárga by Egil Pedersen, and Better Times by Milad Avaz.

“There was a great combination of commercial films and potential festival pleasers,” said The Yellow Affair’s Steven Bestwick who was also chasing six projects from the Co-Production Market.

Long-time Nordic film buyer Albert Yao of Taiwan’s Swallow Wings for his part was pleased to have watched footage of the recently acquired Handling the Undead. “New Nordic Films is unmissable if you want to discover the next gems from the North,” he said.

Meanwhile Haugesund’s Norwegian International Film Festival unveiled on Thursday the winners of its four awards:

Listen Up! by Norwegian/Iranian director Kaveh Tehrani won The Ray of Sunshine from the Norwegian exhibitors

“The film is a warm and liberating look at a family's everyday life, and how unity is challenged when challenges arise…It is colourful, has a broad target audience and is based on a book that many people got excited about a few years ago. We all left the cinema smiling and hoping and believing that the film will have a long life at the cinema,” said the jurors who also highlighted Aki Kaurismäki’s Fallen Leaves.

The Danish drama Tove’s Room by Martin Zandvliet won the Audience Award, Neighbours by Mano Khalil won the Critics Award and Norwegian Offspring by Danish promising talent Marlene Emilie Lyngstad won the Next Generation Award.

Lyngstad who won the Cinef award in Cannes for her short film, will soon take part in the Nordic Talents event in Copenhagen with her next project Great Acts of Humiliation.

For full details on the films pitched at the Co-Production Market and Works in Progress, check https://www.newnordicfilms.no/