Hvistendahl’s Handling the Undead is an Einar Film, Nordisk Film, Zentropa co-production, while Vilhunen’s Four Little Adults is produced by Tuffi Films.

Norway’s Handling the Undead is written by Swedish horror/thriller specialist John Ajvide Lindqvist (Let the Right One In, Border) from his own eponymous novel published in Sweden in 2005, translated into English in 2009. Pitched as the author’s own original twist on classic zombie tales, the way he brought a fresh take to the vampire genre with Let the Right One In, the story depicts the resurrection of the dead as part of people’s desire to keep their loved ones alive.

Producer Kristin Emblem at Einar Film told nordicfilmandtvnews.com: “The film is about accepting what we cannot control, and told through a multiple strand story where the characters experience how it could be to bring their loved ones back to life, if only for a short moment. It deals with loss, grief, but also hope,” she said.

Handling the Undead will be the feature film debut of commercials/documentary director Thea Hvistendahl, nominated at SXSW 2019 for her short film Virgin4lyfe. Her experimental music doc The Monkey and the Mouth (Adjø Montebello) won an Amanda Best Production Design 2018.

Emblem said the project which has received support from the Norwegian Film Institute, will be co-produced by Nordisk Film Norway and Denmark, together with Zentropa in Sweden.

“We are really pleased to be picked up for this year’s Co-Production Market. We are now in the process of financing the film and are aiming to start production late this year, so the participation in Berlin is an important part of that process,” said the producer.

Finland’s Four Little Adults will be the third feature film from acclaimed writer/director Selma Vilhunen, winner of a Crystal Bear 2019 from Berlin’s Generation 14plus for Stupid Young Heart and recipient of the prestigious Nordic Council Film Prize 2017 for Little Wing.

The project is described by Tuffi Films as “a sharp, funny and heartbreaking look into what contemporary love is.” When Juulia discovers that her beloved husband Matias is having an affair with a younger woman, she tries to save her marriage by offering him to live in polyamory. But then Juulia also falls for Miska (25), which adds spice and complexity to the love relationship. “In Four Little Adults, I am exploring what it means to explode the norms of monogamy, and at the same time desire a sense of security, of belonging,” said Vilhunen.

Principal photography for the €1.8 million project to be shot in Finnish and English language is set for October 2021. Tuffi Films’ Venla Hellstedt and Elli Toivoniemi serve as producers.

Three other Nordic projects will be introduced at the Berlinale Co-Production Market’s special strands.

  • Sweden’s England Made Me by Måns Månsson is among five projects part of the Berlinale Directors’ Projects. The project is produced by Jesper Kurlandsky of Fasad, in co-production with Kurban Kassam of Raucous Pictures, U.K.

    Cinematographer/director Månsson attended Berlin’s main competition in 2018 with The Real Estate, co-directed with Axel Petersén. His new project will be an updated screen version of Graham Greene’s Stockholm-set 1935 book of the same name, adapted in 1973 by filmmaker Peter Duffell.

    "Ever since first reading “England Made Me”, Måns has been obsessed with this tale of complete moral meltdown against the backdrop of Swedish hypocrisy. The film will be a dark comedy about what it means to be wrong or perhaps how to surf the selective morals of the 1%,” said Kurlandsky who wants to use Berlin “to give the production momentum and find two suitable co-production territories as well as a sales agent.” The project was pitched recently at Les Arcs Co-Production Village.
  • Finland’s Viva la Vida by Ulla Haikkilä (Eden) is among 10 titles selected for the Berlinale’s Talent Project Market. The film is produced by Marja Pihlaja of Tekele Productions.

    The comedy drama is set in the Spanish Costa del sol-based Finnish community of Fuengirola, known as ‘little Finland’. Pihlaja said she is looking for Scandinavian and Spanish co-producers for the project.
  • The Danish/German film Kaboul Jan by Shahrbanoo Sadat (Wolf & Sheep, The Orphanage) is part of the Rotterdam-Berlinale Express strand. Adomeit Film in Denmark and Adomeit in Germany are co-producing with Wolf Pictures, Afghanistan. The romantic comedy is the third film based on co-writer Anwar Hashimi’s autobiographical text. Set in Afghanistan, the story centres on a young camera operator who falls in love with a married TV reporter, twice her age. The project just won the €7,500 Filmmore Post-production Award in Rotterdam.