The Irene Huss TV series, flagship of Illusion Film's production slate, has secured the small independent production outfit both stability and credibility within the Nordic industry, ever since the first of 6x90' episodes -co-produced with Yellow Bird- was green-lit in 2007. The first series based on Helene Tursten's detective inspector Irene Huss was on the top 5 charts of Sweden's most rented and sold DVDs and brought handsome viewing ratings for broadcasters Kanal 5 in Sweden, DR in Denmark, TV2 Norway, MTV3 Finland and ARD in Germany that all signed up for the second season, co-produced again by Yellow Bird.
The six new feature films are based on novels and newly written short stories by Helen Tursten. According to Johan Fälemark, producer and co-founder of Illusion Film, the fifth film of the new 6x90' series starring again Angela Kovács as the charismatic female detective, is currently filming in Gothenburg. The first DVD of the series will be released by Nordisk Film during the summer and the series will then premiere on Sweden's Kanal 5 early 2013. Zodiak Media Group handles distribution in the rest of the world. Irene Huss 2 received production support from Nordisk Film & TV Fond.
Meanwhile Illusion Film's other co-founder and production partner Peter Hiltunen is busy supervising the current shooting of the family adventure film The Ice Dragon, (photo) based on Mikael Engström's August nominated eponymous novel. The film is adapted for the screen by Petra Revenue. First time director Högdahl describes it as a modern day hero's journey told from the perspective of an 11-year-old boy, and his quest to find a place in life he can call home. The film received production support from Nordisk Film & TV Fond. Nordisk Film will handle the domestic release in the spring 2012.
Illusion Film's other feature film Fuck Up is a gangster comedy by Øystein Karlsen, (writer/director of the popular Norwegian TV series Dag) starring Jon Øigarden, Tuva Novotny, Anders Baasmo Christiansen and Alte Antonsson. The €1.5m film currently in post-production is produced by Illusion Film's Hillevi Råberg with Anders Tangen from Norway's Viafilm. SF has Scandinavian rights.