The debuts films by Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel, Niclas Larsson and second films by Jonas Matzow Gulbrandsen, Ása Helga Hjörleifsdóttir will be pitched at the French festival.

The four Nordic projects are part of Les Arcs’ Co-Production Village industry event, unspooling December 15-18, 2018, parallel to the main festival (December 15-22).

  • Armand by Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel is produced by Norway’s Ape & Björn. The grandson of Ingmar Bergman and Liv Ullmann, Ullmann Tøndel has directed the acclaimed short film Bird Hearts (Best Short Film Nordisk Panorama 2016) and was second-unit director on Joachim Trier’s Thelma.

    Ape&Björn producer Ruben Thorkildsen says Armand is “a tense drama for a cinema loving adult audience, especially for parents with pre-school kids. It’s a story about the stories we tell ourselves and others, lies and concessions, and unconditional love.” At a parent-teacher meeting, single mom Elisabeth is confronted with the accusation that her 6-year-old son has assaulted his best friend. The mothers of the two boys clash violently, darkness falls outside the school, and the shadows of the past start creeping through the corridors. But who tells the truth?

    The project has received development money from the Norwegian Film Institute and is set to go into production early 2020. 
  • Pantylover (dot)com is the feature film debut of Swedish actor/writer/director Niclas Larsson, produced by Charlotte Most of Mostfilm.

    Larsson directed the short film Water (Novella Film/Audience award at Göteborg 2013), the Vogue sponsored short films Magic Diner & Magic Diner pt.II starring Alicia Vikander and works in commercials as well. His feature debut focuses on Mattias, a proclaimed ‘modern man’ who suddenly feels threatened in his beliefs and what he stands for, when his wife Karin decides to sell her used underwear to pay off a growing debt. It’s as much a comedy as a thriller,” said producer Most to nordicfilmandtvnews.com. “Ultimately, the film is about who really is the rightful-owner of the vagina. It is the one that wears it, or the one who shares it?”

    Pantylover (dot)com has received development support from the Swedish Film Institute. Production is scheduled to start in the fall 2019. 
  • Reply to a Letter from Helga is directed by award-winning director Ása Helga Hjörleifsdóttir (Swan) for Iceland’s ZikZak Productions. Her second feature is based on the eponymous novel by Bergseinn Birgisson, sold to a dozen territories. The novel won the Icelandic Bookseller Award and Prix du Cercle de L’Union Interalliée in France.

    When an aging farmer loses his wife, the floodgates of the past begin to crack. He writes a letter to his lover, the woman he could have followed to the city decades earlier. Did he betray his own heart by choosing his life in the countryside over love?

    As the end draws near the two women begin to haunt him: memories, forbidden thoughts and love itself washes over the old man as he stands alone, and the gap widens between what is, and what should have been. ZikZak producer Birgitta Bjornsdóttir will be looking at Les Arcs for 60% of the remaining financing for the €2.4m budget film.
  • Ashes & Snow is the latest feature project by Norwegian director Jonas Matzow Gulbrandsen (Valley of Shadows). Oslo Pictures’ Dyveke Graver is producing. Details will be unveiled at a later date.

Another 16 European projects looking for co-financing will be pitched at the skiing resort of Les Arcs.

The industry event will also host the first Talent Village (December 11-18) for European film school graduates. Danish director Thomas Vinterberg will act as godfather and give a masterclass.

The 10th Les Arcs festival has 10 features competing for the Crystal Arrow including Sweden’s Aniara by Pella Kågerman and Hugo Lilja. The Danish films The Saint Bernard Syndicate by Mads Brügger and That Time of Year by Paprika Steen are screening at the ‘Playtime’ section, the Swedish documentary The Raft by Marcus Lindeen at ‘Hauteur’, and the French/Finnish/Norwegian documentary Aïlo’s Journey at ‘Youth Screenings’.