Nordic titles and upcoming unique stories to keep an eye on

Plenty of Nordic titles are in the running for Cannes (whose selection is announced on April 10), Venice and Toronto.

It would be a major surprise if Joachim Trier’s latest feature Sentimental Value doesn’t make the cut for Cannes. The Danish-born Norwegian director was in competition with The Worst Person in The World (Verdens verste menneske) and Louder Than Bombs. His new family drama, starring Renate Reinsve alongside Elle Fanning and Stellan Skarsgård, is sold by MK2.

The Swedes have high hopes for Eagles of the Republic by Tarik Saleh, the final part of the director’s Cairo trilogy. Sold by Playtime, this could well be a Cannes competition contender. (The director was a Sundance Grand Jury prize winner for The Nile Hilton Incident and Cannes screenplay winner for Cairo Conspiracy (Walad min al-Janna), and so has very strong festival pedigree).

On the Danish front, dark comedy The Last Viking (Den sidste viking) by Anders Thomas Jensen, starring Mads Mikkelsen, could be ready by May. The project, about a bank robber and his brother in search of money buried after a heist, is set for a local release in October, but is already reportedly close to completion. TrustNordisk handles sales.

Also form Denmark, Emilie Thalund’s debut feature, coming of age drama Weightless, produced by Snowglobe; Kasper Kalle’s rugged 1860s-set romantic horror drama No Rest for the Wicked, produced for SF Studios and sold by Charades; Danish doc director Frederik Sølberg’s fictional debut, Hana Korea, sold by REinvent, and Christian Bonke’s Hercules Falling, about a traumatised Danish soldier, are all eyeing festival berths.

The Finns have two or three films they hope can break into A-list festivals later in the year. One made through leading production outfit Bufo is Markus Lehmusruusu’s The Squirrel (Orava), a dystopian futuristic drama set in a sterile world where humans exist without the company of animals or nature. Its hero, a designer of synthetic pets, stumbles by chance over one of the last living squirrels, and breaks the rules by trying to help it back into its natural habitat. This is sold by REinvent.

Another Finnish contender is Hanna Bergholm’s Nightborn (Yón lapsi), her follow-up to her psychological body horror Hatching (Pahanhautoja, 2022), which premiered at Sundance. The new film is a dark fable about a young mother who discovers something seriously wrong after her baby is born. Goodfellas and Anonymous Content are handling sales. With genre films like The Substance increasingly making waves at mainstream festivals, Nightborn might well be unleashed at an A-list event.

Iceland has two titles likely to be under consideration for the big festivals. Hlynur Pálmason’s sensitive new drama The Love That Remains (Ástin sem eftir er), sold by New Europe Film Sales and about parents navigating their separation, is very close to completion.

Also from Iceland, Ugla Hauksdóttir’s debut feature, romantic thriller The Fires (Eldarnir), tells the story of a top volcanologist dealing with upheaval and eruption in both her personal and professional lives. The film, sold by Bankside, should surface at a big festival in the summer or early autumn, perhaps in a sidebar section.

Another Norwegian title, A Prayer For The Dying, Dara Van Dusen’s gritty Western drama about Norwegian immigrants in 1870s Wisconsin, starring John C. Reilly and Johnny Flynn, should pique the curiosity of festival programmers. Producers Eye Eye Pictures have a strong track record of getting their projects into major festivals. New Europe Film Sales and Anton are representing the film.

Complaints have been heard in certain quarters about the large number of Second World War films from Norway - and yet these films do good business and often surface at festivals. Yet another one, Daniel Fahre’s Blücher, about Colonel Birger Eriksen's fateful decision to sink the German warship Blücher, is in the pipeline. This is set for release in September, and is considered a possible Toronto contender.

Also from Norway, Itonje Søimer Guttormsen’s second feature Butterfly, about two sisters dealing with their mother’s sudden death, could well appear at an autumn festival. So could another Norwegian title, Nina Knag’s Don’t Call Me Mama (Eva), about a high school teacher and wife of the town’s mayor who falls in love with a young asylum teacher. Sales are handled by REinvent.

Again from Norway, Mari Storstein’s drama My First Love (Min første kjærlighet), sold by TrustNordisk, about a young woman in a wheelchair experiencing first love, is likely to surface at a summer festival. It is produced by Joachim Trier collaborator Thomas Robsahm, also behind Loveable (Elskling) by Lilja Ingolfsdottir, which won five prizes in Karlovy Vary last year.

Another Norwegian title, Janicke Askevold’s Solo Mom (Solomamma), about a middle-aged journalist who becomes a single mother through a sperm donor, was well received as a work in progress at Les Arcs in December, and will be on the radars of festival programmers.

Again on the Swedish front, hopes are also high for Julia Thelin’s debut feature The Patron (Mecenaten). The director is one of of Sweden’s most talented short film directors. Her thriller comedy about an imposter in the art world should be ready for an early autumn festival, possibly sooner.

Looking further into the year, Swedish director Lisa Langseth’s romantic comedy The Dance Club, which has the redoubtable Pernilla August in the cast, will be ready by late summer. (Its Swedish release is set for October).

Meanwhile, Let It Rain (Regnmannen), the latest feature from veteran Swede Hannes Holm, director of A Man Called Ove (En man som heter Ove), should also be ready for the September festivals.

It is hoped, too, that Helsinki-based director Erol Mintaş’ Earth Song, about a Kuridsh-Finnish woman with a troubled past, produced through Helsinki outfit Sons Of Lumiere, might turn up at a summer festival.

Danish-based director Marijana Janković, also a well known actor, won best short at the 2019 Tribeca Festival with her film Maja. Her first feature, Home (Hjem), sold by TrustNordisk, is being tracked by festival programmers. This is the autobiographical story of a young girl who leaves the war-torn Balkans with her family, hoping to build a better life in Denmark. She becomes a successful artist, but feels sorrow about the sacrifices her parents have had to make.

Meanwhile, The Last Resort (Ø), directed by Norwegian auteur Maria Sødahl, whose cancer drama Hope (Håp) was at Toronto in 2019, will be vying for slots at the autumn festivals. This is a story about a family on holiday who meet a man in need of help, but then begin to fear for their safety as he becomes uncomfortably close to them.

Christoffer Boe’s 1920s-set cop drama Special Unit - The First Murder (Rejseholdet - Det første mord) is another Danish title sold by TrustNordisk that should be ready for the autumn festivals.