Exclusive: The second distribution deal in two weeks with a Swedish production house signals Nordisk Film’s ambition to be a leading creative powerhouse in the Nordics.

The deal with B-Reel Films (BRF) covers Scandinavian distribution and international sales of its upcoming feature films. The company headed by Fredrik Heinig, has produced Jane Magnusson’s Cannes Classics entry Bergman-A Year in a Life, as well as Lisa Langseth’s Euphoria starring Alicia Vikander, Pernilla August’s A Serious Game and the TV series Before We Die among others.

The first title part of the 5-pic deal with Nordisk Film Distribution will be a film adaptation of the Swedish best-selling book Egenmägtig fortfarende (Wilful Disregard) by Swedish author/journalist Lena Andersson. The book with the subtitle ‘A Novel about Love’ won the prestigious Swedish August Prize and was sold to more than 20 territories. Johan Kling (Darling) is attached to direct.

Nordisk Film Distribution’s deal with BRF comes a couple of weeks after another output deal with Colin Nutley and Helena Bergström’s Sweetwater Production that covers both film and TV drama for a period of three years.

Korslund, VP Acquisitions and Coproduction at Nordisk Film said: “We are going all-in at our local markets. There are loads of visionary, inspired and experienced filmmakers and production companies in the Nordic countries, and we want to be the ideal partner to them. We are working on a number of big Nordic titles with local creative talents that have the potential to reach a large international audience as well. Finding and developing the stories that have a truly broad impact is our key goal,” she asserted.

Korslund is also spearheading Nordisk Film Distribution’s new strategy to be more aggressive upstream by scouting and developing Nordic films and TV dramas with independent producers, parallel to their in-house productions. Kenneth Wiberg, Senior Vice President and Managing Director, Nordisk Film Distribution said ‘being only a distributor is not sufficient anymore’.

His ambition for his company is to be more pro-active in the development of commercially-oriented Nordic content to feed the growing demand from cinemas, TV stations and OTT services. (See separate interview).

Two other prominent IPs have been acquired by Nordisk Film: My grandmother asked me to tell you she’s sorry by the author of A Man Called Ove Fredrik Backman, and How to fall in love with a man who lives in a bush by Emmy Abrahamsson, which tells the story of a successful woman who falls in love with a homeless man.