The feature debut of Ingmar Bergman and Liv Ullmann’s grandson is being produced by The Worst Person in the World’s Andrea Ottmar Berentsen for her outfit Eye Eye Pictures.
Writer/director Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel garnered international festival attention with his shorts Bird Hearts (best short film at Nordisk Panorama 2015) and Fanny (2018) nominated for an Amanda Award. He was also second unit AD on Joachim Trier’s Thelma.
The drama is set in an elementary school. On one of the last days before the summer holidays, something happens between the six-year-olds Armand and his best friend Jon. The parents are asked to attend a meeting at the school, but no one really knows what happened. Was this just a game between the two kids, or something much more serious?
Speaking earlier to us (Andrea Berentsen Ottmar sole Nordic Rep at Producers on the Move in Cannes) last year’s Norwegian Producer on the Move Berentsen Ottmar said: “It’s a story about boundaries - not mainly between the kids, but between the adults involved. Who decides where to set them? What is an assault, what is play, what is consent and what is privacy?”
In one of the title roles is Joachim Trier’s regular Renate Reinsve, named best actress in Cannes 2021 for her performance in The Worst Person in the World.
Trier serves as executive producer together with Eye Eye Pictures’ co-founder Dyveke Bjørkly Graver.
The film which just started filming is being co-produced by Sweden’s Prolaps Produktion, the Netherlands’ Keplerfilm, Germany’s One Two Film, with backing from Zefyr, Film i Väst, the Norwegian Film Institute, the Swedish Film Institute and Dutch Film Fund. Paris-based Charades handles global sales and Norsk Filmdistribusjon local distribution.
Highly anticipated feature projects on the recently launched Eye Eye Pictures include Trier’s - yet untitled - 6th feature film, co-written as usual with Eskil Vogt. The generational portrait of an Oslo-based family is produced with Norway’s Mer Film.
Eye Eye which produced Kristoffer Borgli's Sick of Myself plans to continue its collaboration with the director, and is preparing the launch later this year of Johanna Pyykkös’ debut feature Ebba.