Scanbox to handle Bergur Bernburg’s hybrid doc Storm Alerts

Veteran Oscar-nominated director/producer Friðriksson and producer Skúlason, are reunited with director Bergur Bernburg, who co-helmed with Friðriksson, the 2015 Toronto-selected doc biopic Horizons about the late Icelandic painter Georg Gudni Hauksson.

Here the partners are tackling the subject of mental illness through the portrait of Dr. Marteinn Helgi Sigurðsson, a PhD graduate in Old Norse Literature, working in his dream job at the University of Copenhagen.

Marteinn suddenly finds himself at a crossroads in his academic life, as he starts losing control. A storm is brewing in his mind, and he senses the enormous change coming.

Skúlason said Storm Alerts is a both a forensic investigation into Marteinn’s experiences, and a reconstruction of his mental state as a bi-polar person. “It shifts between a traditional documentary style project and a creative fantasy to give a visual idea of the state of the main character,” he told nordicfilmandtvnews.com.

Bernburg has written the script with seasoned screen writer Jon Atli Jónasson (The Deep, Arctic Circle) and Danish/Icelandic actor and theatre director Kristján Ingimarsson. The latter will interpret Marteinn in the scenes reconstructing the scholar’s mental episodes, while Danish actor Kurt Ravn will be playing a psychiatrist, analysing Marteinn, with direct quotes from the PhD graduate’s medical records.

Per Skúlason, to emphasise the contrasts between different states of the human mind, and to give the audience a unique insight into the universe of a bi-polar person, the visual style will be “colourful, extreme, fast and intense, far beyond what the audience is used to”. The weather and nature in Iceland, and the pulsing city life of Copenhagen, will also help visualise the main character’s mindset.

Firnindi’s CEO says the film should “touch the heart and the emotions of the international audience” as a unique glimpse into the mind of a person, suffering from mental illness.

Filming is due to start in the coming months between Copenhagen and Iceland.

Storm Alerts is produced by Firnindi Films in Iceland in co-production with Bernburg’s Copenhagen-based ResearchGruppen, and Sagafilm in Iceland. The film has received backing from the Icelandic Film Centre, Icelandic streamer Síminn, DR and Nordisk Film & TV Fond. Scanbox who boarded the project at an early stage, will handle the release in Denmark and other Nordic territories.