Sigrid Dyekjaer on Real Lava’s boiling pot of international documentaries

Since she set up her own shingle Real Lava Films late 2021, with the backing from French group Newen, Oscar-nominated producer Sigrid Dyekjaer has had a clean sweep at A-list festivals.

After Alex Pritz’s Sundance selected The Territory and Guy Davidi’s Innocence (see separate story: CLICK HERE), currently screening at Venice’s Horizons competition, Real Lava Film’s doc biopic Merkel is having its world premiere at Telluride this week.

The film directed by UK-based German director Eva Weber, is a portrait of former German Chancellor Angela Merkel - her private and public life and rise to power until her retirement in 2021. “What is unique is that it tells what it is to be a leader, through Merkel’s perspective, thanks to never seen before archive material,” says Dyekjaer.

The film is produced with the UK (Passion Pictures, Odd Girl Out Productions), Germany’s LOOKS and Scotland’s Sonja Henrici Creates.

Cinenic handles sales and distributors attached so far include RTL (Germany), Curzon (UK), Madman (Australia and New Zealand), and Cineart (Benelux).

Merkel and Innocence are samples of event European documentaries with cinematic appeal, that Real Lava Film is bringing to the international market.

“We’re in a new era, with new ways to make documentaries,” says the director-driven producer who has worked on more than 30 productions, such as such Feras Fayyad’s Oscar-nominated The Cave, Jorgen Leth’s I Walk, Viktor Kossakovsky’s Aquarela and Mikala Krogh’s series Scandinavian Star.

“It’s a great time for producers and filmmakers as we have so many options between the streamers and traditional public support system. We can go where it makes sense for each film but we have to strategize. For instance, I’m producing right now a big film about Hungarian president Viktor Órban, and I will be approaching public broadcasters, because streamers are reluctant to touch anything political,” says Dyekjaer who goes on: “Our sector is being more professionalised, but producing ambitious documentaries [above the €1m mark such as Innocence] takes time and efforts, which is why I’m working increasingly as a team with 2-3 Europe-based international producers who know how to push films up, from local to global, and to combine the filmmaking craft to make a cinematic documentary” she said.

Thanks to the French group Newen Studios which owns 51% of her company, Dyekjaer can invest in her own films to kickstart the projects faster, bypassing if necessary public support.

Quite open about the financing of documentaries in the Nordics, the Danish producer feels the sector needs a profound shake-up. “I was brought up by the public service sector and wouldn’t be doing documentaries today without it, but the model needs to evolve. Public funders have to let go of the ties to local distribution when supporting a film, and public broadcasters can’t think only in terms of exclusivity. Flexibility is key, as the market is very fluid, and we do get our films out to local -and global-audiences by multiple ways,” Dyekjaer notes.

Davidi’s Innocence, which was initiated at the producer’s former home Danish Documentary, over a decade ago, was nevertheless financed with support from the Danish Film Institute (DFI), Nordisk Film & TV Fond, co-financing from DR, Yle and RÚV among others. The Venice Horizons entry will be released on the Danish public broadcaster most probably next year, after its festival run.

Real Lava’s other upcoming mega Danish project backed as well by the DFI and Nordisk Film & TV Fond among others is Missing Films, a portrait of Lars von Trier’s creative realm and influences, directed by his long-time friends, Tomas Gislason and Jacob Thuesen (see separate story: CLICK HERE).

Dyekjaer says the film will be much more than just a biopic. It will include notably miniature sets of iconic films that have inspired Trier, to illustrate his creative process.

Swiss production outfit Tilt Productions facilitated the financing of the miniature sets built in Switzerland, that took nearly a year to finalise. The film co-produced as well with Germany’s Heino Deckert (Ma.ja.de), has received support in Scandinavia from the public broadcasters TV2 Denmark, NRK and SVT. The fully financed film is due for delivery next year.

Other documentaries on Real Lava’s slate include A Song for Summer and Winter by Oscar-nominated Syrian filmmaker Talal Derki (Of Fathers and Sons) about a group of young women who try to create a play, addressing the daily struggles of women in Syria.

Then A Photographic Memory by US-based UK debut filmmaker Rachel Elizabeth Seed, is her own attempt to piece together a portrait of her mother, Sheila Turner-Seed, an avant-garde journalist who passed away when the director was a child. The film is being produced with L.A. based Bow & Arrow Entertainment.

Meanwhile at the upcoming Nordisk Panorama, Dyekjaer together with Newen Studios and the Ukrainian Institute will be hosting in Malmö on September 24, a unique Ukraine Delegation Presentation’ (by invitation only).

Seven Ukrainian projects in production or post-production, will be pitched by a director/producer team to potential European co-production partners (for more information CLICK HERE).

“In Ukraine, the war has put a dramatic stop to film financing, and we might lose a whole generation of filmmakers if we don’t come together and help them,” says Dyekjaer. “If there is one thing I have learned from making The Cave, it is that we produced it from Scandinavia, but we should have involved a Syrian producer. We have to collaborate with local filmmakers and producers as a team.”