The Mole headlines DR Sales’ IDFA market premieres

Attending this week’s online IDFA industry event are Kim Christiansen, Executive Producer in charge of documentaries and co-productions, and Freja Johanne Nørgaard Sørensen, Executive Sales and Acquisition Manager.

Describing their line up and trends on the market to nordicfilmandtvnew.com, they said: “The market for high quality Nordic documentary films is very good. But it calls for films that are strong with a clear story and direction, as the overall view on the market tends to lean towards more “straight-forward docs” these days, and less towards creative and artistic docs.”

Top-lining DR Sales’ slate is The Mole, latest film by maverick Danish filmmaker Mads Brügger (The Ambassador, Cold Case Hammarsköld), produced by Wingman Media and Piraya Film. The film is the unlikely but true story of an ordinary guy from the suburbs of Copenhagen who comes across a conspiracy of international trading of illegal weapons, drugs, and other criminal activities, operated by North Korea. The Mole has already garnered a lot of global media attention when it premiered simultaneously on BBC, DR, NRK and SVT October 11^th.

The Attack (55') directed by Nils Giversen was launched on DR in March after its world premiere at CPH:DOX. The film about radicalisation was produced by Final Cut for Real’s Signe Byrge Sørensen. The Attack shows the harrowing course of events that led to Copenhagen terrorist attack of the Krudttønden community centre and synagogue five years ago, and sheds a new light on a dark chapter of Denmark's history.

Tiny Tim - King for a Day (75' & 58') directed by Johan von Sydow was produced by David Herdies, Michael Krotkiewski and Justin Martell for Momento Film, Sweden.The biographical musical doc just premiered on SVT November 11 and is having its US premiere this week at DOC NYC’s Sonic Cinema section. Von Sydow’s feature length is a unique portrait of the eccentric US showbiz artist Herbert Khaury through exclusive diaries and interviews, combined with animation and archive material.

Long, Live, Love (79', 60' & 2 x 28') selected at IDFA’s Best of Fests, is directed by Sine Skibsholt for Made in Copenhagen’s Helle Faber. The film world premiered at CPH:DOX and won the top prize at the Astra Film Festival. Long, Live, Love is a raw, gripping, and honest portrayal of a mother-daughter relationship under unimaginable pressure as the young girl Rosemarie has gone through cancer treatment.

The Soldier (58') is the feature length debut of stills photographer Nikola Møller, produced by Nordisk Film Spring Denmark’s Lina Flint (The Guilty).

Henrik, a Danish veteran from the war in Afghanistan lives in the Amazon jungle, and treats his PTSD with natural remedies and the world's strongest hallucinogenic drink, Ayahuasca. The film is the portrait of a broken man as he struggles in the jungle for three full years.

Beautiful Something Left Behind (89' & 58') by Award-winning Katrine Philp (False Confessions) picked up the Grand Jury Prize at South by Southwest 2020 and is screening this week at DOC NYC. MTV Documentary Films holds US rights.

The film produced by The Good Company is set in the Good Grief community in New Jersey, which offers a holistic approach to mourning. Philp has followed a group of six children who have recently lost their parents and must navigate their grief by embracing sadness with honesty, bravery, humour, and love.