Top Nordic directors take centre stage at CPH:WIP in Copenhagen

The curated programme put together by the five Nordic institutes, with the backing among others from Nordisk Film & TV Fond, was moderated by doc specialist Gitte Hansen.

Here are descriptions of five works in progress as one of the projects remains confidential.

• Nasrin’s Voice (Finland) by Kaisa Rastimo (Laura’s Room).
  Produced by Ella Ruohonen for Image Club (Solitaire Dance).
  Confirmed backers include the Finnish Film Foundation, AVEK, The Church Media Foundation, Regional Council of Kainuu, West Finland Film Commission, YLE, VGTV. Nasrin’s Voice won the Best Documentary Pitch at the last Finnish Film Affair in Helsinki.
  
  The film follows Kurdistan-born Nasrin (25) forced to marry a human trafficker when she was 13, who then gave birth to three children. Once established in Finland, she filed for divorce, but had to pay a harsh price, as her former husband abducted her three daughters and brought them to Iraq. The film consists of three storylines Nasrin in the present day, trying to get her daughters back from Iraq, her life as she rises from a child bride to an independent woman, and Nasrin’s text poems, as we meet her ‘inner voice’.
  
  Kaisa Rastimo said she hopes the film will empower other women and “inspire them to live the life they want to live.” Ella Ruohonen said she is looking for pre-sales and a sales agent at CPH:FORUM. The film will be ready in 2023.
• Project X (Norway/Germany/Sweden/Finland) by Tonje Hessen Schei (iHuman, Drone).
  Produced by Torstein Parelius, Ingrid Galadriel Aune Falch, Christian Aune Falch for Norway’s UpNorth Film, with Sweden’s Auto Images, Germany’s Ventana Films and Finland’s Making Movies.
  Confirmed financiers include the Norwegian Film Institute, Swedish Film Institute, Finnish Film Foundation, Regional Film Centre Norway, Freedom of Expression Foundation, The Bergesen Foundation, Arts Council Norway, Nordisk Film & TV Fond, AVEK, Al Jazeera, ZDF/ARTE, NRK, SVT, RTS, DR, YLE, YesDocu, Private funding USA.
  
  The film investigates what happens when US evangelical fundamentalists interpret the biblical Armageddon prophecy as fact, using it to influence US politics and financial support to Israel.
  
  Hessen Schei said at CPH:FORUM she spent five years doing research between the US, Palestine, and Israel with journalist Lee Fang as part of her investigative team. “Under the Donald Trump presidency, we’ve seen how dangerous the fundamentalist forces in the US are,” she said, referring to the US attack on Capitol Hill in 2021, perpetrated by some of the fundamentalists from the same community, filmed in Project X. The director said she hopes the film will create a dialogue between religious communities, and public awareness to fight fundamentalism. Hessen Schei said she is looking for pre-sales and further funding towards the editing. The premiere is scheduled for 2023.
• Resorts (Denmark/Sweden) by Mette Carla Albrechtsen (Venus).
  Produced by Rikke Tambo Andersen (Absolute Beginners, The Penultimate) for Bullitt Film, in co-production with Sweden’s Plattorm Produktion.
  Confirmed financiers include the Danish Film Institute, Swedish Film Institute, TV2, SVT, YLE, Nordisk Film & TV Fond, The Guardian, ARTE.
  
  At the south tip of Gran Canaria, the sun is always shining. Resorts captures the easy and complicated lives of six tourists that never left their holiday.
  
  “The idea for the film came from my own experience as travel rep in Gran Canaria when I was 22,” said Mette Carla Albrechtsen who got fascinated by the ‘stayers’ and decided to investigate “what it takes for someone to start a new life”.
  
  The pandemic which struck while she was filming, slightly hijacked the initial storytelling, as the resort where she was filming, decided to house 400 migrants from Africa to replace the usual holiday-dwellers.
  
  “The film is ultimately about different migrant stories in the broader sense, about people, wanting the same - a new life”, said the director who mentioned the biased attitude of westerners, opening arms today to Ukrainians fleeing war, while sending back home Syrian or Afghan refugees to unsafe destinations.
  
  Albrechtsen said she will use both observational doc techniques and tableaux to enhance the beauty of Gran Canaria. Producer Rikke Tambo Andersen said she is looking at CPH:FORUM for sales agents, festivals, as well as partners to put together a video installation. The premiere is set for 2023.

• Stayers (Norway, US) by Hannah Jayanti, Julia Dahr and Julie Lunde Lillesæter.
  Produced by Natalya Sarch (Differ Media) and Darcy McKinnon (Gusto Moving Pictures).
  Confirmed backers include the Norwegian Film Institute, Viken Regional Film Center, Fritt Ord Foundation, Bergesen Foundation, The Rogovy Foundation, Norwegian Arts Council, NRK.
  
  A tight-knit crabbing community in the U.S. fights to rescue their island from the sea. Despite not believing in man-made climate change, they engage in conversations with three climate activist filmmakers. Shot over a four-year period, the film is a self-reflective journey on opposite sides of the climate debate. The co-directors said they are looking for strong partners in the US and Europe. The premiere is set for early 2024.

• Vintersaga (Sweden) by Carl Olsson.
  Produced by Antonio Russo Merenda for Ginestra Film (Sabaya).
  Confirmed backers include the Swedish Film Institute, Swedish Arts Council, Filmpool Nord, Filmregion Sydost.
  
  The hybrid film Vintersaga is a song-structured homage to the Swedish melancholy. Through 24 stanzas the film observes a mosaic of situations and individuals in different parts of Sweden, each with their own doubts, memories and dreams, shaping a picture of a land tinged by the bitter cold wind.
  
  Carl Olsson who was inspired by the Swedish song of the same name ‘Vintersaga’, said the film describes everyday situations, away from the big cities and centre of attention. The observational and poetic doc is his personal attempt to define the contradictory notion of melancholy, easier to capture through the visual language than words.
  
  Antonio Russo Merenda feels the film has a strong international potential. “The audience will experience it like a cinematic DNA of a Scandi noir,” said the produce who is looking for sales agents, festivals and distribution partners at CPH:FORUM. The film in the editing stage, is due to be completed this fall.