UK Projects by She Said’s writer, Black Crab’s director to be pitched in Haugesund

The four attractive UK projects in early stages of development are part of a UK Focus at Haugesund’s industry event New Nordic Films.

Haven is the next feature project by Swedish-born director Adam Berg and UK producer Christopher Granier-Deferre (Poisson Rouge Pictures), credited for Netflix’s Black Crab starring Noomi Rapace. The €3.5m horror thriller to be shot in English and Swedish, is based on a script by David Lemon (Containment).

“I’ve been involved with Haven from the outset when David Lemon the writer pitched it to me and my producing partner Rob Watson [The Power, Netflix’s The Strays],” Granier-Deferre told us.

In the story, Ionna and Petro are two unusual children - in fact, they are vampires who drink blood to survive. Helena, a social worker struggling after her son’s death, takes them in, unaware of their true nature. She only knows they need a family.

Granier-Deferre says he had very preliminary conversations with some partners in the UK but this is his first push into the market and first potential co-production with the Nordics. “I’ve worked in the Nordics before and loved it. The crews are wonderful, the actors are versatile and the different nations themselves offer up such a rich variety of locations,” said the seasoned producer credited as well for Lady Macbeth.

Another UK project with strong Nordic and international potential is the Viking epic Gunnar’s Daughter by seasoned UK writer Rebecca Lenkiewicz (She Said, Ida).

The €8m project (with no director yet attached) is being carried by Angeli MacFarlane of Script Cube Limited.

MacFarlane said she contacted Lenkiewicz after having read Nobel laureate Sigrid Undset’s 1909 novel of the same name. “I thought it was the most incredibly moving and powerful story and I decided to see if it was possible to set it up as a film", she told us.

The story set in 10th century Norway tells of Vigdis, daughter of the powerful landowner Gunnar. When she meets the young Viking Ljot, they immediately fall in love, but Gunnar doesn’t approve of the reckless youth and Vigdis must make a life-changing decision about Ljot.

MacFarlane says she was taken aback by the story’s strong contemporary resonance. “The story about a young woman who seeks to control her destiny and to own her own power through her choices, has as much importance and weight today as it did when it was written in the early 20th century,” said the producer who immediately thought of Lenkiewicz for the screen adaptation. “I believed she would understand Undset’s voice and the power of its main character. Rebecca immediately said yes and we have worked on this together since.”

The romantic epic co-produced by Glasgow-based Rosie Crerar and Ciara Barry of Barry Crerar has received support from the British Film Institute. “We are now in a position to build relationships beyond the UK funding,” said MacFarlane. “We already have co-producers in Scotland, and as the project is set in Norway and Iceland, it is important for us to be in close contact with potential Nordic producers and financiers who might also share our vision for this incredible film,” she added.

The two other UK projects The DJ and Who Goes There are directed by Norwegian promising filmmaking talents based in the UK.

The comedy road movie The DJ is written and directed by Glasgow-based Joern Utkilen, who made his feature debut with Ape & Bjørn's Lake Over Fire

The €1.5m project is being produced by Scotland-based Carolynne Sinclair Kidd of Hopscotch Films who collaborated earlier with the director on two Film 4 funded shorts.

The project is a darkly comedic road movie about a lustful DJ and the daughter he didn’t know he had. The film “asks uncomfortable questions about men’s behaviour, and never lets the antihero off the hook,” according to production notes.

Sinclair Kidd says she is looking for Nordic co-producers to work with creatively and financially on the comedy in early stages of development.

Finally, Who Goes There is the feature-length version of Astrid Thorvaldsen’s graduation short film of the same name, shortlisted for a student Bafta L.A, to be written again by William Gilles. Set in Minnesota in 1880, the horror western tells of three Norwegian sisters whose trust is tested when a stranger suddenly appears on their prairie. When the eldest invites him in to heal her dying sister, she doesn't realise that a supernatural force is crossing her threshold.

The €3.5m project is being produced by Helen Gladders of London-based Gingerbread Pictures, with Pulse Films’ Oskar Pimlott (American Honey).

The Special UK Focus in Haugesund is a two-year initiative organised by New Nordic Films, in cooperation with the British Film Institute, The Norwegian Embassy in London, The British Embassy in Norway and the British Council.

Lars-Erik Hauge, Counsellor for Culture, Communication & Business Promotion at the Royal Norwegian Embassy in London said: "The Embassy welcomes this two-year focus on the UK at New Nordic Films, organised in partnership with the BFI. As co-operation between the Norwegian and UK screen sectors continues to develop, the Embassy will explore how we can help build on this great initiative together with all those involved.”
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