Establishing herself as one of the world’s few Arctic Circle feature film producers, having set up shop in Norway’s Tromsø, former Mer Films production exec Elisa Fernanda Pirir is launching her own production company, Staer, which is backing productions by Morocco’s Nabil Ayouch and Colombia’s Juan Carlos Arango, among others, as she also develops her first titles by Sami talent.
Born in Guatemala, Pirir is joined at Staer by KriStine Ann Skaret, behind the award-winning film “Villagers and Vagabonds” (2020), the co-production “Aswang” (2019) and the premiere-ready “Not That Kind of Guy” (2022).
Born in Guatemala but moving to northern Norway in 2007, Pirir joined Mer Film, the company behind Jorunn Myklebust Syversen’s “Disco” Eskil Vogt’s “The Innocents” and Ole Giæver’s “Ellos eatnu – Let the River Flow,” which plays in Nordic Competition at this year’s Goteborg Film Festival. Mer also co-produced Jonas Poher Rasmussen’s Oscar-nominated documentary “Flee.
Born in Guatemala, Pirir is joined at Staer by KriStine Ann Skaret, behind the award-winning film “Villagers and Vagabonds” (2020), the co-production “Aswang” (2019) and the premiere-ready “Not That Kind of Guy” (2022).
Born in Guatemala but moving to northern Norway in 2007, Pirir joined Mer Film, the company behind Jorunn Myklebust Syversen’s “Disco” Eskil Vogt’s “The Innocents” and Ole Giæver’s “Ellos eatnu – Let the River Flow,” which plays in Nordic Competition at this year’s Goteborg Film Festival. Mer also co-produced Jonas Poher Rasmussen’s Oscar-nominated documentary “Flee.
- 1/18/2023
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
Mer Film, the well-established Norwegian film production banner, is reteaming with “Sami Boy” filmmaker Elle Sofe Sara on her feature debut “Arru.” The project will be pitched for the first time at the virtual Nordic Film Market, the industry program of the Goteborg Film Festival, whose full lineup has just been unveiled.
“Arru” is a musical drama set in Kautokeino, a small Sami village in Northern Norway. The film tells the journey of Kari, a Sami artist and single parent who is dragged along with her son into an activist campaign against the development of mines in reindeer herding areas. As the battle against the mines escalates, Kari meets a young girl who brings back a painful memory from her youth, when she lied to protect a family member. The film explores the issue of abuse within the Sami herding community.
Elisa Fernanda Pirir Ruiz, who is producing “Arru” at Mer Film,...
“Arru” is a musical drama set in Kautokeino, a small Sami village in Northern Norway. The film tells the journey of Kari, a Sami artist and single parent who is dragged along with her son into an activist campaign against the development of mines in reindeer herding areas. As the battle against the mines escalates, Kari meets a young girl who brings back a painful memory from her youth, when she lied to protect a family member. The film explores the issue of abuse within the Sami herding community.
Elisa Fernanda Pirir Ruiz, who is producing “Arru” at Mer Film,...
- 1/19/2021
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Maria Sødahl’s “Hope” has been selected to represent Norway in the Oscar’s international feature film race.
The film was selected by the Norwegian Oscar Committee out of three candidates which included “Disco” by Jorunn Myklebust Syversen, and the documentary “Self Portrait” by Espen Wallin, Katja Høgset and Margreth Olin.
Represented in international markets by TrustNordisk, “Hope” won the European Cinemas Label Award at this year’s Berlin Film Festival after world premiering at Toronto. It was just nominated for a pair of European Film Awards and was released in Sweden across 90 theaters.
“Hope” marks Sødahl’s follow up to “Limbo” and is a personal film based on what she went through after being diagnosed with terminal brain cancer years ago.
The heartfelt drama stars Stellan Skarsgard and Andrea Braein Hovig (“All the Beauty”) as a couple with a large blended family whose lives break down when the wife...
The film was selected by the Norwegian Oscar Committee out of three candidates which included “Disco” by Jorunn Myklebust Syversen, and the documentary “Self Portrait” by Espen Wallin, Katja Høgset and Margreth Olin.
Represented in international markets by TrustNordisk, “Hope” won the European Cinemas Label Award at this year’s Berlin Film Festival after world premiering at Toronto. It was just nominated for a pair of European Film Awards and was released in Sweden across 90 theaters.
“Hope” marks Sødahl’s follow up to “Limbo” and is a personal film based on what she went through after being diagnosed with terminal brain cancer years ago.
The heartfelt drama stars Stellan Skarsgard and Andrea Braein Hovig (“All the Beauty”) as a couple with a large blended family whose lives break down when the wife...
- 11/12/2020
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
The 21st European Film Festival also awarded trophies to Disco, Scandinavian Silence, Sister and Lara, while the Cineuropa Prize went to Open Door. The French title Twelve Thousand has been crowned Best Film at the 21st Lecce European Film Festival, an event which unfolded entirely online this year, between 31 October and 7 November, in full compliance with anti-Covid health regulations. Awarding the Golden Olive Tree to Nadège Trebal’s film, the jury presided over by Katriel Schory and composed of Beatrice Fiorentino, Mathilde Henrot, Antonio Saura and Mira Staleva also honoured Disco by Jorunn Myklebust Syversen for its screenplay and Scandinavian Silence by Martti Helde for its photography. Meanwhile, Svetla Tsotsorkova’s Sister and Jan-Ole Gerster’s Lara found themselves joint winners of the Special Jury Prize. The latter also claimed the Sngci Award for Best European Actor, courtesy of Corinna Harfouch. For its part, the Mario Verdone Award, which is now.
"I think I'm getting punished for not... for not leading a good enough life." 1091 Pictures has unveiled an official US trailer for a Norwegian drama titled Disco, which originally premiered at the Toronto and San Sebastian Film Festivals last year. The film stars Josefine Frida Pettersen as a 19-year-old young woman who is a champion in disco freestyle dance and the stepdaughter of a charismatic evangelical pastor. When she begins to falter, her family questions her faith and prompts her to search for more radical solutions, and she ends up lured by a highly conservative Christian sect - which might actually be a death cult. The full cast includes Andreas Preus Efskin, Espen Reboli Bjerke, and Nicolai Cleve Broch. This almost looks like Norway's version of Midsommar, though about a dancer instead of an American woman. Creepy stuff. Here's the official US trailer (+ poster) for Jorunn Myklebust Syversen's Disco,...
- 9/17/2020
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
Jan Naszewski’s Warsaw-based sales outlet New Europe Film Sales has acquired world rights for the upcoming drama “Leave No Traces,” from acclaimed Polish director Jan P. Matuszyński (“The Last Family”), produced by Aurum Film, the production house behind Jan Komasa’s Oscar-nominated “Corpus Christi.”
“Leave No Traces” is based on the real-life story of a young man who witnesses the fatal beating of his friend by the police in ‘80s Warsaw. Determined to testify about the killing in court, he must stand up to the full force of Poland’s communist regime.
Pic is produced by Leszek Bodzak and Aneta Hickinbotham for Aurum Film, in coproduction with Canal+ Polksa and Mikuláš Novotný’s Background Films (Czech Republic), with the support of the Polish Film Institute and the Czech Film Fund. The film is slated to premiere in 2021. Kino Świat will release in Poland.
Matuszyński’s last feature, “The Last Family,...
“Leave No Traces” is based on the real-life story of a young man who witnesses the fatal beating of his friend by the police in ‘80s Warsaw. Determined to testify about the killing in court, he must stand up to the full force of Poland’s communist regime.
Pic is produced by Leszek Bodzak and Aneta Hickinbotham for Aurum Film, in coproduction with Canal+ Polksa and Mikuláš Novotný’s Background Films (Czech Republic), with the support of the Polish Film Institute and the Czech Film Fund. The film is slated to premiere in 2021. Kino Świat will release in Poland.
Matuszyński’s last feature, “The Last Family,...
- 3/4/2020
- by Christopher Vourlias
- Variety Film + TV
The Tokyo International Film Festival will this year give over most of its competition section to films from outside East Asia. This contrasts to previous editions with a strong presence from the region.
The festival, which will hold its 32nd edition next month, announced its lineup Thursday. Of the 14 announced films for competition, only two – Wang Rui’s “Chaogtu With Sarula” (China) and Paul Soriano’s ”Mananita” (Philippines) – are from East Asia.
Korean films are noticeably absent this year, a situation that may reflect the acute political tensions between Tokyo and Seoul.
Others in the competition are Valentyn Vasyanovych’s “Atlantis” and Jorunn Myklebust Syversen’s “Disco,” which both screened at Toronto. The competition also includes Saeid Rustai’s “Just 6.5,” Jayro Bustamante’s “La Llorona,” Nunzia De Stefano’s “Nevia” and Dominik Moll’s “Only the Animals,” which were all pickups from Venice.
The two Japanese films in the competition...
The festival, which will hold its 32nd edition next month, announced its lineup Thursday. Of the 14 announced films for competition, only two – Wang Rui’s “Chaogtu With Sarula” (China) and Paul Soriano’s ”Mananita” (Philippines) – are from East Asia.
Korean films are noticeably absent this year, a situation that may reflect the acute political tensions between Tokyo and Seoul.
Others in the competition are Valentyn Vasyanovych’s “Atlantis” and Jorunn Myklebust Syversen’s “Disco,” which both screened at Toronto. The competition also includes Saeid Rustai’s “Just 6.5,” Jayro Bustamante’s “La Llorona,” Nunzia De Stefano’s “Nevia” and Dominik Moll’s “Only the Animals,” which were all pickups from Venice.
The two Japanese films in the competition...
- 9/26/2019
- by Mark Schilling
- Variety Film + TV
Wash Westmoreland Heads Lff Jury; Polanski Added To Efa List; Tokyo Fest Competition — Global Briefs
Colette director Wash Westmoreland will head this year’s BFI London Film Festival (Lff) main jury. He will be joined by Game Of Thrones actress Lena Headey, Egyptian writer and producer Mohamed Hefzy, I, Daniel Blake actress Hayley Squires, director Sudabeh Mortezai (whose Joy won last year’s Lff Competition) and magazine editor Jane Crowther. The Lff First Feature Competition jury will be led by Jessica Hausner, whose Little Joe screens at this year’s fest. Joining her are filmmaker Shola Amoo, whose The Last Tree was at Sundance this year, playwright Theresa Ikoko, and Lilting director Hong Khaou. The festival’s Documentary Competition will be overseen by Strong Island director Yance Ford, with outgoing DocLisboa head Cintia Gil, soon to take over at Sheffield Doc/Fest, and Skate Kitchen producer Julia Nottingham. Finally, the short film jury consists of filmmakers Amrou Al-Kadhi and Mark Jenkin, actor Alex Lawther, and actress and writer Marli Siu.
- 9/26/2019
- by Tom Grater
- Deadline Film + TV
San Sebastian — In San Sebastian with two high-profile films, Jorunn Myklebust Syversen’s “Disco” and Mariko Bobrik’s “The Taste of Pho,” Polish sales agent New Europe Film Sales has announced the acquisition of world sales rights on upcoming Chile-Poland co-production “Blanquita,” from director Fernando Guzzoni (“Jesus”).
It’s the first time that Chile and Poland have exclusively co-produced a feature together.
Having previously participated at the Berlinale’s Co-Production Market and Venice’s Financing Gap Market and backed by support from Hubert Bals and the Chilean National Production Fund, the buzzed-up production will shoot in Chile, Spring 2020.
Giancarlo Nasi at Rampante Films, one of Chile’s foremost film producers, produces out of Chile with Klaudia Smieja’s Madants from Poland. Rampante comes to San Sebastian hot off the success of its Venice Orizzonti Award-winning “Blanco en blanco” from director Théo Court. Madants recently backed Claire Denis’ 2018 science fiction hit “High Life.
It’s the first time that Chile and Poland have exclusively co-produced a feature together.
Having previously participated at the Berlinale’s Co-Production Market and Venice’s Financing Gap Market and backed by support from Hubert Bals and the Chilean National Production Fund, the buzzed-up production will shoot in Chile, Spring 2020.
Giancarlo Nasi at Rampante Films, one of Chile’s foremost film producers, produces out of Chile with Klaudia Smieja’s Madants from Poland. Rampante comes to San Sebastian hot off the success of its Venice Orizzonti Award-winning “Blanco en blanco” from director Théo Court. Madants recently backed Claire Denis’ 2018 science fiction hit “High Life.
- 9/24/2019
- by Jamie Lang
- Variety Film + TV
Jan Naszewski’s New Europe Film Sales has signed several distribution deals on “Disco,” which had its world premiere in Toronto Film Festival’s Discovery section and makes its European premiere in San Sebastian’s New Directors competition.
The film has been picked up by Palace for Australia and New Zealand, Artcam for Czech Republic and Slovakia, Kino Pavasaris for Lithuania, and Ost for Paradis for Denmark. The production company, Mer Film, releases the pic in Norway.
Jorunn Myklebust Syversen’s film stars Josefine Frida Pettersen, best known for her performance in Norwegian series “Skam.” She plays a disco dance champion and poster girl for the evangelical movement who then joins an even more radical church.
The film was produced by Maria Ekerhovd of Tromso-based Mer Film (“What Will People Say”), who also produced Syversen’s first feature, the comedy-drama “Hoggeren.”...
The film has been picked up by Palace for Australia and New Zealand, Artcam for Czech Republic and Slovakia, Kino Pavasaris for Lithuania, and Ost for Paradis for Denmark. The production company, Mer Film, releases the pic in Norway.
Jorunn Myklebust Syversen’s film stars Josefine Frida Pettersen, best known for her performance in Norwegian series “Skam.” She plays a disco dance champion and poster girl for the evangelical movement who then joins an even more radical church.
The film was produced by Maria Ekerhovd of Tromso-based Mer Film (“What Will People Say”), who also produced Syversen’s first feature, the comedy-drama “Hoggeren.”...
- 9/16/2019
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
Religious extremism and its cult-like symptoms are of intense interest to filmmaker Jorunn Myklebust Syversen, her two feature films, Hoggeren (The Three Feller) and Disco offering ample evidence of this. The two films portray cultural manipulation from the top down, with the hierarchies of religious institutions providing the confinements for their leading characters. Premiering at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, Disco links professional shortcomings to a lack of belief in the holy spirit. Disco tells the story of 19-year-old Mirjam, a world champion freestyle disco dancer whose stepfather serves as pastor of the local church, Freedom. Once Mirjam’s success in […]...
- 9/11/2019
- by Erik Luers
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
Religious extremism and its cult-like symptoms are of intense interest to filmmaker Jorunn Myklebust Syversen, her two feature films, Hoggeren (The Three Feller) and Disco offering ample evidence of this. The two films portray cultural manipulation from the top down, with the hierarchies of religious institutions providing the confinements for their leading characters. Premiering at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, Disco links professional shortcomings to a lack of belief in the holy spirit. Disco tells the story of 19-year-old Mirjam, a world champion freestyle disco dancer whose stepfather serves as pastor of the local church, Freedom. Once Mirjam’s success in […]...
- 9/11/2019
- by Erik Luers
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
Contemporary, commercial Christian spaces are under the microscope in Disco, Norwegian filmmaker Jorunn Myklebust Syversen’s sophomore feature, which opens on an image of teenage disco dancer Mirjam (Josefine Frida Pettersen) drowning in a Christ-like pose and ends on a similar image recontextualized as some form of post-exorcism relief. The film between these bookends is a bit more subtle, though not by much.
The film’s first half operates in a sort of soft, artificial glow of both modern dance and the more capitalist side of Christian worship and never loses sight of Mirjam. We experience each of her domestic rituals in these environments from her Pov including attending mass (which depending on which church can look very different), singing Christian pop/rock ballads in a youth group, practicing dance, and consuming an assortment of Christian television programming and podcasts reassuring her that things can get better. What’s wrong exactly?...
The film’s first half operates in a sort of soft, artificial glow of both modern dance and the more capitalist side of Christian worship and never loses sight of Mirjam. We experience each of her domestic rituals in these environments from her Pov including attending mass (which depending on which church can look very different), singing Christian pop/rock ballads in a youth group, practicing dance, and consuming an assortment of Christian television programming and podcasts reassuring her that things can get better. What’s wrong exactly?...
- 9/7/2019
- by The Film Stage
- The Film Stage
The teachings of Jesus get seriously busy on the dance floor in Disco, a strange, surprising and increasingly unnerving second feature from writer-director Jorunn Myklebust Syversen (The Tree Feller) that premiered in Toronto’s Discovery section.
Set between the creepy confines of Norway’s Christian evangelist community and a series of extravagant dance competitions where Abba, Skrillex and Starlight Express come improbably crashing together, the story follows 19-year-old disco champ Mirjam — impressively played by Josefine Frida, who starred in the hit TV series Skam — as she struggles with questions of faith and family while doing plenty of acrobatic depth-defying ...
Set between the creepy confines of Norway’s Christian evangelist community and a series of extravagant dance competitions where Abba, Skrillex and Starlight Express come improbably crashing together, the story follows 19-year-old disco champ Mirjam — impressively played by Josefine Frida, who starred in the hit TV series Skam — as she struggles with questions of faith and family while doing plenty of acrobatic depth-defying ...
The teachings of Jesus get seriously busy on the dance floor in Disco, a strange, surprising and increasingly unnerving second feature from writer-director Jorunn Myklebust Syversen (The Tree Feller) that premiered in Toronto’s Discovery section.
Set between the creepy confines of Norway’s Christian evangelist community and a series of extravagant dance competitions where Abba, Skrillex and Starlight Express come improbably crashing together, the story follows 19-year-old disco champ Mirjam — impressively played by Josefine Frida, who starred in the hit TV series Skam — as she struggles with questions of faith and family while doing plenty of acrobatic depth-defying ...
Set between the creepy confines of Norway’s Christian evangelist community and a series of extravagant dance competitions where Abba, Skrillex and Starlight Express come improbably crashing together, the story follows 19-year-old disco champ Mirjam — impressively played by Josefine Frida, who starred in the hit TV series Skam — as she struggles with questions of faith and family while doing plenty of acrobatic depth-defying ...
Variety has exclusive access to the English-language trailer for Norwegian feature “Disco” by Jorunn Myklebust Syversen, set to world premiere in Toronto’s Discovery program, before heading off to San Sebastian’s New Directors’ competition.
Syversen’s sophomore feature after “Tree Feller” is sold by New Europe Film Sales.
Toplining the cast is “Skam” actress Josefine Frida who has just been picked by Toronto as a “rising star” alongside three emerging international acting talents.
In her feature debut, “Disco”, Frida plays Mirjam, a 19-year-old freestyle disco dancing champion and poster girl for an evangelical movement, who later on joins an even more radical church.
Co-stars include Nicolai Cleve Broch (“Beforeigners”), Andrea Bræn Hovig (“Hope”) and Kjærsti Odden Skjeldal. The film is produced by Mer Film’s Maria Ekerhovd, behind Iram Haq’s “What Will People Say”.
“I’m really looking forward to showing the film to the audiences in Toronto and San Sebastian,...
Syversen’s sophomore feature after “Tree Feller” is sold by New Europe Film Sales.
Toplining the cast is “Skam” actress Josefine Frida who has just been picked by Toronto as a “rising star” alongside three emerging international acting talents.
In her feature debut, “Disco”, Frida plays Mirjam, a 19-year-old freestyle disco dancing champion and poster girl for an evangelical movement, who later on joins an even more radical church.
Co-stars include Nicolai Cleve Broch (“Beforeigners”), Andrea Bræn Hovig (“Hope”) and Kjærsti Odden Skjeldal. The film is produced by Mer Film’s Maria Ekerhovd, behind Iram Haq’s “What Will People Say”.
“I’m really looking forward to showing the film to the audiences in Toronto and San Sebastian,...
- 8/16/2019
- by Annika Pham
- Variety Film + TV
Film will have its European premiere in San Sebastian’s New Directors competition.
Warsaw-based New Europe Film Sales has picked up international rights to Jorunn Myklebust Syversen’s Norwegian drama Disco. The film will have its European premiere in San Sebastian’s New Directors competition.
Disco stars Josefine Frida Pettersen, who has come to prominence through the global success of Norwegian web series Skam. In Disco she plays a dance champion and poster girl for an evangelical movement who, after collapsing at a competition, starts looking for answers in an even more radical church.
The project was backed by the...
Warsaw-based New Europe Film Sales has picked up international rights to Jorunn Myklebust Syversen’s Norwegian drama Disco. The film will have its European premiere in San Sebastian’s New Directors competition.
Disco stars Josefine Frida Pettersen, who has come to prominence through the global success of Norwegian web series Skam. In Disco she plays a dance champion and poster girl for an evangelical movement who, after collapsing at a competition, starts looking for answers in an even more radical church.
The project was backed by the...
- 7/30/2019
- by Tom Grater
- ScreenDaily
Hot projects include Runar Runarsson’s Echo, Grimur Hakonarson’s The County and Hlynur Palmason’s A White, White Day.
The three Icelandic films presented at Goteborg’s Works In Progress were some of the most buzzed about by festival programmers and buyers.
Runar Runarsson’s Echo is a stylistic departure for the Volcano and Sparrows director. He paints a portrait of contemporary society by presenting 59 difference scenes, in a mix of fiction and documentary. Jour2Fete handles sales.
The County will mark Grimur Hakonarson’s follow-up to his international hit Rams. The film, previously pitched at Les Arcs’ works in progress,...
The three Icelandic films presented at Goteborg’s Works In Progress were some of the most buzzed about by festival programmers and buyers.
Runar Runarsson’s Echo is a stylistic departure for the Volcano and Sparrows director. He paints a portrait of contemporary society by presenting 59 difference scenes, in a mix of fiction and documentary. Jour2Fete handles sales.
The County will mark Grimur Hakonarson’s follow-up to his international hit Rams. The film, previously pitched at Les Arcs’ works in progress,...
- 2/4/2019
- by Wendy Mitchell
- ScreenDaily
Goteborg — The 20th Nordic Film Market, held parallel to the Göteborg Film Festival, closed Sunday after three days of screenings and pitchings of 48 Nordic films and projects. Following, five key takeaways or trends:
Standout Nordic Brand Quality
An excellent crop, better than 2018, with a large diversity of content, catering to arthouse/mainstream as well as local/international audiences – these were prevailing reactions from international buyers and programmers polled yesterday in Göteborg. A senior A festival programmer – who asked to remain anonymous- even said: “Today the Nordics are perhaps the strongest region in Europe creatively across TV drama, feature and documentary film.”
Although most titles had already been snatched by the big Nordic sellers – TrustNordisk, LevelK, New Europe Film Sales, The Yellow Affair, Sf Studios – a dozen small offers in post, or in development at the Discovery section, still open for negotiations, made the Göteborg stop-over – fully worthwhile for the 25-plus sales reps in attendance.
Standout Nordic Brand Quality
An excellent crop, better than 2018, with a large diversity of content, catering to arthouse/mainstream as well as local/international audiences – these were prevailing reactions from international buyers and programmers polled yesterday in Göteborg. A senior A festival programmer – who asked to remain anonymous- even said: “Today the Nordics are perhaps the strongest region in Europe creatively across TV drama, feature and documentary film.”
Although most titles had already been snatched by the big Nordic sellers – TrustNordisk, LevelK, New Europe Film Sales, The Yellow Affair, Sf Studios – a dozen small offers in post, or in development at the Discovery section, still open for negotiations, made the Göteborg stop-over – fully worthwhile for the 25-plus sales reps in attendance.
- 2/3/2019
- by Annika Pham
- Variety Film + TV
Norway’s Jorunn Myklebust directs.
Josefine Frida Pettersen, who plays Noora in the hit Norwegian teen series Skam, makes her film debut in Disco, the new film directed by Norway’s Jorunn Myklebust Syversen.
Screen can reveal the film’s first image below.
Pettersen stars as 19-year-old Mirjam, the world champion in freestyle disco dancing who starts questioning her faith after suffering panic attacks during a competition. When she is no longer able to dance, she looks for answers with a fundamentalist Christian congregation.
Pettersen, now 22, was also a dancer in her teenage years. She said, “Playing the lead in...
Josefine Frida Pettersen, who plays Noora in the hit Norwegian teen series Skam, makes her film debut in Disco, the new film directed by Norway’s Jorunn Myklebust Syversen.
Screen can reveal the film’s first image below.
Pettersen stars as 19-year-old Mirjam, the world champion in freestyle disco dancing who starts questioning her faith after suffering panic attacks during a competition. When she is no longer able to dance, she looks for answers with a fundamentalist Christian congregation.
Pettersen, now 22, was also a dancer in her teenage years. She said, “Playing the lead in...
- 2/1/2019
- by Wendy Mitchell
- ScreenDaily
The 20th Nordic Film Market in Göteborg, unspooling Jan. 31-Feb 3, will showcase 16 works in progress including Hlynur Pálmason’s “A White, White Day”, Grímur Hákonarson’s “The County”, Mikael Håfström’s “The Perfect Patient” and Jesper Ganslandt’s “438 Days.”
Iceland is well represented this year with top directors and festival darlings Pálmason (“Winter Brothers”), Hákonarson (“Rams”) as well as “Volcano”’s Rúnar Rúnarsson, who will pitch their latest projects at Göteborg’s Biopalatset where last year Benedikt Erlingsson first introduced “Woman at War.”
“I simply had to select the three films by Pálmason, Hákonarson and Rúnarsson as they are on the top list of many festival programmers and buyers and their films are very different from one other, displaying the wide breath of talents from Iceland,” said Nordic Film Market’s head of industry Cia Edström.
“A White, White Day” stars Ingvar E. Sigurðsson (“Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald”) as an off-duty police chief,...
Iceland is well represented this year with top directors and festival darlings Pálmason (“Winter Brothers”), Hákonarson (“Rams”) as well as “Volcano”’s Rúnar Rúnarsson, who will pitch their latest projects at Göteborg’s Biopalatset where last year Benedikt Erlingsson first introduced “Woman at War.”
“I simply had to select the three films by Pálmason, Hákonarson and Rúnarsson as they are on the top list of many festival programmers and buyers and their films are very different from one other, displaying the wide breath of talents from Iceland,” said Nordic Film Market’s head of industry Cia Edström.
“A White, White Day” stars Ingvar E. Sigurðsson (“Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald”) as an off-duty police chief,...
- 1/17/2019
- by Annika Pham
- Variety Film + TV
In advance of its international premiere at this month’s upcoming Toronto International Film Festival, Norway has picked director Joachim Trier’s new feature “Thelma” as its official foreign-language Oscar submission. The ambitious thriller just opened last month’s Norwegian International Film Festival in Haugesund, where it received the Norwegian Film Critics Prize.
The film is Trier’s fourth feature, and his second to make the cut — his 2006 debut “Reprise” was picked to represent his home country, but did not make the final nominations cut. It was picked from a shortlist of candidates, which included Norwegian directors Izer Aliu’s “Hunting Flies” (Fluefangeren) and Jorunn Myklebust Syversen’s “The Tree Feller” (Hoggeren).
In the film, a young Norwegian student moves to Oslo and falls in love with a beautiful classmate. At the same time, she begins to notice her own mystifying and inexplicable connection to the supernatural. It’s a...
The film is Trier’s fourth feature, and his second to make the cut — his 2006 debut “Reprise” was picked to represent his home country, but did not make the final nominations cut. It was picked from a shortlist of candidates, which included Norwegian directors Izer Aliu’s “Hunting Flies” (Fluefangeren) and Jorunn Myklebust Syversen’s “The Tree Feller” (Hoggeren).
In the film, a young Norwegian student moves to Oslo and falls in love with a beautiful classmate. At the same time, she begins to notice her own mystifying and inexplicable connection to the supernatural. It’s a...
- 9/5/2017
- by Kate Erbland
- Indiewire
The winner of the Eurimages Lab Project Award from Haugesund’s Works In Progress presentations was Katrín Ólafsdóttirs The Wind Blew On from Iceland.
The new prize, worth $56,000 (€50,000) was given to “the most promising cutting-edge film presented as a work in progress”.
The jury was comprised of Norwegian filmmaker Bent Hamer, Dorien van de Pas of the Netherlands Filmfund, and Heidi Zwicker of Sundance.
Head of New Nordic Films Gyda Velvin Myklebust noted that the award was aimed at a film that was “experimental in form or content”.
Of the 20 films presented, industry buzz was highest for pitches including Izer Aliu’s energetic and funny teenage story 12 Dares; Norwegian debut The Tree Feller; Fenar Ahmad’s Danish criminal underworld drama/thriller Darkland, Danish debut Winter Brothers; family animation Richard The Stork (already a hot seller for Global Screen); absurdist Norwegian comedy Lake Over Fire; and Danish drama Mesteren, starring Soren Malling and Jakob Oftebro and directed by [link...
The new prize, worth $56,000 (€50,000) was given to “the most promising cutting-edge film presented as a work in progress”.
The jury was comprised of Norwegian filmmaker Bent Hamer, Dorien van de Pas of the Netherlands Filmfund, and Heidi Zwicker of Sundance.
Head of New Nordic Films Gyda Velvin Myklebust noted that the award was aimed at a film that was “experimental in form or content”.
Of the 20 films presented, industry buzz was highest for pitches including Izer Aliu’s energetic and funny teenage story 12 Dares; Norwegian debut The Tree Feller; Fenar Ahmad’s Danish criminal underworld drama/thriller Darkland, Danish debut Winter Brothers; family animation Richard The Stork (already a hot seller for Global Screen); absurdist Norwegian comedy Lake Over Fire; and Danish drama Mesteren, starring Soren Malling and Jakob Oftebro and directed by [link...
- 8/26/2016
- by wendy.mitchell@screendaily.com (Wendy Mitchell)
- ScreenDaily
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