The co-production agreement covers SF’s English-language Nordic films and TV series targeting the international market, with SF keeping Scandinavian rights and Studiocanal handling international distribution. Two feature films currently being developed by Tre Vänner’s Fredrik Wikström Nicastro are included in the deal. The White Island is a thriller set in Ibiza to be directed by Jens Jonsson and the second film is the English language remake of the 2010 Swedish hit Easy Money (Snabba Cash).
Two TV dramas in developed are also co-produced by the two European partners.
The 10 part series Lawyer is co-written by Hans Rosenfeldt (The Bridge) and Tre Vänner co-founder Michael Hjorth, in association with lawyer/best-selling novelist Jens Lapidus (Easy Money). The project is produced by Tre Vänner, in collaboration with TV4. The second drama The Ambassador is based on a story by best-selling novelist Henning Mankell. Anna Croneman is producing.
The distribution agreement is an all rights output deal for SF on all new Studiocanal films for Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden and the digital distribution by SF of Studiocanal’s film catalogue. Upcoming features part of the deal include Paddington, Shaun the Sheep, Our Kind of Traitor,Legend and Bigger Splash (Untitled Pantelleria).
This major agreement with Svensk Filmindustri is a step further for Paris-based Studiocanal’s investment in Nordic talents which has escalated over the last year. After Thomas Alfredson (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy) and Susanne Bier (Serena), StudioCanal is now a key investor in Tobias Lindholm’s upcoming film A War (produced by Nordisk Film), and the French group has teamed up last May with Danish producer Meta Louise Foldager, writers Søren Sveistrup and Adam Price to create TV series for the international market, via SAM Productions.
Commenting on the deal with SF, Olivier Courson Chairman and CEO of Studiocanal said: “I am really happy to be partnering with Svensk both in distribution and production as I believe this is the best way for us to strengthen our strategy of working with the best talents in the Nordic region”.
StudioCanal’s Nordic connection extends to the Swedish hit The 100 year-old Man Who Climbed the Window and Disappeared, which was the first Scandinavian language film picked up by the French group for international sales and for distribution in its own territories France, the UK, and Australia.