Fighter Ready For Danish Performance - See Trailer

Natasha Arthy’s third feature film Fighter –supported by Nordisk Film & TV Fond - is coming out this Friday December 14 on Danish screens, distributed by Sandrew Metronome.

Based on a screenplay co-written by Arthy and Nikolaj Arcel, the film tells the story of Aicha, a high-school student who is also a passionate kung fu fighter. Her Turkish parents expect her to get good grades so she can get into medical school, like her brother Ali. But school doesn't inspire her. Defying her family, Aicha starts secretly training at a professional club. A boy, Emil, helps Aicha train for the club championship and they fall in love.

The film was produced by Johnny Andersen for Nimbus Film. Delphis Films in Canada handles world sales.

Click here to see the trailer.

Nordic Box Office Nov 30-Dec 2, 2007

Finnish films hit record 65% market-share

Finnish films reached a new record level of market-share (nearly 65%) last weekend, thanks to Christmas Story which again, improved on its opening admission figures (25,579 against 21,883) and to the new historical film The Border by Lauri Törhönen.

Number one at the Finnish Top ten for the third week in a row, the family film Christmas Story by Juha Wuolijoki has now reached nearly 100,000 admissions from 60 prints for Sandrew Metronome. On pole position is The Border which sold 12,114 tickets from 46 prints for FS Film. The historical love drama based on a script by Aleksi Bardy was received by very positive reviews. Black Ice, another critically acclaimed local movie was the third Finnish title at the Top ten at number 6. The drama by Petri Kotwica has now passed the 84,000 admissions in its sixth week. According to the Finnish Film Foundation, "domestic films will soon reach a total audience of 900,000 and will most probably cross the one million admissions cap.
Another Finnish war movie is opening today Friday December 7: Åke Lindman and Sakari Kirjavainen's Tali-Ihantala 1944 recounting the events of the largest battle in the history of Scandinavia through five short stories. The film is released by Walt Disney Studios.

Iceland was dominated by US fare last weekend, but has its own Christmas film opening today: No Network (Duggholufólkið) written and directed by famous Icelandic cinematographer Ari Kristinsson (Children of Nature). The film was produced by Taka Film Production in co-production with Lazytown in Iceland and Filmhuset in Norway, with support from the Icelandic Film Centre, the Norwegian Film Fund and Nordisk Film & TV Fond. It's an adventure film about a boy who has to spend Christmas with his father's new family in a remote farm. Lost in a blizzard with no connection on his mobile phone, he finds shelter in an abandoned farm and has to deal with a ghost.

In Denmark, Charlotte Sachs Borstrup's family film Karla's Game released by Nordisk is holding well in its fourth week, with a third position at the Top ten and over 96,000 admissions in total from 79 screens. The other children's film The Golden Horns distributed by SF/Filmcompagniet has been pushed out of the top charts but its total admissions are now at 252,553. Today's new release is Anders Morgenthaler's thriller Ekko produced by Zentropa for New Danish Screen. The film is released by Nordisk Film.

In Norway, the films Switch and Ten Lives of Titanic the Cat were the only two local titles on the Top ten. The surf board film Switch is now the third biggest local title of 2007 with over 186,000 admissions for Sandrew Metronome. Ten Lives released by Nordisk was number 9 with over 51,000 admissions in total.

In Sweden, Josef Fares' drama Leo took the sixth position in its opening weekend through Sonet Film. The film about unprovoked violence has a very topical subject matter in Sweden, where the murder of a 16 year-old boy has led thousands of Swedes to demonstrate against violence across the country. Leo was produced by Fares' usual production partner Anna Anthony (Memfis Film). Sandrew Metronome's Solstorm is holding on very well in its fourth week, still playing at Number 4 at the Top ten, followed by Nordisk Film & TV Fond's supported animated film Laban the Little Ghost.
A new Nordisk Film & TV Fond film is opening today Friday December 07: the documentary feature film Four Wives One Man by Nahid Persson. The follow up to the acclaimed Prostitution Behind the Veil is released in seven Swedish key cities by Folkets Bio.

Finnish Paradise Wins IDFA Student Award

During the closing ceremony of the 20th International Documentary Film festival in Amsterdam (IDFA), the very first IDFA Student Award was presented to the Finnish Elina Hirvonen for Paradise - Three Journeys in This World in which the stories, the dreams and the (dis)illusionment of illegal African immigrants is central.

The IDFA Student Award consists of € 2,500.

Ditte Haarløv Johnsen's graduation film "One Day" which also participated at the IDFA Student Competition programme received a Special Mention. It was produced by the National Film School of Denmark.

The main IDFA 2007 winners were Stranded (France) by Gonzalo Arijon, which took the VPRO Joris Ivens Award, and To See If I'm Smiling (Israel) by Tamar Yarom, which won both the Silver Wolf and the Volkskrant Audience Award.

Speaking just before the end of the festival, IDFA director Ally Derks said that "ticket sales have been brisk. One of the few films that didn't play to packed audiences was the John Wayne war movie, Green Berets. Maybe IDFA audiences simply aren't big Wayne fans," she speculated.

Noting that broadcasters are finally beginning to acknowledge the impact of the Internet on documentary, she confirmed that future editions of IDFA are likely to include an increased emphasis on cross-media work.

NFF Grants NOK2.1m To Documentaries

The Norwegian Film Fund (NFF) has granted NOK2.1m to three Norwegian documentaries in production support and eight documentaries in development support in its fourth and last round of support for 2007. Women represent 66.7% of the projects supported.

The three documentaries awarded a production grant are the NOK400,000 Da Castro inntok Hilton produced by Frameline Film, the NOK450,000 Balkans svarte hemmelighet produced by Fenris Film, and the NOK 310,000 Et nytt liv (photo) produced by Folk Flest Film.

Among the eight projects awarded development support are Simjon produced by Motlys Film, Ikke som de andre produced by Laterna Magica, and Arusha-Lovens lengste arm produced by SF Norge.

FFF Supports Second Film By Me & Morrison Director Hellstedt

In its last round of production support, the Finnish Film Foundation has granted €500,000 to Lenka Hellstedt's (photo) new feature film Ground Under Water (Maata meren alla).

Hellstedt had her breakthrough in 2001 with her directorial debut Me & Morrison produced by Solar Films, which sold over 245,000 tickets at home. With Ground Under Water, Hellstedt teams up again with producers Mika and Niko Ritalahti (Silva Mysterium Oy) who produced her 2000 TV drama Who Will Comfort Viivi?

Ground Under Water - written by Hellstedt - is the story of Ida, a young woman from African origin, adopted as a child by her Finnish mother Kati. Ida is an unemployed seamstress, recovering from depression. Encouraged by a friend to leave her home which she shares with her mother, Ida decides to look for a better life in Berlin. Meanwhile Kati has been told she is seriously ill, but she doesn't tell her daughter, until time runs out for her.

The film starring Amira Khalifa and Matti Ristinen (Christmas Story, Frozen Land) is set to start shooting next spring. The €945,000 project is co-financed by YLE TV1 and Sandrew Metronome Distribution Finland.

Notkin New Boss At DR 2

Arne Notkin who has been working the last five years as director of DR's programme Deadline, has been promoted Head of DR2. He takes over from Torben Smidt Hansen, who had filled the position since August, when Gitte Rabøl and Mette Davidsen-Nielsen announced their decision to leave the public broadcaster.

Åsa Garnert Promoted Head of Information At SFI

Åsa Garnert who has been working for the last five years at the Swedish Film Institute, most recently as press officer, has just been promoted Head of Information.

Under the Institute's new structure, the Information Department has a central and strategic function and has had increased responsibilities in terms of statistics and analysis and creating a meeting place for the film industry. The new website http://www.filmnyheterna.se/ is one of its new ventures and during the spring, the institute's http://www.sfi.se/ will also be expanded.

"We are very happy that Åsa has accepted this job. She has all the qualifications to lead the Information Department to its new role," said Institute CEO Cissi Elwin.

2.1m Danes Glued To DR's The Killing

The last episode of DR's The Killing (Forbrydelsen) was watched by 2.1m Danish people last Sunday night on DR1, which means that 76.6% Danish viewers had their TV set switched on to the crime thriller.

"The Killing has in that sense renewed its genre and created another milestone for Danish Drama. This is unique and really great," said the Head of DR1 Ulla Pors Nielsen.

The last episode of The Killing was the second most watched programme for DR after the last episode of Krøniken which attracted around 2,4m viewers on January 1, 2007.

The Killing starring Sofie Gråbøl and Lars Mikkelsen was produced by DR in co-production with SVT and NRK which is currently airing the programme. It will be shown on Iceland's public broadcaster RUV early December.

(photo credit: Tine Harden)

Christmas Story Still Rising

In its second weekend, Juha Wuolijoki's Christmas Story distributed by Sandrew Metronome, increased its first weekend's results by almost 19%, from 21,883 admissions to 25,965 for a total audience of 61,254 from 60 prints. The film about how Santa Claus became Santa stayed number 1 last weekend, above Ratatouille and the new US blockbuster Beowulf.

Christmas Story was produced by Wuolijoki's Snapper Films, the only film production company that was welcomed to join the Santa Claus Foundation created in 2000. Canada-based sales company Delphis Films plans to have an international market premiere for the film in Berlin 2008. 

Stockholm Boasts 7% Increase On 2006

The 18^th Stockholm International Film Festival wrapped last weekend on a very positive note: 125,000 visitors in total attended the festival's various film events (Children's Film Festival Junior in April, Summer Screenings in August at the main Festival in November). This represents a 7 % increase compared to 2006.

Between November 15-25, 170 films screened in six theatres, 85 filmmakers and actors met the audience, and 100 festival screenings were sold out. The most popular films during the festival were No Country for Old Men, I'm a Cyborg but that's OK, Leo, The Darjeeling Limited, Eastern Promises, 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (winner of two top Bronze Horses for Best Film and Best Actress), Juno, We Own the Night, Into the Wild and The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (Best Cinematography to Janusz Kaminski).

Other awards handed out during Stockholm's biggest annual film event include Best Script to Carlos Reygadas for Silent Night, Best Actor to Jason Patric for Expired, Best Music Award to Oliver Bernet for Persepolis, Best First Feature to Rodrigo Plá for The Zone, an Honorary Mention Best First Feature to Anton Corbijn for Control, a FIPRESCI award to Caramel by Nadine Labaki, and the Star! Audience Award to Juno directed by Jason Reitman.

The 19^th SIFF will unspool from November 13-23, 2008.

Swedish Crème de la Crème In Luleå

On December 5 and 6, approximately 250 Swedish film professionals are expected at Luleå's Kulturens Hus for the annual industry gathering ‘Filmkonvent' organized by Filmpool Nord.

Among the hot topics on the menu are ‘Better quality and profitability for Swedish films' to be discussed by a six members panel including the Swedish Film Institute's Charlotta Denward and Piodor Gustaffson, tax incentives in Iceland and Norway, art-house distribution and digital cinemas, regional film funding with Filmpool Nord, Film i Väst, Stockholm-Mälardalen and Film I Skåne.

Cissi Elwin, SFI CEO will give her views on the film agency "One Year Later" with Linda Zachrison, head of the Audience Department at her side. The ‘Film in progress' sessions will focus on Varg introduced by filmmaker Daniel Alfredson and producer Anita Oxburgh (Migma Film), Molins fontäner produced by Göran Lindström (GF Studios), Maria Larsson's Everlasting Moments presented by producers Sigve Endresen from Motlys Film in Norway, and Christer Nilsson from Sweden's Göta Film, and finally Arn presented by co-producer Bengt Toll (Film i Väst).

Grierson Award To Finnish Documentary No Man Is an Island

The Finnish documentary film No Man Is an Island (Ei kukaan ole saari), directed and produced by Sonja Lindén, was handed out the Bloomberg Best Newcomer Award at the prestigious Grierson Awards Ceremony hosted at London's Savoy Hotel last Friday November 23.

The Grierson Awards commemorate the pioneering Scottish documentary filmmaker John Grierson (1898 - 1972), widely regarded as the father of the British documentary. They are Britain´s only awards dedicated to film and television documentary.

No Man Is an Island has screened at over 20 international festivals and has won several prizes including the Main prize for a Finnish Documentary Film in the category ‘over 30 minutes' at the Tampere International Film Festival.

 

Nordic Box Office November 16-18, 2007

Warm welcome to Santa in Finland
With three films in the top Ten, the domestic market share for Finnish films hit a record 51% last weekend.

Juha Wuolijoki´s version of Santa's childhood in Christmas Story (Joulutarina), seduced 21,883 people in its opening weekend, taking the first position at the local Top Ten, and relegating Ratatouille to a second place. The film produced by Wuolijoki's Snapper Films (see news story last week) was released on 60 screens by Sandrew Metronome. In third position was Petri Kotwica´s Black Ice (supported by Nordisk Film & TV Fond) which has now sold over 72,016 tickets in its fifth week. Ganes by JP Siili slid only by one place to 5^th position with a total admissions of 161 936. The film produced by Aleksi Bardy (Helsinki Filmi) is now the second biggest local film of 2007 after V2 Dead Angel.

In Denmark, the family film Karla's Game directed by Charlotte Sachs Borstrup stayed at the top position in its second week, selling 63,958 tickets from 80 screens. The film is produced and distributed by Nordisk Film. The other family film The Golden Horns produced by Cosmo Film was at number 4 with a total admission figure of 245,255 for SF/Filmcompagniet, making it the third biggest local film of 2007. The new local film on Danish screens on November 23 is Simon Staho's drama Daisy Diamond distributed by SF Film.

In Norway, the youth film Switch by Ole Martin Hasmo has yielded its first place to US animated film Surf'n Up and is now number 2 with 163,146 admissions for Sandrew Metronome. The children's film Ten Lives of Titanic the Cat released by Nordisk is number 5 at the Top Ten with over 41,000 tickets sold in three weeks. The new Nordic film opening on November 23 is the Swedish film Säg att du älskar mig (Say that You Love Me) by Daniel Fridell, supported by Nordisk Film & TV Fond.

In Sweden, Sandrew Metronome's Solstorm was pushed down to 4^th position by the new US openers Surf'n Up and Saw IV but is still playing on 94 screens. Another Sandrew Metornome release follows at number 5: the animated children's film Laban the Little Ghost 2 (Lilla Laban-Spöksdag) supported by Nordisk Film & TV Fond which was welcomed by positive reviews in the local press (DN and Göteborgs Posten in particular). Two Folkets Bio films open on November 23: Simon Staho's Danish drama Daisy Diamond and the Swedish animated film Snutte film för små by Anna-Clara Tidholm and Gun Jacobson.

In Iceland, following Ragnar Bragason's triumph at the Eddas for his film Parents, Samfilm decided to re-release it in two cinemas. The drama added another 393 admissions for a total of 6,232 and took the 8^th place at the Top Ten last weekend. The local Quiet Storm supported by Nordisk Film & TV Fond was number 14 with a total admission of 16,644 and the top Icelandic film Astropia was number 19 with 46,207 tickets sold in total. 

 

French Release For You, the Living

Last Wednesday, in the middle of French demonstrations from the public sector and public anger at the country's paralysis, the French legendary distribution company Les Films du Losange ventured Roy Andersson's You, the Living on 33 French screens.

For the distribution outfit founded 15 years ago by Barbet Schroeder and Eric Rohmer, Andersson is a major auteur that the company had tried -but failed-to add to its roster with Songs from the second Floor, and finally succeeded with You, the Living, acquired last spring just before Cannes.

Andersson's tragic-comedy about the human being is the first Swedish film bought by Les Films du Losange, but not the first Nordic film. The company has been a truthful supporter of Lars von Trier movies ever since his 1984 Element of Crime. His latest The Boss of it All sold over 70,000 tickets, a disappointing result for Olivier Masclet, head of programming, mirroring the fluctuating French market for Scandinavian films. "For us, a film is a success above the 100,000 bar. But the market in France for Scandinavian films is very difficult and hard to predict. Dancer in the Dark sold 1.3m tickets, Festen 500,000 tickets, and Lone Scherfig's Italian for Beginners 80,000 tickets. But if the audience doesn't like a film, like Manderlay, you can be lucky with 30,000 admissions!" The company still remains focused on its strategy to continue to expand its historical catalogue of quality European auteur films. "Plus we are producers on many films which helps spread the risks," stresses Masclet.

With You, the Living, Masclet said that the film was positioned towards the core cinephile audience, fans of Aki Kaurismaki and Jim Jarmusch, but also towards those interested in graphic art and music. "This is why we chose to present young characters on the poster and to make 30 second teasers stressing the humour, poetry and typical Roy Andersson world in the film. Previews were organised in the province, and the film received two awards at regional festivals in Quend and Cinessonne."

Andersson was invited to introduce his film at two previews in Paris and in the French suburb and was surprised to see the very positive response from non-Swedish audiences.

At press time, Masclet was hoping to add the number of prints after the first week of release and to work on a long run for the film.

The New Man En Route To Tallinn

Klaus Härö's The New Man (Den nya människan) supported by Nordisk Film & TV Fond is going to compete for the €10,000 EurAsia Grand Prix against 16 other films at the upcoming Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival (November 30-December 9).

Simon Staho's Danish film Daisy Diamond will also run for the festival's Top award. Members of the 2007 EurAsia jury include Finnish producer Ilkka Matila (MRP Matila Röhr Productions), composer Chung Sung-Woo (South Korea), artistic advisor to Luc Besson, François da Silva (France), filmmaker Jaak Kilmi (Estonia), and Karlovy Vary Programme Director Julietta Sichel (Czech Republic).

Parallel to the festival, the international film market Baltic Event will take place between December 2-6, 2007 and the 3^rd co-production market between December 3 and 4. Twelve projects from the Baltic countries, Central and Eastern Europe, Russia and Scandinavia will be presented to potential financiers during one-to-one sessions set up by the organizers before Baltic Event.