Three films selected for Nordisk Film & TV Fond’s Nordic Genre Boost and Nordic Distribution Boost schemes have received large grants from the Council of Europe’s Co-Production Fund. 

Both Birds of a Feather by Finland’s Hanna Bergholm and Lamb by Iceland’s Valdimar Jóhannsson are directorial debuts. Each project received NOK 200,000 (around €20,000) in development support from the Fund’s Nordic Genre Boost programme. Their respective grant from Eurimages amounted to €450,000 and €380,000.

  • Birds of a Feather (Pahanhautoja) produced by Finland’s Silva Mysterium, with Sweden’s Hob AB and Norway’s Evil Doghouse Productions was picked up for world sales by Wild Bunch. The horror flick based on a script by Ilja Rautsi tells of Tinja (12), who hatches the evil twin Alli out of a bird’s egg. Tinja's buried aggression and jealousy pushes Alli into increasingly violent attacks until no one is safe. Newcomer Siiri Solalinna plays Tinja and Sophia Heikkilä (The Activists) is the mother. Top animatronic designer Gustav Hoegen who worked on the Hollywood films Jurassic World-Fallen Kingdom and Star Wars-episode IX is attached to the chiller set to go into production in July.

    The film received support from the Finnish Film Foundation, the Swedish Film Institute and co-financing from Yle. Nordisk Film will handle the Finnish and Swedish release and Europa Films the Norwegian release.
      
  • Lamb (Dýrið) produced by Iceland’s Go the Sheep with Sweden’s Black Spark Film and Poland’s Mandants is a major project starring Noomi Rapace in her first Scandinavian film in years, Ingvar E. Sigurðsson (Of Horses and Men, Trapped) and Björn Hlynur Haraldsson (Fortitude, Trapped). The supernatural thriller is based on a script by Valdimar Jóhannsson and Icelandic author Sjón.
    We follow the childless couple of Icelandic sheep farmers, Maria and Ingvar, who on Christmas Eve find a new-born that is half human, half sheep. Longing for a child of their own, they decide to keep the lamb-child and raise it as their own.The project is scheduled to start filming late May in Iceland. It will premiere in 2020. New Europe Film Sales handles world sales.

    A third Nordic film, The Innocents by Norway’s writer/director Eskil Vogt (Blind) was granted €450,000 from the Council of Europe’s Co-production Fund. Last year the project benefitted from Nordisk Film & TV Fond’s Nordic Distribution Boost aimed at supporting mid-sized films in their pan-Nordic audience outreach.
  • The Innocents (De uskyldige) is produced by Norway’s Mer Film, in co-production with Zentropa Sweden, Finland’s Bufo and Denmark’s Snowglobe. Vogt’s second feature as writer/director is described as a film for adults and a ‘shocking journey into the secret world of children’. Four kids secretly develop their innocent games into something scary and gruesome. Principal photography is scheduled for this summer.


A total of 15 feature films, two documentaries and an animation project received €4,397,000 from Eurimages at the Fund’s 154th Board of Management meeting held in Bucharest.