Icelandic actress Arndís Hrönn Egilsdóttir (Sparrows) plays the lead in RAMS director Grímur Hákonarson’s feminist film The County. 

The County (Héraðið) is among three projects that received production grants from Nordisk Film & TV Fond in its November round of support, together with the Icelandic TV series The Flatey Enigma and Danish documentary Hunting for Hedonia. 

Produced by Grímar Jónsson of Netop Films, The County was granted NOK 1.6 million. After his comedy Summerland and brothers rivalry drama Rams, Hákonarson turns to a woman’s fight for justice. When Inga, a middle-aged dairy farmer loses her husband, she must stand on her own feet. She decides to start a new life on her own terms and rises up against corruption and injustice in her community.The film is co-produced by Denmark’s Profile Pictures and France’s Haut et Court, with support from the Icelandic Film Centre. New Europe Film Sales handles world sales. Filming is set to start late February 2018. 

The Flatey Enigma (4x52’) produced by Sagafilm was granted NOK 2 million.  The murder mystery series is based on the eponymous best-selling book by Viktor Arnar Ingolfsson, adapted for the screen by Margrét Örnólfsdóttir (Prisoners). Björn B. Björnsson (Cold Trail) directs. In 1970, Johanna, a professor of Nordic Studies is accused of murder. To prove her innocence, she has to solve a riddle in a medieval manuscript, The Flatey Enigma. Johanna also has to face her deepest fear; the man she ran away from ten years ago. The Sagafilm production is co-produced by Reykjavik Films, in association with RUV, DR, SVT, YLE and NRK, support from the Icelandic Film Centre and Creative Media. Sky Vision handles world distribution outside the Nordics and Benelux. Cast and crew will be announced in January, ahead of the June-July start of principal photography. 

Hunting for Hedonia produced by Danish Documentary was granted NOK 500,000.  In her new documentary, the established director Pernille Rose Grønkjær (The Monastery-Mr Vig & the Nun) explores how the technology of deep brain stimulation will impact human identity. Producer Sigrid Dyekjær says the scientific film is told in a cinematic way for a wide audience. 

The following companies received distribution support: 

  • Filmcentrum Distribution was granted NOK 110,000 for the theatrical release in Sweden of Selma Vilhunen’s Little Wing
  • 41 Shadows was granted NOK90,000 for the theatrical release in Denmark of Arild Andresen’s Handle with Care,  
  • SF Studios was granted NOK200,000 for the theatrical release in Sweden of Aku Louhimies’The Unknown Soldier
  • Njutafilms was granted NOK 250,000 for the theatrical release in Sweden of Jacub Wrónski and Ira Carpelan’s Moomins in the Winter Wonderland,
  • TriArt was granted NOK 125,000 for the theatrical release in Sweden of Joachim Trier’s Thelma.