WRITTEN BY: Annika Pham
More than 300 industry guests will be introduced to 46 new Nordic films and projects from directors such as Rúnar Rúnarsson, Mikael Håfström and Grímur Hákonarson.
More than 300 industry guests will be introduced to 46 new Nordic films and projects from directors such as Rúnar Rúnarsson, Mikael Håfström and Grímur Hákonarson.
Nordic Film Market’s works in progress session held between February 1-2, will present 16 projects by debut directors, hot auteurs like Rojda Sekersöz (Beyond Dreams),Hlynur Pálmason (Winter Brothers), J.P. Valkeapää (They Have Escaped) and experienced directors alternating film and TV drama works, such as Jens Jonsson (The Hunters, The King of Ping Pong) and Jesper W. Nielsen (Greyzone, The Day Will Come).
“More than ever, the Nordic region is booming with creativity thanks to the cross-pollination of Nordic talents working both in film and TV drama, and production companies are increasingly involved in both sectors”, said Cia Edström, who stressed the presence for the first time of Netflix’s Lina Bronéus, Head of Original content, Northern Europe, and Funa Maduka, Director International Original Film . “ It’s important for the major streaming services to track who’s doing what and next to TV drama, feature film is in their sightline to beef up their libraries.”
Among the most anticipated works in progress projects are the Icelandic films The County by Hákonarson (Rams), Echo by Rúnarsson, and A White, White Day by Hlynur Pálmason (Winter Brothers). “I simply had to select them as they are on the top list of many festival programmers and buyers, and [the directors’] films are very different from one other, displaying the wide breath of talents from Iceland,” said Edström.
Other promising films are Jesper Ganslandt’s 438 Days, based on the true story of Swedish journalists Martin Schibbye and Johan Persson who were jailed 438 days in Ethiopia on the suspicion of terrorism, Mikael Håfström’s The Perfect Patient starring David Dencik, Jonas Karlsson and Alba August, the Norwegian film The Spy by Jens Jonsson about real-life double agent from the 1940s Sonja Wigert, and the thriller The Exception by Jesper W Nielsen starring Sidse Babett Knudsen, Danica Curcic, Amanda Collin and Lene Maria Christensen as NGOs activists threatened by a Serbian war criminal.
Edström also highlights Disco by Norway’s rising director Jorunnn Myklebust Syversen (The Tree Feller), about a world champion in freestyle disco dance, Sweden’s musical film A Piece of My Heart by Edward af Sillén, and My Life as a Comedian by Rojda Sekersöz, based on Jonas Gardell’s eponymous novel.
Another 11 projects in development will be presented at the Discovery section such as The Nation from the Swedish collective Ögat Film, Entrepreneur by Axel Danielsson produced by Plattform Production, and Kaisa el Ramly’s Finnish project Scenes from the Dying Town, winner of the 2016 Nordic Talents Pitch Prize. Nineteen quality films will screen at the market, from Sundance’s competition titles Queen of Hearts, Koko-di Koko-da, Göteborg’s opener Aurora, closing film Swoon by Björn Stein and Måns Mårlind, to more experimental fare Season by John Skoog and The Unpromised Land by Victor Lindgren. The programme of Göteborg’s other industry sidebar TV Drama Vision (January 30-31) will be unveiled in a few days. Watch out for our announcement.
Nordic Film Market’ s Works in Progress: