WRITTEN BY: Annika Pham
Haugesund’s Nordic industry event has announced the 20 works in progress and 19 market screenings to be showcased between August 20-23.
Haugesund’s Nordic industry event has announced the 20 works in progress and 19 market screenings to be showcased between August 20-23.
The Nordic mini-market which gathers each year more than 300 international delegates in the picturesque maritime city of Haugesund in Western Norway, will open on August 20 with the Icelandic film A White, White Day by Hlynur Pálmason. The film will screen straight after the announcement of the five nominated films for the Nordic Council Film Prize 2019.
A White, White Day is among 19 brand new Nordic films set to screen, including several festival films: Cannes Directors’ Fortnight’s entries And Then We Danced and Dogs Don’t Wear Pants, Rúnar Runarsson’s Echo, which just screened in competition in Locarno, Dag Johan Haugerud’s drama Beware of Children, en route for Venice Days, and Marie Grahtø’s Psychosia, selected for Venice Critics’ Week.
Other anticipated films making their market premieres include Jesper Ganslandt’s 438 Days, Jesper W. Nielsen’s The Exception and Jens Jonsson’s The Spy.
The Works in Progress session on Wednesday August 21 will showcase 20 titles in post-production, ranging from genre films, family films, dramas, biopics and comedies. New Nordic Films’ managing director Gyda Velvin Myklebust said she is pleased with the good number of female directors at the works in progress and looking forward in particular to the pitches of Maria Sødahl (Hope), newcomers Ulla Heikkilä (Eden) and Ninja Thyberg (Jessica).
Thyberg’s debut Jessica is among six projects vying for the €50,000 Eurimages Lab project Award. “It’s not easy to find projects eligible for the award that comes with a few restrictions [such as being the result of an international cooperation or experimental in either form or content], but we’re happy to have a strong line-up this year,” said Myklebust.
Other works in progress competing include Daniel Dencik’s Miss Osaka, Teemu Nikki’s Nimby, Jon Blåhed’s Inland, Guro Bruusgaard’s Him, and Arild Østin Ommundsen and Silje Salomonsen’s Sisters.
Jury members of the Eurimages Lab Project Award are Norway’s Christin Berg, Sweden’s Kristina Börjeson, Israel’s Ruth Lev Ari and Germany’s Stephen Locke.
Other anticipated works in progress comprise Ragnar Bragason’s The Garden, the animated film Mugge and The Street Party by Anders Morgenthaler and Mikael Wulff, Ole Christian Madsen’s The Attack in Copenhagen starring Nikolaj Coster-Waldau and Jakob Oftebro, Christina Rosendahl’s The Good Traitor starring Ulrich Thomsen, Mortal by André Øvredal starring Nat Wolff, the thrillers The Tunnel by Pål Øie and Breaking Surface by Joachim Hedén.
The other main pitching session-the Nordic Co-production Market will showcase 17 projects in development from the Nordic countries, Turkey and Germany. Those include Ole Giæver’s Let the River Flow (Mer Film), a period drama set in the Sami community, Andreas Öhman’s family drama One Day All This Will be Yours (Breidablick Film) and Marko Röhr’s nature documentary Tale of the Sleeping Giants, follow up to his successful Tale of a Lake (MRP Matila Röhr Productions).
Newcomers will present their projects at the Next Nordic Generation section, platforming ten projects from graduating students from Nordic film schools, and the Scandinavian Debut strand, with eight projects from Denmark, Norway and Sweden.
This year’s distribution seminar co-organised with Europa Distribution will focus on the award-winning Queen of Hearts by May el-Toukhy.
Full list of Works in Progress:
New Nordic Films runs parallel to the Norwegian International Film Festival unspooling August 17-23.
For further information, check: www.filmfestivalen.no