News

Dr Sales has been racking up sales for Danish drama series “Prisoner.”

Starring Sofie Gråbøl, David Dencik, Youssef Wayne Hvidtfeldt and Charlotte Fich, it has been picked up by BBC (U.K. and Ireland), Canal+ Group’s channel Polar+ (France), MHz Choice (U.S.), Sbs (Australia), Npo (Netherlands) and BeTV (French-speaking Belgium).

Revolving around four desperate prison guards, forced to deal with everything from rampant drug trade to their personal problems and imminent closure of the prison, the show was created by Kim Fupz Aakeson.

“‘Prisoner’ is an authentic, complex and compelling portrait of the harsh realities of life in prison, where it isn’t only the inmates who are trapped,” said Sue Deeks, head of program acquisitions at BBC, with Npo’s Evelien Bloemena adding:

“It’s about people with good intentions forced into difficult situations. A series with a great cast and a good fit for us as a public broadcaster.

Three festival-goers will choose the winner of the international series competition.

Switzerland’s Geneva International Film Festival (Giff) has unveiled the programme for its 29th edition, with festival hits including Polite Society and The Sweet East, and a new format for its international series competition.

The festival includes 110 works, of which 53 are films, 27 are series, 28 are immersive experiences and two are installations.

Scroll down for the feature and series competition titles

Giff includes four competition sections: international feature, international series, international immersive and the convergent competition – the latter section featuring projects from all three formats.

All 12 titles in the international...

Everyone is a “Prisoner” in a new Dr Drama series created by Kim Fupz Aakeson, just shown at Canneseries. Not just the inmates crammed inside an old Danish prison, but the people who guard them as well.

“Twenty years ago, I wrote a Dogme film [‘In Your Hands’] that also took place in prison. I became interested in these guards, because who takes on that job? Who walks into such a hostile environment every day, unarmed?!,” he wonders.

The characters – played by “The Killing” star Sofie Gråbøl, David Dencik, Charlotte Fich and Youssef Wayne Hvidtfeldt as Sammi, an ambitious rookie – have to watch their backs. But frustrated criminals are not their biggest problem: it’s the system itself, which leaves them powerless.

“It’s an extremely hard profession, poorly paid. They are constantly understaffed,” observes Gråbøl. Taking on Miriam, who still believes in people even though she can’t trust her own son.

Fast-rising Danish production powerhouse Motor, led by scribe Christian Torpe and producer Jesper Morthorst, has unveiled a splashy five-pic slate, led by the Göteborg Film Festival’s closing film “Camino” by Birgitte Stærmose and Tea Lindeburg’s pic in development “The Seal Woman,” to be pitched at the Discovery strand of Göteborg’s Nordic Film Market (Feb. 2-5).

One of the hottest new Danish directors, Netflix “Equinox” series creator Lindeburg made waves on the festival circuit with her directorial debut “As in Heaven,” which scooped a double win in San Sebastian and best-Nordic statuette in Göteborg 2021, before wooing several buyers including Juno Films in the U.S.

Her anticipated sophomore feature “The Seal Woman,” based on her original screenplay, is inspired by a Faroese legend, which has it that those who drown themselves turn into seals. And once every year, they return to shore in their human shape.

The story...

Scandinavia’s leading streamer Viaplay has ordered its Danish feature, “Camino,” a heartwarming comedy-drama directed by Birgitte Stærmose (“Industry”) with a cast led by Lars Brygmann and Danica Curcic (“The Chestnut Man”).

“Camino” portrays the complex relationship between a father and daughter who are walking a famous pilgrim route in Spain. The film is produced by Copenhagen’s Motor and will premiere exclusively on Viaplay in 2023.

Penned by Stærmose and Kim Fupz Aakeson (“Becoming Astrid’), the film tells the story of Regitze (Danica Curcic), who is in her early 30s, pregnant and no longer speaks to her father Jan (Lars Brygmann). But when they discover that Regitze’s mother’s dying wish was for them to follow the Camino de Santiago together, the two set out on a 260-kilometer journey of discovery under the burning Spanish sun.

“Many people have children, but everybody has parents. Processing and dealing with baggage...

Danish Broadcaster Dr has ordered “Prisoner,” a dark-edged premium series which starts shooting this fall with a stellar local cast including Sofie Gråbøl and David Dencik (“Chernobyl”).

“Prisoner” was created by Kim Fupz Aakeson, whose credits include the Dr drama “Cry Wolf” and the HBO series “Utmark.” Michael Noer (“Papillon”) and Frederik Louis Hviid are set to direct.

Produced by Dr Drama, the series is told from the perspectives of four prison officers, Sammi, Henrik, Miriam, and Gert, who are colleagues in an old, worn-down Danish prison and face daily challenges and dilemmas. The story kicks off when they are forced to do a thorough investigation in the prison to save their jobs and prevent the hierarchy and drug trade from dominating the workplace within three months. The investigation turns into a battle for survival — not only for the prison but for everyone inside and outside the walls.

Dr Sales...

Sisse Graum Jørgensen, the Zentropa producer behind Thomas Vinterberg’s BAFTA-winning, Oscar-nominated “Another Round,” spoke to Variety about working with Vinterberg, making her TV debut, as well as opportunities and challenges ahead for independent producers.

Graum Jørgensen is primarily known for her long and successful partnerships with some of the most celebrated filmmakers in Denmark, including Vinterberg and Susanne Bier, whose film “In a Better World” won an Oscar in 2011, Anders Thomas Jensen (“Riders of Justice”), Kristian Levring (“The Salvation”), Tobias Lindholm (“A War”), and Kim Fupz Aakeson (“Perfect Sense”). Graum Jørgensen produced the top of highest-grossing Danish films during the pandemic: “Another Round” and Jensen’s “Riders of Justice,” two of which star Mads Mikkelsen. “Riders of Justice” was briefly released in Denmark in the fall before theaters shut down and will be brought back in local cinemas on time for their reopening on May 6.

You’re producing Thomas Vinterberg’s TV drama debut,...

Record numbers of industry attendees from 46 countries virtually attended Nordic Film Market at TV Drama Vision.

Goteborg’s industry activities attracted a record 734 delegates for the Nordic Film Market and 566 for TV Drama Vision, from across 46 countries. Like the festival, the industry programme was held online for the first time this year due to the pandemic.

One hot film project being pitched at script stage was Stranger, which unites Danish production company Motor with Poland’s Opus Film (Ida). Mads Hedegaard will make his fictional feature directorial debut with the film, which he co-writes with Jesper Fink (Margrete-Queen Of The...

A trio of high-profile Scandinavian producers – Thomas Gammeltoft (“Terribly Happy”), Sofie Wanting Hassing (“Ida”) and Ole Søndberg (“Wallander”) – are launching TrueContent Entertainment, an ambitious independent production and distribution company based in Copenhagen.

The company is a reboot of Sweet Chili Entertainment, a digital distribution company founded by Wanting Hassing and joined by Gammeltoft in Jan. 2020 after he stepped down from the Copenhagen Film Fund, rolling off a seven-year tenure. Søndberg, an industry veteran who founded Yellow Bird and executive produced “Wallander” and the “Millennium” franchises, joined TrueContent Entertainment in 2018 as executive producer. Wanting Hassing and Gammeltoft will serve as co-CEOs.

Financially backed by independent private capital, TrueContent Entertainment will work as a talent-driven company, bringing on board top-notch creatives who will set up individual production companies to develop their own projects, ranging from films to series, including documentaries, as well as source third-party projects. These banners will be subsidiaries of...

Penned by Danish screenwriter Kim Fupz Aakeson (“Dancers”), HBO Europe’s new show “Welcome to Utmark” is one buzzy contender for this year’s Nordisk Film & TV Fond Prize, whose announcement on Feb. 3 marks one highlight at the Göteborg Festival TV Drama Vision.

The eight-part series, produced by Norway’s Paradox, represents a clear bell-weather to HBO Europe’s ambitions for Scandinavia, mixing some of the finest talent in the region, led by Icelandic director Dagur Kári (“Virgin Mountain”) and lensed by Norwegian Dp Andreas Johannessen.

The result is a modern Western, set on the northern margins of Norway, on Sami territory where breathtaking landscape often steals the show. Dramatic opening shots of a sweeping barren landscape set the scene for the viewer. This is a tale set on the edges of civilization – as it is conceived by most Norwegians, and Utmark is a frontier town. Its inhabitants are often caricatured,...

Titles backed or produced by HBO Europe (“Welcome to Utmark”), NBCU (“Sisterhood”), Fremantle (“Cargo”) and ITV Studios (“Thin Blue Line”) have been nominated for the 5th Nordisk Film & TV Fond Prize, the most prestigious Nordic award for drama series screenwriting.

In a powerful smackdown, a fifth series, “Cry Wolf,” is produced by Dr Drama, the Danish producer of Nordic Noir icons “The Killing” and “The Bridge” as well as “Borgen.”

Adding another edge to competition, the five contenders are produced by companies based in the five main Nordic countries and backed by three of its biggest public broadcasters, Sweden’s Svt, Denmark’s Dr and Finland’s Yle, as well as pan-Nordic pay TV giant Viaplay, part of the Nordic Entertainment Group (Nent).

The winner of the award, which goes to the main writer, will be announced on Feb. 3 at Sweden’s Göteborg Film Festival during its TV Drama Vision,...

As it continues pulling into the Nordic drama talent pool, HBO Europe has ordered the Norwegian original “Wilderness” (“Utmark” ), an eight-part series created and written by Kim Fupz Aakeson (“In Order of Disappearance”). The award-winning Icelandic director Dagur Kári (“Virgin Mountain”) is helming all eight episodes of the series.

“Wilderness” is a quirky comedy drama set in a small Norwegian town a little north of the middle of nowhere, and revolving around a corrupt sheriff, an alcoholic shepherd, a nature-loving bootlegger, a God-hating pastor and a grieving pimp. The HBO Europe original drama is produced by Finn Gjerdrum and Stein Kvae at Paradox.

“(‘Wilderness’) is bold, at times totally hilarious – and human all the way,” said Hanne Palmquist, the commissioning editor and VP original programming at HBO Nordic. “Kim Fupz has created an original bunch of flawed yet wonderful characters living in a far-flung place where civilization is a choice rather than a given,...

Kim Fupz Aakeson, writer of Liam Neeson feature Cold Pursuit, has created a quirky Norwegian comedy for HBO Europe. The premium broadcaster has commissioned eight-part series Utmark/Wilderness, which will be directed by Dagur Kári, director of Paul Dano’s The Good Heart.

Aakeson is also behind AMC’s David Schwimmer drama Feed The Beast, which was based on his Danish series Bankerot. It is produced by Finn Gjerdrum and Stein Kvae at Paradox.

Utmark/Wilderness is a quirky comedy drama set in a small Norwegian town a little north of the middle of nowhere. A sheep lies savaged. A dog runs free. A wife leaves her husband. So begins a chain of revenge that entangles a whole town. Corrupt sheriff, alcoholic shepherd, nature-loving bootlegger, God-hating pastor, grieving pimp…everyone knows everyone in this secluded corner of the Nordic North. Now an optimistic new school teacher rolls in, hopeful for a fresh start.

HBO Europe has greenlit its second original production from Norway, giving an order to Utmark (Wilderness), an eight-part comedy-drama from Kim Fupz Aakeson, an author and screenwriter whose credits include A Somewhat Gentle Man and In Order of Disappearance.

Aakeson will write all eight episodes of Wilderness, which follows the adventures of an optimistic new school teacher hoping for a fresh start who comes into a small, isolated Norwegian town in the middle of nowhere. But the locals —including a corrupt sheriff, an alcoholic shepherd, a nature-loving bootlegger, a God-hating pastor and a grieving pimp —are not so open to outsiders. A ...

HBO Europe has greenlit its second original production from Norway, giving an order to Utmark (Wilderness), an eight-part comedy-drama from Kim Fupz Aakeson, an author and screenwriter whose credits include A Somewhat Gentle Man and In Order of Disappearance.

Aakeson will write all eight episodes of Wilderness, which follows the adventures of an optimistic new school teacher hoping for a fresh start who comes into a small, isolated Norwegian town in the middle of nowhere. But the locals — including a corrupt sheriff, an alcoholic shepherd, a nature-loving bootlegger, a God-hating pastor and a grieving pimp — are not so open to outsiders. A ...

Warner Bros.’ “The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part” is likely to lead the pack at the box office in its debut with an estimated $31 million from 4,303 North American locations.

While the animated adventure pic is still coming out well ahead of the next-highest projected earner for the weekend, the latest estimates for the fourth film in the Lego franchise are significantly below earlier tracking, which had forecasted a debut in the $50 million range. “The Lego Movie 2” took in $8.5 million on Friday.

Chris Pratt stars as the voice of Emmet Brickowski and new character Rex Dangervest. Elizabeth Banks, Alison Brie, Will Arnett, Charlie Day, Nick Offerman and Will Ferrell reprise their roles from earlier Lego films, with Tiffany Haddish, Stephanie Beatriz, and Maya Rudolph joining the cast as new characters. Mike Mitchell directed from Phil Lord and Chris Miller’s screenplay.

If estimates hold, “The Lego Movie 2” will be the...

Cold Pursuit Summit Entertainment Reviewed for Shockya.com & BigAppleReviews.net by: Harvey Karten Director: Hans Petter Moland Screenwriter: Frank Baldwin, Kim Fupz Aakeson, loosely based on Moland’s 2014 movie “In Order of Disappearance” Cast: Liam Neeson, Laura Dern, David O’Hara, Tom Bateman, Tom Jackson, Emma Rossum, Domenick Lombardozzi Screened at: Dolby 88, NYC, 1/29/19 Opens: February […]

The post Cold Pursuit Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.

Call it Taken on Ice, call it Mr. Plow: The Movie, call it “Neeson and Chill.” But whatever you dub Cold Pursuit, starring Liam Neeson as a father out for revenge — don’t confuse it with grim business as usual. After starring in three films in which his character’s “very particular set of set of skills” get put to good use, plus four other films that could fit the same bill (Unknown, Non-Stop, Run All Night and The Commuter), the 66-year-old actor approaches this snowbound thriller with tongue firmly in cheek.

Revenge is a dish best served cold — ice cold in the case of the snowplow operator turned vigilante played by Liam Neeson in Hans Petter Moland’s “Cold Pursuit.” This remake of his Norwegian crime-thriller “Kraftidioten” (released stateside as “In Order of Disappearance”) about a father avenging his son allows Moland to join the ranks of directors like Michael Haneke (“Funny Games”), George Sluizer (“The Vanishing”), and Takashi Shimizu (“The Grudge”), all of whom made English-language versions of their own foreign-language features.

Moland’s offering, however, finds renewed vigor within the additional changes and tonal adjustments. By pumping up the darkly comedic undertones, augmenting the frigid chill of the original, Moland’s terrific, riveting noir-tinged picture distinguishes itself from other rote, reductive remakes.

Having recently won Kehoe’s “Citizen of the Year” trophy, upstanding family man Nels Coxman (Neeson) is a pillar of the community. He’s the guy that...

Snowplows were intended to travel in only one direction at a time, but the makers of “Cold Pursuit” have bigger intentions in mind, attempting to meld intense action and dark comedy with a distinct Coen Brothers flavor. If the cold weather and heavy machinery weren’t enough to bring “Fargo” to mind, one of this movie’s many over-the-top deaths involves a snowblower doing to someone what a woodchipper did in that earlier film.

And while director Hans Petter Moland’s remake of his own film “In Order of Disappearance” (Frank Baldwin adapts the original screenplay by Kim Fupz Aakeson) may fall short of its goals, it’s hard not to admire the film’s ambitions — and certain scenes, performances and even one-liners — even as its flaws start piling up.

The setup for the plot feels like any number of Liam Neeson mad-dad-vengeance-dad thrillers of recent years; this time, the...

Lille, France – “The Breadwinner” director Nora Twomey and “The Heroic Quest of the Valiant Prince Ivandoe” directors Christian Bøving-Andersen and Eva Lee Wallberg took top honors at Saturday night’s second edition of the European Animation Awards (Eaa) in Lille, France, scooping best feature and best TV/broadcast production respectively.

It was an evening of beautiful mishaps, as the streets of Lille were a mix of brave and peaceful civilian protesters gathered just blocks away from holiday carolers, singing with their children in their arms. The awards ceremony lost their WiFi connection, had all of the glassware stolen for the winners’ after party, and in the most headscratching passage of the evening, contestants for Miss France were paraded into the ceremony, where a number admitted knowing little-to-nothing about animation.

In spite of the snafus, or perhaps elevated by them, the evening was buzzing with humor, charm and a collection of...

Becoming Astrid (Unga Astrid) Music Box Films Reviewed for Shockya.com by: Harvey Karten Director: Pernille Fischer Christensen, Screenwriterd: Kim Fupz Aakeson, Pernille Fischer Christensen Cast: Alba August, Maria Bonnevie, Trine Dyrholm, Henrik Rafaelsen, Magnus Krepper, Björn Gustafsson Screened at: Critics’ link, NYC, 11/14/18 Opens: November 23, 2018 Pippi Långstrump, Pippi Longstocking as we know her […]

The post Becoming Astrid Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.

The perfect revenge is all in the execution. Watch Liam Neeson, Laura Dern, Emmy Rossum and Tom Bateman in the new trailer from Summit Entertainment’s Cold Pursuit — only in theaters nationwide on February 8th.

Cold Pursuit, an action thriller infused with irreverent humor, stars Liam Neeson as Nels Coxman, a family man whose quiet life with his wife (Laura Dern) is upended following the mysterious death of their son. Nels’ search for justice turns into a vengeful hunt for Viking (Tom Bateman), a drug lord he believes is connected to the death. As one by one each of Viking’s associates “disappear,” Nels goes from upstanding citizen to ice-cold vigilante, letting nothing – and no one – get in his way.

Directed by Hans Petter Moland, with a screenplay by Frank Baldwin, Cold Pursuit is based on the movie “Kraftidioten” written by Kim Fupz Aakeson.

The post Liam Neeson Is Back...

The deal will cover properties developed from now going forward.

REinvent Studios, the Copenhagen-based company launched by former TrustNordisk CEO Rikke Ennis, has signed a three-year strategic partnership to handle international sales for Sf Studios’ new Scandinavian TV series.

The deal will cover properties developed from now going forward.

Tim King, executive vice president production for Sf Studios, based in Stockholm, explained, “We have eight new shows in active development across the Nordics that we will start discussing at Mipcom. These shows represent a broad range of genres, which reflects the general need for Scandinavian producers to move away from pure Scandi Noir.

FilmCash’s Frederik Nelsson will be CFO of the Copenhagen-based company.

Rikke Ennis, the departing CEO of TrustNordisk, says her new company REinvent Studios will focus on development, packaging, finance and creative producing.

“We want to be competitive to delivering finance solutions – equity, gap and bridge financing that would be a new thing from Scandinavia,” she said.

One partner in the new company will be Frederik Nelsson, an experienced financier as CEO of FilmCash, who will become REinvent’s CFO.

The Copenhagen-based outfit, which is expected to have about seven or eight full-time staff in its first year of operation,...

Becoming Astrid to chronicle early years of Pippi Longstocking creator.

TrustNordisk has boarded sales for Pernille Fischer Christensen’s Becoming Astrid, which is shooting now in Göteborg, Stockholm, Berlin and Altenburg.

Alba August = the 23-year-old daughter of Pernilla August and Bille August - stars in the lead role, with co-stars Trine Dyrholm, Magnus Krepper and Maria Bonnevie.

The film is about the early years of famed children’s author Astrid Lindgren (Pippi Longstocking) when she experienced something that was a “combination of both miracle and calamity that came to shape her entire life.”

Kim Fupz Aakeson wrote the script.

Producers are Anna Anthony for Avanti Film and Lars G. Lindström for Nordisk Film Production Sweden in co-production with Film Väst, TV4, Nordisk Film Production Denmark and Dcm, in association with Dr.

The project has support from the Swedish Film Institute, the Danish Film Institute, Nordisk Film & TV Fond, Mitteldeutsche Medienförderung, Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg...

All stories of revenge end up awry in one way or another.

Actor Stellan Skarsgard reunites with director Hans Petter Moland once again for a dark comedy tale about revenge in Norway with In Order Of Disappearnce.

The film follows a father who seeks out a drug lord who killed his son. As the drug lord’s minions turn up dead one-by-one, the hilarity ensues as the bad guys seek out the mysterious man responsible.

Lrm had a phone interview with Stellan Skarsgard and director Hans Petter Moland earlier this month. The conversation was over the dark humor, working on so many collaborations and filming in the cold, cold Norwegian environment.

In Order Of Disappearance is currently released in limited theaters in select cities across America and also available on VOD today.

Read the full transcript below.

Lrm: Congratualations, gentlemen. This long journey of film festivals have finally came to an end.

I’m fairly certain I’d watch Stellan Skarsgård do anything. Train a puppy to roll over? Sounds amazing. Delicately cook a perfect Frittata? I’ll be in the front row. But Skarsgård is at his absolute best when brutal violence is involved, only because of his endearingly maniacal appreciation of a good genre role. Only a few months ago he was able to play a boisterous European mobster in Our Kind of Traitor, and luckily, Hans Petter Moland’s In Order Of Disappearance gives us another Skarsgård role to love with almost no wait in between. A less cartoonish, grief-driven turn this time around for Skarsgård, but more killer Skarsgårdian goodness nonetheless. I thought August was supposed to be filled with crap? Yet here’s another positive review coming out of what might be a record-breaking high for typical late-summer garbage.

Skarsgård plays Nils Dickman, a Norwegian snow-plower whose...

“In Order of Disappearance” premiered at the Berlin Film Festival back in 2014, and is finally now arriving to Us theaters this year. Directed by Norwegian filmmaker Hans Petter Moland, the dark comedy stars Stellan Skarsgård as Nils, an introverted and hard-working snow plow driver who receives news that his son has died of a heroin overdose. Disbelieving of the official report, he soon uncovers that his son was killed by a drug cartel and begins his quest for revenge.

The movie was written by Kim Fupz Aakesonl and also stars Bruno Ganz, Pål Sverre Hagen, Jakob Oftebro and Kristofer Hivju. Upon its premiere, “In Order of Disappearance” received positive reviews.

Read More: Berlin Review: Stellan Skarsgard Is a Killing Machine In Enjoyable Dark Comedy ‘In Order Of Disappearance’

IndieWire’s Eric Kohn wrote in his review that it “cleverly magnifies the way each man is trapped in the mazes of...

If you like tales of bloody revenge, sharp wit, and Stellan Skarsgärd murdering people, we have the movie for you. In Order Of Disappearance, which has just been given its first U.S. trailer, is a Norwegian thriller that follows a fathers quest for revenge after his son is murdered and the incident is framed as an overdose. Bouncing around the festival and international circuits before being acquired by Magnolia Pictures, they’ll finally release it later this summer.

With a pitch-black wit and a cold, pale color palette, In Order of Disappearance looks to be a solid piece of revenge cinema. We said in our review: “The film simply wouldn’t work if it didn’t have layers that improved upon the simple story of a father seeking revenge. Thankfully, In Order of Disappearance is filled with so many twists on what you expect that it feels refreshing. Beautifully...

Fond also backs two TV serires and Lisa Langseth’s new feature.

In its June round of funding, Nordisk Film & TV Fond supported seven new projects, including its largest ever production grant for a documentary, $118,000 (Nok 1m), to Mads Brügger’s [pictured] Cold Case Dag Hammerskjöld.

The Danish documentary is produced by Peter Engel of Wingman Media, in co-production with Norway’s Piraya Film, Sweden’s Laika Film and Belgium’s Associate Producers. Again with his unique style also on camera The Ambassador director Brugger reopens the case of legendary former Un Secretary Dag Hammarskjöld who died in a plane crash in Northern Rhodesia in 1961.

Dr handles world sales on the film, which will be delivered in 2017.

The Fond also supported these projects in its latest round:

A Modern Man (documentary) $56,000 $231,000 (Nok 500,000) Produced by Danish Documentary and directed by Eva Mulvad, this film is an existential journey with violinist and model Charlie Siem. Rides Upon the...

The Swedish Film Institute has backed nineteen projects in its latest round of funding.

Swedish director Sanna Lenken, who won Berlin’s Crystal Bear in 2015 with My Skinny Sister, is now making a 30-minute short Night Child (Nattbarn), based on a graphic novel by Hanna Gustafsson.

The story is about 14-year-old girl Iggy “who lives a parallel online life to avoid the everyday tedium. A story about identity, sexuality, borderlands and friendship.”

The film is one of several new productions getting backing from the Swedish Film Institute. Others include Dome Karukoski’s anticipated new Tom Of Finland biopic [pictured] and Agnieszka Holland’s Polish drama Game Count.

Other projects backed, listed from highest investments, are:

Becoming Zlatan, wr/dirs Fredrik Gertten, Magnus Gertten; prods Margarete Jangård, Lennart Ström. Documentary about charismatic footballer Zlatan Ibrahimović. $246,000 (2m Sek)

Tom Of Finland, dir Dome Karukoski, wr Aleksi Bardy, prods Gunnar Carlsson, Emma Åkesdotter Ronge. Drama about the...

AMC has given a straight to series order to “Broke,” the drama hailing from “Nurse Jackie” and “Dexter” writer/showrunner Clyde Phillips. Based on the Danish series “Bankerot” created by Kim Fupz Aakeson and produced by Dr Broadcasting, “Broke” is a drama about two best friends who take one last shot at their dream of opening a restaurant together. One is a brilliant chef in trouble with the Mob and the law, and the other is the best sommelier in the city who is the widowed father of a teenage son. Also Read: AMC's 'Turn: Washington Spies' Stars Strike a Stately Pose in.

As Clyde Phillips prepares to say farewell to Showtime's Nurse Jackie with the series finale on Sunday, he's already lined up his next gig. The showrunner behind Dexter and the Edie Falco comedy has landed a straight-to-series 10-episode order at AMC for a remake of Danish drama series Bankerot titled Broke, The Hollywood Reporter has learned. Based on the Danish series created by Kim Fupz Aakeson and produced by Dr Broadcasting, Broke revolves around two best friends who take one last shot at their dream of opening a restaurant together. One is a brilliant chef in trouble

read more...

Child 44 director Daniél Espinosa is to helm a new adptation of period epic The Emigrants for Scandinavian major Svensk Filindustri.

Details of the project were announced at the annual press conference held in Cannes by Swedish regional fund Film Väst.

The Emigrants tells the story of Kristina and her husband Karl-Oskar, who emigrate from Sweden to America in the 1850s. Determined to flee poverty, religious persecution, and social oppression, they head across the Atlantic in search of a better life.

An earlier adaptation of EspinoVilhelm Moberg’s acclaimed novel was made in 1971 by revered director Jan Troell that was nominated for five Academy Awards and won a Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film.

The Emigrants will be scripted by Petter Skavlan (Kon Tiki.) It is to be produced by Fredrik Wikström Nicastro at Svensk Filmindustri, and co-produced by Film Väst. Shooting is scheduled to begin in 2017, in the Västra Götaland region of western Sweden.

Another...

This year’s European Film Awards are officially out of the gates with a not so lean 50 film submissions to select from. The 27th edition collects titles that date back to last year’s Venice and Toronto Int. Film Festivals moving into Sundance-Rotterdam-Berlin and finally Cannes of ’14. Among the 31 European countries represented, we’ve got likes of the Palme d’Or winner Nuri Bilge Ceylan leading the huge pack of contenders including Jonathan Glazer’s Under the Skin and Pawel Pawlikowski’s Ida. Here’s the complete list of 50!:

Alienation

ОТЧУЖДЕНИЕ (Otchujdenie)

Bulgaria

Directed By: Milko Lazarov

Written By: Milko Lazarov, Kitodar Todorov & Georgi Tenev

Produced By: Veselka Kiryakova

Amour Fou

Austria/Luxembourg/Germany

Written & Directed By: Jessica Hausner

Produced By: Martin Gschlacht, Antonin Svoboda, Bruno Wagner, Bady Minck, Alexander Dumreicher-Ivanceanu & Philippe Bober

Beautiful Youth

Hermosa Juventud

Spain/France

Directed By: Jaime Rosales

Written By: Jaime Rosales & Enric Rufas

Produced By: Jaime Rosales,...

An official international trailer for director Hans Petter Moland's In Order of Disappearance has been released.

The thriller stars Thor: The Dark World's Stellan Skarsgård as a grieving father.

Skarsgård portrays Nils, a snow plow driver who goes on a mission of vengeance to track down his son's killers.

Birgitte Hjort Sørensen and Kristofer Hivju also star in the Norwegian feature. Kim Fupz Aakeson (A Somewhat Gentle Man) penned the script.

The film debuted back in April at the Tribeca Film Festival and opened in the UK on September 12.

In February, it was announced that Skarsgård will star in a new BBC One crime series.

Stellan Skarsgård (Thor, The Avengers) stars in an upcoming Norwegian revenge thriller called In Order of Disappearance. This looks like a great movie. For as dark as it looks, they still manage to throw in some comedic elements. The movie was directed by Norwegian filmmaker Hans Petter Moland (Comrade Pedersen, A Somewhat Gentle Man) from a script by Kim Fupz Aakeson. Here's a description of the story:

Introverted and hard-working snow plow driver Nils (Stellan Skarsgard) has just been named Citizen of The Year, when he receives news that his son has died of a heroin overdose. Disbelieving the official report, Nils soon uncovers evidence of the young man’s murder—a victim in a turf war between the local crime boss, known as "The Count", and his Serbian rivals. Armed with heavy machinery and a good dose of beginner’s luck, Nils embarks upon a quest for revenge that...

It’s really a testament to the scope and variety of the things one can see at the Fantasia International Film Festival that my top 5 Fantasia films this year can contain a big-budget sci-fi Blockbuster and a movie so obscure and bizarre that I’ll likely never get a chance to see it again. The entire spectrum of film making is encompassed in Fantasia’s 2014 program, from the ultra-budget to the micro-budget, and all places in between. Old and new, comedy and tragedy (and mixes thereof), you can see it all at Fantasia, and no matter what it is, odds are it will be something you’ll remember for a long time to come. This year five films in particular left a lasting impression on me, and they seem to encompass that all-important Fantasia variety quite nicely.

5:

Zombeavers

Written by Al Caplin, Jon Caplin and Jordan Rubin

Directed by Jordan Rubin

USA,...

The 2014 Tribeca Film Festival is winding down, and it's time for Part 1 of our wrap-up of the horror films we took in this year with a look at Summer of Blood, Super Duper Alice Cooper, In Order of Disappearance, and The Canal.

Are we knee deep in film festival season or at the tail end, transitioning from film geekery to... well, just plain geekery with a comic-con every weekend til August? It's hard to keep track these days. Lucky for you, Dread Central sends henchmen to every event worth talking about.

Today I fill those shoes as we run the streets of New York City to catch the freakier films of the Tribeca Film Festival alongside Heather Buckley (on interview duty) and Drew Tinnin (backing us up on all points). As we head toward the close of the event, we thought we'd give you a taste of what we've been taking in.

In Order of Disappearance

Written by Kim Fupz Aakeson

Directed by Hans Petter Moland

Norway, 2014

In the opening shot of the Norwegian crime thriller In Order of Disappearance, a plow thunders down a Scandinavian country road, clearing the path with massive snow blowers. It might be tempting to say that the film’s hero, Nils Dickman (Stellan Skarsgard) is like the plow, pushing anything and everything out of his way in his desire for revenge. That’s the way Hollywood romanticizes its heroes, even the ones that are darker and more unlikeable. But in Norway, they do things a bit differently, and this film is all the better for it.

Dickman is the driver of that plow from the opening scene, and his tireless work clearing the local roads earns him a Citizen of the Year award soon afterward. On that same night, Nils’ son Ingvar is found dead of a supposed heroin overdose.

The second half of the 2014 Tribeca Film Festival's features slate is here, and with films like Zombeavers, Extraterrestrial, Preservation, and Indigenous included in the Midnight section, there's a lot for horror fans to love.

In the Spotlight section there are a few thriller/horror-ish sounding films, plus a documentary on Alice Cooper that should be of interest to genre fans, so we're including them here as well.

From the Press Release:

The Tribeca Film Festival (Tff), presented by At&T, today announced its feature film selections in the Spotlight, Midnight, and Special Screenings sections as well as the selections for the Storyscapes program.

The Midnight section will open with the feature film Preservation and includes a lineup of genre-bending titles from fresh voices around the world that run the gamut from tongue-in-cheek comedy to chilling horror films. "Whether they made us laugh, squirm, or plain scared the heck out of us,...

The 13th Tribeca Film Festival has announced its complete lineup for next month’s New York celebration, which runs April 16-27. Culled from more than 6,000 submissions, Tribeca 2014 includes 55 world premieres, 37 first-time filmmakers, and 22 female directors. Half the slate had been announced on Tuesday, with Spotlight, Midnight, and Storyscapes films unveiled today, as well as special screenings. “Spotlight and special screenings are an especially dynamic aspect of this year’s program, both in range of styles and stories,” said Genna Terranova, Tribeca’s director of programming. “Many films feature real-life personalities who’ve accomplished extraordinary feats, while in other films we...

Triumphantly combining the thriller and comedy genres is no easy task, with the challenge of remaining faithful to both cinematic styles without undermining the other. However it’s something the Norwegians appear to have mastered, as following on from the likes of Headhunters and Jackpot, comes Hans Petter Moland’s In Order of Disappearance, reuniting the renowned director with his frequent collaborator, and Hollywood regular, Stellan Skarsgård.

Skarsgård plays Nils, who is awarded Citizen of the Year in his freezing cold mountain village, for his indispensable, loyal work on his snowplow. However his celebrations are cut short when he learns of the death of his son, who the authorities believe to have died in a drug overdose. Nils is adamant his son was murdered, and so sets off on a one-man vengeance mission to find his son’s killer, with all paths leading to the eccentric, volatile and notorious gang-leader...

TrustNordisk has already confirmed early deals on Pernille Fischer Christensen’s Someone You Love, which has its world premiere as a Berlinale Special Gala on Tuesday.

Deals have been done for Australia and New Zealand (Madman), Spain and Andorra (Golem), Benelux (Wildbunch), Korea (Atnine), Turkey and Cyprus (Umut Sanat Filmcilik) and Hong Kong (Edko Films).

Mikael Persbrandt, Trine Dyrholm and Birgitte Hjort Sorensen star in the story of a musician who gets a chance to improve his life after a tragic accident. Christiansen wrote the script with Kim Fupz Aakeson.

“When I first saw Someone You Love, it affected me deeply. Pernille Fischer Christensen has with this film touched the core sentiment of being human. I believe that this is her most universal work to date and the sales to key distributors underlines the films quality and Fischer Christensen huge talent as a director. We have great expectations for the films sales potential in Berlin,” said [link=co...

Chicago – For a film that promises steamy scenes between two stars who share a fearlessness for performing in the nude, “Perfect Sense” is a doozy of a downer. It’s a fine showcase for the oft-underutilized talents of Ewan McGregor and Eva Green, but the plot is one slow descent toward doom that leaves viewers with very little to contemplate besides the sickening tragedy of death.

This curious little drama by David Mackenzie (“Young Adam”) is, in many ways, the drab underside of Lorene Scafaria’s upcoming apocalyptic comedy, “Seeking a Friend for the End of the World.” Both films explore the romance that blossoms between two strangers just as life on Earth is drawing to a close. It’s an intriguing concept, but Mackenzie does little more than follow the premise toward its inevitable conclusion. Since the characters are powerless to prevent the obstacles that lead to their undoing,...

Tyrannosaur; Tabloid; Midnight in Paris; Perfect Sense; Footloose

One of the very few major disappointments at this year's Bafta nominations was the lack of a best actress nod for the brilliant Olivia Colman. While Oscar voters tend to prefer their British thespians to play royals rather than real people, Colman's portrayal of an apparently happy-go-lucky charity shop worker with a dark domestic secret in Tyrannosaur (2011, StudioCanal, 18) deserved to wow British voters.

An assured and deeply personal feature debut from writer-director Paddy Considine, this tough but elegiac drama throws together two displaced souls: Colman's covertly abused wife (the mercurial Eddie Marsan plays her tormentor with horrific conviction and guile) and Peter Mullan's borderline psychotic drunk who opens the movie by kicking his faithful dog to death in a fit of impotent rage. It all sounds unbearably tough and certainly there is much here that challenges even the most sympathetic viewer to flinch and turn away.

Congratulations to Gareth Earls! A DVD and signed poster will be on their way.As January drags to a close, what better way to blast out those winter blues than with the cracking sci-fi romance, Perfect Sense. What's that? Still waiting for a post-Christmas pay day? Well, fear not Twitchers, because to celebrate the DVD release on 30th January we have a copy of the DVD, plus a quad poster signed by Ewan McGregor to give away to one lucky reader."Directed by David Mackenzie (Spread; Young Adam; Hallam Foe) from a script by award winning Danish writer Kim Fupz Aakeson (To Love Someone; Pure Hearts) the film co-stars Connie Nielsen (Gladiator), Ewen Bremner (Trainspotting; Snatch; Julien Donkey-Boy), Denis Lawson (Star Wars; Marchlands) and Stephen Dillane (44 Inch Chest;...

Perfect Sense

Stars: Eva Green, Ewan McGregor, Connie Nielsen, Stephen Dillane, Denis Lawson | Written by Kim Fupz Aakeson | Directed by David Mackenzie

Perfect Sense spent very little time in the cinema upon its release last year and I was very sorry to miss it. I was therefore glad to receive a test disc to review for its DVD release and pleased to report that it was well worth the wait. Set in present day Glasgow, the film introduces us to Susan (Green) and Michael (McGregor), a scientist and a chef. They meet, get together and fall in love against the backdrop of a global epidemic. An unknown disease afflicts the entire human race, which, over a fairly long period of time, robs people of their senses one by one.

First to go is smell, which the world’s population largely takes in their stride. Taste is next, which proves more troublesome.

A viral infection spreading across the world is no joke. We’ve thought about it after seeing Contagion and experienced the possibility of the terror in real life. But what if one virus spread that caused you to lose your senses? That’s what’s happen in IFC Films’ Perfect Sense. The drama romance depicts two English lovers who become infected with a virus that causes the person to gradually lose their senses. Sight, Hearing, Taste, Touch, and Smell. The trailer gives the sense that the movie will have the same terror as Blindness or Contagion, but be a love story at its core.

Check out the trailer for Perfect Sense below. Watch it in HD on Yahoo! Movies.

Susan, an epidemiologist, reemerges from an affair gone sour and encounters a peculiar patient — a truck driver who experienced a sudden, uncontrollable crying fit. Now he is calm, but he has lost his sense of smell.