05/05/2015 - The film by Hans Petter Moland – the third instalment in Denmark’s Department Q thriller series – has been sold to more than 15 countries even before shooting has started

Lead actor Nikolaj Lie Kaas (© Frederik Fensbo)

While Norwegian director Hans Petter Moland today (5 May) gets principal photography under way for A Conspiracy of Faith [+see also:
trailer
film profile] – the third instalment in the Department Q thriller series, based on Danish author Jussi Adler Olsen’s novels – Danish international sales agent TrustNordisk has already licensed the film to more than 15 countries.

Ahead of the eight-week shoot at Danish and German locations, the company had closed deals for, among others, the Benelux (Lumière), North America (IFC Films), Turkey (Medyavizyon), Poland (Kino Swiat) and Russia (Silverbox). France’s Wild Bunch and Spain’s Vertigo have also signed for the two previous films in the series.

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They were both directed by Danish director Mikkel Nørgaard, and produced by Louise Vesth and Peter Aalbæk Jensen for Zentropa Entertainments: The Keeper of Lost Causes [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Eugenio Mira
film profile] and The Absent One [+see also:
trailer
film profile] both joined the list of the biggest local box-office hits, taking 725,00 and 768,000 admissions, respectively, in 2013 and 2014. 

All three were scripted by Danish writer-director Nikolaj Arcel, and they focus on a department within the Copenhagen Police that specialises in “cases of special focus”, with detective superintendent Carl Mørck (Nikolaj Lie Kaas), his sidekick Assad (Swedish actor Fares Fares) and their assistant Rose (Johanne Louise Schmidt) as the main characters.

Besides head of the police Marcus Jacobsen (Søren Pilmark), who will be investigating a case of abduction and murder, this time the leads will be joined by Lotte Andersen, and Norwegian actors Jakob Oftebro (Kon-Tiki [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], 2012/The Shamer’s Daughter [+see also:
trailer
film profile], 2015) and Pål Sverre Hagen (Kon-Tiki, Ragnarok [+see also:
trailer
film profile], 2013). 

Among the producers, the Zentropa Group is joined by Denmark’s TV, Germany’s ZDF Television Network, ZDF Enterprises, Norway’s TV2, Sweden’s TV4 and regional Swedish film centre Film i Väst. Denmark’s Nordisk Film will handle Scandinavian distribution, and has set a local release for 26 February 2016.