Malene Choi’s first fiction feature, The Quiet Migration, prepares to head to the Berlinale
- The film, set to screen in Panorama, zooms in on a teenage boy who feels the pull of two worlds – his adoptive Danish countryside and his native South Korea
Malene Choi’s The Quiet Migration [+see also:
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film profile] will be one of the titles taking part in the Panorama strand of the 2023 edition of the Berlin International Film Festival (16-26 February – see the news).
The Quiet Migration focuses on 19-year-old Carl, who leads a quiet life in the Danish countryside with his adoptive parents. They expect him to take over the family farm one day, continuing their traditions. But Carl begins to feel the pull of two worlds – his “home” plus his native homeland, South Korea – and the day is fast approaching when he will have to choose. The script was penned by Choi together with Sissel Dalsgaard Thomsen.
The picture marks Choi’s first feature-length fiction film after having helmed the documentary-fiction hybrid The Return [+see also:
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trailer
film profile] (2018), which deals with the theme of transnational adoption, and which celebrated its world premiere at International Film Festival Rotterdam.
According to the official press release issued by TrustNordisk, the outfit in charge of the picture’s international sales, in this film, Choi “elegantly explores the main character’s unresolved desire to discover more about his birth and roots in South Korea, blending her keen documentarian eyes with distinctive dreamlike elements to striking effect”.
The feature stars young talent Cornelius Won Riedel-Clausen in the lead alongside Bodil Jørgensen (the series The Kingdom Exodus [+see also:
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interview: Hubert Toint and Mark Denes…
series profile]) and Bjarne Henriksen (The Killing).
Commenting on the acquisition and the selection for the Berlinale, TrustNordisk’s managing director, Susan Wendt, said: “We are proud to be representing the talented director Malene and her film, which subtly explores the question of longing and belonging in a beautiful and wondrous way while highlighting the need for more such films to be made. We congratulate the team on this achievement and can't wait for the film to meet its international audience in Berlin.”
The Quiet Migration will be released locally in spring 2023. Budgeted at €1.4 million, it is being produced by Maria Møller Kjeldgaard for Denmark’s Manna Film, with support from the Danish Film Institute, the Nordisk Film & TV Fond and the West Danish Film Fund, in collaboration with DR. Øst for Paradis is in charge of its distribution in Denmark, whilst Mer Film will handle it in Norway.
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