Nicolo Donato prepares for rough August

by Camillo de Marco

22/06/2010 - After the success of his feature debut Brotherhood [trailer, film focus], winner of the Golden Marc'Aurelio Award for Best Film at last year’s Rome International Film Festival and selected for numerous festivals worldwide, young Danish director Nicolo Donato is working on a new film, entitled August.

The news was announced by Donato, who is in Rome to promote the Italian release of Brotherhood on July 2 by Lucky Red on 20 screens (the film was released domestically in April).

Said Donato: "It will also be a love story, like Brotherhood, in a difficult situation, like the one between the two Neo-Nazi lovers of my first film".

In August, a man falls into a deep depression after his daughter dies of a tumor, leading him to a psychiatric hospital. “I know how difficult it is to face depression and rise from it from experience,” said the director. “I have a friend who was in the same situation".

In the film, a woman enters the protagonist’s life. "Those who read the screenplay [by Peter Asmussen and Rasmus Birch] say there are too many sex scenes, and that they aren’t even beautiful, but I want to the film to be provocative," added Donato.

The cast of the film, which will be shot entirely in Copenhagen, includes Thure Lindhardt, Nicolas Bro, Signe Egholm Olsen and Morten Holst, who appeared in Brotherhood. It is also being backed by the same production company, Asta Film, with Film i Väst, and will be lensed by the same DoP, Laust Trier-Mørch. "For me, a film is like a family. We just hope we’ll find the money we need to shoot it,” concluded Donato.

(Translated from Italian)