Troell's new feature to have world premiere in Montreal

by Jorn Rossing Jensen

20/08/2012 - Swedish veteran director Jan Troell's new feature, The Last Sentence, which will be released domestically on December 7, will have its world premiere in competition for the Grand Prix of the Americas at the 36th World Film Festival in Montreal (August 23 - September 3).

"Montreal and I go back a long way – they screened my first feature, Here’s Your Life, in 1967, even before the festival was properly established," Troell explained. “When Hamsun (1996), about Norwegian author Knut Hamsun, was on show there, it provoked a debate; The Last Sentence deals with the same period of time, but seen from another perspective."

Scripted by Troell and Danish author Klaus Rifberg, the Francy Suntinger production for FilmLance International AB portrays Swedish journalist and editor-in-chief Torgny Segerstedt (1876-1945), who fought a one-man battle against Nazi Germany during World War II, when Sweden was neutral and fearing the consequences.

His controversial articles were regularly transmitted by English radio on the same day they appeared in his Göteborg newspaper – in German-occupied Norway he was considered a hero. During these tumultuous times his private life was also chaotic: while married himself, he fell in love with the wife of a friend.

Danish actor Jesper Christensen, who was also in Troell's Everlasting Moment [trailer] (2008), plays the lead with a cast including Pernilla August, Björn Granath and Peter Andersson. Nordisk Film Distribution AB will handle local distribution, while Denmark’s TrustNordisk is in charge of international sales.