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BOX OFFICE Denmark

A Conspiracy of Faith breaks all-time Danish opening records

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- Hans Petter Moland’s adaptation of the Jussi Adler-Olsen thriller was the first Danish feature to exceed 200,000 admissions upon its release

A Conspiracy of Faith breaks all-time Danish opening records
Fares Fares and Nikolaj Lie Kaas in A Conspiracy of Faith

Norwegian director Hans Petter Moland’s A Conspiracy of Faith [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
– the third instalment in Zentropa Entertainments’ Department Q franchise, adapted from Jussi Adler-Olsen’s thrillers – registered 207,669 admissions during its opening weekend, to become the first local feature in history to exceed 200,000.

The film sold 22,000 and 33,000 tickets more, respectively, than the launch of Mikkel Nørgaard’s The Keeper of Lost Causes [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Eugenio Mira
film profile
]
and The Absent One [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
, which introduced the series in 2013 and 2014. All three were scripted by Danish writer-director Nikolaj Arcel and revolve around a special department within the Copenhagen Police, specialising 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. 

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“It's crazy – we are happy. We have tried hard to develop the Department Q universe and make films that both entertain and impress. I am grateful to live in a country where we have a proud film tradition, and where the Danes watch Danish films,” said producer Louise Vesth, who – with A Conspiracy of Faith – has now put her name to six of the biggest local openings.

It was not only on the big screen that Department Q had a strong weekend: The Keeper of Lost Causes was on Sunday (6 March) aired by Danish commercial broadcaster TV2, reaching 1.03 million viewers – the best result in five years. “The close collaboration between Zentropa and TV2 has worked again,” said head of TV2 Fiction Katrine Vogelsang.

The €5.1 million A Conspiracy of Faith – produced by Vesth together with Zentropa Entertainments CEO Peter Aalbæk Jensen follows Department Q as one day it receives a seven-year-old message in a bottle from a police station. The first word, “Help”, is in Danish and written in blood. The Q team finds out that it was sent by two young brothers, held prisoner in a boathouse by the sea. But who are they, why were they never reported missing, and could they still be alive?

With Nordic distribution handled by Nordisk Film Distribution, Denmark’s TrustNordisk is in charge of international sales and has so far secured distribution in more than 60 countries, including North America (IFC Films), Germany-Austria (NFP), Switzerland (Frenetic Films), Benelux (Lumière), France (Wild Bunch), Spain (Vertigo), Turkey (Medyavizyon), Estonia (Estinfilm), Poland (Kino Swiat) and Russia/CIS (Russian Report).

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