09/05/2008

Olivier Guerpillon, head of DfM Fiktion in Stockholm, is making headlines both in France and in Sweden. As the director of the 10th French Film Festival (held from May 2-June 5 in four Swedish cities), he is using the event to launch his first Swedish/French co-production Captain Ahab [+see also:
trailer
film profile], while a second co-production, Grown Ups [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], has been selected for the Critics Week in Cannes.

These are exciting times for the French producer and former CNC executive, who in 2004 set himself the challenge of re-launching French/Swedish co-productions, which had been dormant for over 20 years.

Guerpillon, who convinced both the Swedish regional film fund Film i Väst and the Swedish Film Institute to board his two film projects, praises their audacity: “It was great of them because Grown Ups is a small arthouse film by a young filmmaker and the director of Captain Ahab, Philippe Ramos, is not well known in Sweden.”

Ramos and actress Dominique Blanc came to Stockholm’s Sture Cinema on May 2 for the premiere of Captain Ahab, which will then be shown at the French Film Festival’s other three venues in Göteborg, Lund and Malmö.

Grown Ups, produced by France’s Christie Molia (MSVP), is the directorial debut of Anne Novion, daughter of French cinematographer Pierre Novion and a Swedish mother. Guerpillon told Cineuropa: “I’m really happy for the producer and director that the film has been selected at the Critics Week. It is a very original and beautiful film. It’s also a true organic and financial co-production between France and Sweden.”

The film will be released in Sweden by Sandrew Metronome.

DfM Fiktion will next produce their first majority Swedish co-production with French partners Bliss Production. Sound of Noise, set to start shooting this summer in Sweden, will be the directorial debut of Ola Simonsson and Johannes Stjärne Nilsson, multiple-award winners with the short film Music for One Apartment and Six Drummers (2001).