26/10/2009

Two Swedish actresses – Pernilla August and Görel Crona – have received production support from the Swedish Film Institute (SFI) for their directorial debuts, along with one of Denmark’s leading directors, Susanne Bier.

August’s first feature film, Svinalängorna, is based on a best-selling novel by Susanna Alakoski. Noomi Rapace (of the Millennium trilogy) stars as a woman who upon being informed of her mother’s death returns to her hometown, where memories of her troubled youth come back to haunt her.

The €2.2m project, which started shooting this summer, is produced by Helena Danielsson (Hepp Film) with Drakfilm in Sweden, in co-production with Finland (Blind Spot) and Denmark. It was awarded SEK 7.5m (around €735,000) from the SFI. Nordisk Film will handle Nordic distribution and TrustNordisk world sales.

For her feature debut Dolores Tystnad, Swedish TV actress Crona chose the story of three women who don’t know each other and inherit a house from a woman they’ve never heard of. The lead roles are played by Maria Lundqvist, Carina Lidholm and Malin Arvidsson. The Filmkreatörerna production was awarded SEK3m (€295,000) from the SFI. It is now in post-production.

Susanne Bier’s Hævnen (The Revenge, previously known as Civilization) is her first Danish film in several years. The drama starring Ulrich Thomsen, Trine Dyrholm and Mikael Persbrandt tells of two Danish families whose friendship gradually turns into a dangerous game with life at stake. The €4m film is produced by Zentropa with their usual European production partners, including Sweden’s Memfis Film. The SFI grant was SEK1m (nearly €100,000).