30/04/2013 - Danish director Charlotte Sachs Bostrup starts principal photography for The Cartel, "an exciting, touching and meaningful story" about illegal price-fixing

Otherwise known for the Karla series of family films, Danish director Charlotte Sachs Bostrup most recently trained for her next feature by directing four episodes of TV2/Danmark's crime series, Dicte: The Cartel, which has started principal photography on locations in Aarhus and Copenhagen, and deals with corruption in the Danish construction industry. 

Scripted by Bostrup and the film's cinematographer Henrik Kristensen, The Cartel focuses on illegal price-fixing: after an international career, independent contractor Lars Halbo (Anders W Berthelsen) returns to Denmark to take over the family business, Halbo Electricity & Plumbing. When underbidding larger corporations in municipal tenders, and refusing to participate in their unlawful agreements on prices, he and his family find themselves under a mafia-like pressure. He sees only one way to get out of it.

The Danish Parliament has recently changed the law of competition, making cartels a criminal offense which will cost up to six years in prison. "The Cartel is a drama and a thriller - an exciting, touching and meaningful story, which addresses a social problem with people in situations that many of us can recognise and identify with," said Bostrup (no 2-from-right, pictured with her cast, including l-r Pauli Ryberg, Jacob Lohmann, Frank Thiel, Lars Brygmann, Flemming Enevold, Henrik Prip and Anders W. Berthelsen). 

The €2.2 million feature is produced by Thomas Heinesen for Nordisk Film Production in collaboration with Radiator Film-Aarhus and TV2/Danmark. Nordisk Film Biograf Distribution has scheduled domestic release for January 9, 2014. TrustNordisk will handle international sales.

Photo copyright: Martin Dam Kristensen