26/05/2005

Leading Swedish regional film fund Film i Väst (FiV) has strengthened its ties on the international arena during the last Cannes Film Festival and its position as a key player on the European production scene.

On the European co-production front, FiV is in discussions with Film Four Lab and Wales regional film fund to develop low budget feature films on the condition that the shooting and post-production would take place in Trollhättan, the major studios based in FiV’s headquarters in Western Sweden.
Another English language feature film project Straightheads produced by DJ Films and supported by the UK Film Council’s New Cinema Fund, will be co-produced by FiV and all the post-production will be handled locally in FiV’s region.
French company Sésame Films has also shown a strong interest in filming some scenes of its upcoming film Captain Achab in Western Sweden, and FiV is in discussions to co-produce the project that will start shooting in 2006.
Also in Cannes, FiV has been in touch with Danish filmmaker Thomas Vinterberg to make sure they will be involved in his next project as was the case with Festen and It's All About Love [+see also:
trailer
film profile].

Another major deal was also confirmed in Cannes with South Africa’s Dv8 and IMG to co-produce six films together including a feature length documentary about the life of world famous Nigerian musician Fela kuti and a film adaptation of Nobel Prize winner JM Coetzee’s novel Disgrace.

On the European institutional level, FiV has agreed with ACE (Ateliers du Cinéma Européen) to organise a ‘Producers weekend’ in Western Sweden next year and increased its commitment to Cine-Regio, the European network of Regional Film Funds: During Cine-Regio’s annual meeting in Cannes, Bengt Toll, Head of development for FiV was elected as the new vice-president of the European network and Cine-Regio’s representative at EFAD (European Film Agency Directors). Furthermore, it was agreed that in the near future Cine-Regio’s offices would be based in Western Sweden.

"These results from FiV’s presence in Cannes are a confirmation that a clear presence on the international arena are fruitful and that a deliberate action on the international co-production scene is successful and a guarantee of sustained development," commented Bengt Toll.