14/09/2007

Danish filmmaker Thomas Vinterberg is back today on 45 domestic screens with A Man Comes Home [+see also:
trailer
film profile], his first Danish film since 1998’s The Celebration (Festen). To mark the event, Loke Havn from Filmfolket Distribution has devised an innovative marketing campaign.

“The film is not based on a book and doesn’t have any star actors as marketing hooks. But we had a very strong trailer that had been tested and which created a strong ‘want to see’, plus we had Thomas Vinterberg. Our idea was to use him and make him speak directly to the audience,” explains Havn.

In the TV, billboard, internet and press advertising campaign, the director therefore addresses the audience, informing them of the opening of his new film and inviting them to check the trailer on the internet. “Normally, there are 300 hits a day for a film website, but after the first day of the campaign, we had 15,000 clicks,” adds Havn.

Based on an original script, A Man Comes Homes tells the story of a world-famous opera singer who comes back to his small provincial town. Meanwhile, Sebastian, a kitchen boy, falls head over heels in love with the new maid, Maria. Their love affair, along with rumours that the opera singer and Sebastian are related, turns the town upside down.

“A Man Comes Home has been in development since It’s All About Love [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (2003), said producer Morten Kaufman. “After that film, which was rather dark, Vinterberg wanted to do something totally different, very joyful, a light film about a beautiful summer in Denmark”.

Vinterberg’s biggest hit so far has been The Celebration, which picked up 403,000 admissions in Denmark and sold to 21 territories.

A Man Comes Home is produced by Denmark’s Nimbus Film in co-production with Sweden’s Breidablick, with co-financing from DR TV, Film Fyn, Film Gear, Mainstream, Nordisk Film-Short Cut in Denmark, and support from the Danish and Swedish film institutes and Nordisk Film & TV Fond. No sales agent has been appointed yet.