19/10/2012 - Based a real-life event of a man who suddenly wasn’t there, Norwegian director Bobbie Peers' feature debut will go into production next year for Norway’s Mer Film, Sweden’s Migma Film and Germany’s Neue Road Movies

Norwegian director Bobbie Peers (photo), whose short Sniffer (2006) won the Palme d’Or in Cannes, has received €420,000 top financing from Eurimages – the European Council’s co-production fund - for his feature debut, Dirk Ohm – The Illusionist That Disappeared [+see also:
trailer
interview: Bobbie Peers
film profile].

Scripted by Norwegian writer Bjørn Olaf Johannessen, who also penned German director Wim Wenders' upcoming Everything Will Be Fine, the film will be produced by Maria Ekerhovd for Norway's Mer Film, with Sweden's Migma Film AB and Wenders' Neue Road Movies. Axel Helgeland, of Helgeland Films AS, will executive produce, and principal photography will start next year.

Dirk Ohm is based on a real-life event from 2003, when the German illusionist Dirk Ohm,from Peine outside Berlin, disappeared during a holiday at Grong in North Trøndelag, Norway. He was last seen carrying two glasses of beer at the Hotell Vertshuset bar. In his hotel room police found all his personal assets, wallet and watch, in his car his magic equipment.

“The story is told in a poetic landscape, challenging your experience of what is real and what is illusion – who we are and who we can become,” explained Mer Film. “It is funny and engages the emotions on many levels – the script is well-structured and elaborate script, supportedby outstanding cast and an elegant finish,” Eurimages concluded.

Last year’s Norwegian Producer on the Move in Cannes, Bergen and Tromsø-based Ekerhovd, who will stage the €4 million project, also backed Peer’s Cannes winner. Besides more than 10 shorts, she has produced Norwegian directors Pål Jackman's The Storm in My Heart (2009) and Gunnar Vikene's Vegas [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (2009), while in development with Ole Giæver’s next feature.