12/05/2014 - A 12-year-old Danish newcomer is to play the lead in Kenneth Kainz’s The Shamer’s Daughter, the first of four films about a girl with a supernatural ability

The Shamer's Daughter – Rebecca Emilie Sattrup as Dina, with Peter Plaugborg (© Jiri Hanzl)

After auditioning more than 4,000 girls all over Denmark, Danish director Kenneth Kainz decided to cast 12-year-old Rebecca Emilie Sattrup and 13-year-old Petra Maria Scott Nielsen, both from Copenhagen, as Dina and her friend Rosa in The Shamer’s Daughter [+see also:
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Scripted by Oscar-winning Danish writer Anders Thomas Jensen, the Nina Lyng and Eva Juel-Hammerich production for Denmark’s Nepenthe Film, with Danish major Nordisk Film and the Czech Republic’s Sirena Films, among others, has just completed principal photography mainly at Prague’s Barrandov Studios, where it was filmed on the new permanent historical set originally built for the Borgia television series.

Teenager Dina has unwillingly inherited a supernatural ability from her mother, a “shamer”: people who look into her eyes can see their own souls reflected and their hidden guilt revealed, and they feel ashamed of themselves. When the sole heir to the throne of Dunark is accused of murder, Dina’s mother is lured into helping to make him confess; however, when it does not work out as planned, she is taken prisoner, and now it is up to Dina to uncover the truth.

Described as “a swashbuckling adventure in a medieval fantasy world with dragons and magic, kings and knights, tyranny and murder”, The Shamer’s Daughter co-stars Danish actors Peter Plaugborg, Søren Malling, Allan Hyde, Laura Bro and Olaf Johannessen; Norwegian actors Jakob Oftebro and Maria Bonnevie; and Swedish actress Stina Ekblad. Nordisk Film is handling Scandinavian distribution and TrustNordisk international sales.