09/02/2016 - The Danish international sales agency will be touting Nicolo Donato’s Across the Waters, Saara Cantell’s Devil’s Bride and Vibeke Idsøe’s The Lion Woman

Danish international sales agency TrustNordisk, which is already strongly represented in the official programme at the Berlin International Film Festival (11-21 February), introduced three new Nordic works in progress to its catalogue at the Nordic Film Market at the Göteborg International Film Festival, which ended on Sunday (7 February). 

Danish director Nicolo Donato returns to Denmark in 1943, during the Nazi German occupation, in Across the Waters. Famous Jewish jazz guitarist Arne Itkin has heard the rumours that the Germans intend to imprison and deport all Jews in Denmark, and together with his wife, he leaves their home in Copenhagen and goes to the fishing village of Gilleleje, where other Jews are waiting for safe passage to Sweden.

Norwegian director Vibeke Idsøe goes further back: her The Lion Woman [+see also:
trailer
interview: Vibeke Idsøe
film profile] follows the life of a woman between 1912 and 1937 – Eva, who was born with a body fully covered with hair. Despite the many challenges she faces because of her appearance, she manages to overcome them, and thanks to her exceptional intelligence, she is able to leave her small railroad community and start a new life further afield. 

Finnish director Saara Cantell even goes back to the 17^th century – her Devil's Bride [+see also:
trailer
film profile] is set on one of the Åland Islands in 1666, at the start of the most widespread and systematic witch hunt in Scandinavian history. When a local woman, Anna, falls head over heels in love with her friend Rakel’s husband, Rakel falsely accuses her of being a witch – but when Rakel is arrested, she realises the gravity of her behaviour.

TrustNordisk’s six-title selection for Berlin’s European Film Market is spearheaded by Swedish director Hannes Holm’s dramedy A Man Called Ove [+see also:
trailer
film profile], which has now sold 1.5 million cinema tickets in Sweden and won two Guldbagge Awards, the national film prize – one for lead actor Rolf Lassgård, the second given to it by audiences. Norwegian director Hans Petter Moland’s A Conspiracy of Faith [+see also:
trailer
film profile] – the third instalment in the Jussi Adler-Olsen franchise, which has so far taken 750,000 local admissions per title – is being launched prior to its 3 March Danish release. Danish director Mads Matthiesen’s The Model [+see also:
trailer
film profile], which has just screened at Göteborg, is also on the line-up.