09/10/2008

The Danish Film Institute (DFI) has awarded a total of DKK 18.9m in production support to Christoffer Boe’s romantic thriller Story, Charlotte Sieling’s feature debut Over gaden, under vandet and Rumle Hammerich’s thriller Headhunter. The DFI’s separate fund RåFilm for smaller films with commercial potential, allocated DKK 3m to Christian E. Christiansen’s children’s movie Zoomerne.

The multi-awarded filmmaker Boe (Reconstruction) will direct his fourth feature film described as a “labyrinthine love thriller”. Tine Grew Pfeiffer is producing for Alphaville Pictures Copenhagen and the delivery date is set for 2010.

Sieling, who started as an actress in the 1990s before switching to filmmaking for television, will make the leap to feature film for producer Lars Bredo Rahbek (Nimbus Film). Based on her own original script co-written by Swedish actress Yaba Holst, the film focuses on four people during 24 hours at Christianshavn in Copenhagen, and their ability to keep their lives together. Over gaden, under vandet stars some of Denmark’s top talents: Nicholas Bro, Sidse Babett Knudsen, Anders W. Berthelsen, and Ellen Hillingsøe. Shooting started two weeks ago, and delivery date is set for June 2009.

Hammerich, the director of Young Andersen (2005), is going back behind the camera in November for Headhunter, a thriller set in the oil business. Lars Mikkelsen plays a successful headhunter who is trying to find a new CEO for one of the biggest companies in the Nordic region. He is soon drawn into a secluded power game. The director Åke Sandgren is producing this project developed for Nordisk Film.

Christiansen, nominated for an Oscar in 2007 for his short At Night, continues to work on low-budget films with audience potential for Zentropa’s Louise Vesth. His new project Zoomerne will premiere in late 2009.