03/06/2010

A Film, one of Scandinavia’s most established film studios, has had to lay off six employees and put some projects on hold because of the economic downturn and stronger competition between projects fighting for state funding.

“There isn’t much money in Denmark for domestic films and several of our projects have been postponed, again and again. We’ve had to cut our in-house personnel but, hopefully, many of them will still work with us in the future on a freelance basis,” said company CEO Anders Mastrup.

Set up in 1988 by Mastrup with animators Stefan Fjeldmark, Karsten Killerich, Jørgen Lerdam and Hans Perk, A Film is partly owned by Nordisk Film. The company has branches in Estonia and in Germany that are run independently.

Animation films created by A Film that have received international recognition include Help I’m a Fish, Jungle Jack and Journey to Saturn.

The company’s current project, The Olsen Gang Gets Polished, the first Danish film in stereoscopic 3D, will be delivered as scheduled in October 2010. The film directed by Jørgen Lerdam features the trio of small-time crooks with big money dreams that have lent their names to several movies since 1968, although this is the first animated version of the Olsen Gang franchise. TrustNordisk handles world sales.