13/02/2018 - The Copenhagen-based sales boutique recently scooped some Nordic awards and is bringing seven films to Berlin, including The Incredible Story of the Giant Pear and Amateurs

The Incredible Story of the Giant Pear by Philip Einstein Lipski, Jørgen Lerdam and Amalie Næsby

After getting a jump-start earlier this year, Danish international sales boutique LevelK has already bagged some prestigious Nordic awards and is now eyeing a Crystal Bear. Amateurs [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] won the Dragon Award for Best Nordic Film at the Göteborg Film Festival (see the news), and then the firm’s hot streak continued back in Denmark, where The Incredible Story of the Giant Pear [+see also:
trailer
film profile] and A Horrible Woman [+see also:
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film profile] scooped some important Robert Awards (see the news). These titles, along with four more, will comprise LevelK’s line-up for the 68^th Berlin International Film Festival and the European Film Market (15-23 February).

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The sole movie that will be available at public screenings is the Danish 3D animated film The Incredible Story of the Giant Pear by Philip Einstein Lipski, Jørgen Lerdam and Amalie Næsby, which will open the Berlinale Generation KPlus section and is thus eligible for the Crystal Bear. Based on the best-selling book of the same name by cartoonist Jakob Martin Strid, the story follows the disappearance of the mayor of Solby, a peaceful seaside city. When Mitcho and Sebastian find a message in a bottle signed by the mayor, who mentions that he is on a mysterious island, they embark on an adventure to save him. The movie, which received the Best Film for Children and Youth Audiences Robert Award, was released in Denmark before Christmas, has taken more than 230,000 admissions and has been sold in more than 20 territories.

In closed market screenings, LevelK will be showcasing Gabriela Pichler’s sophomore comedy-drama, Amateurs, which opened at Göteborg and was selected for a slot in Rotterdam’s IFFR Live (see the news). Also, a Danish hit, Christian Tafdrup’s dramedy A Horrible Woman – which has already racked up close to 170,000 admissions and scooped the Best Script and Best Actress Robert Awards – will be seeking a broader international audience at the EFM.

LevelK will also present two recent acquisitions to market audiences, the first of which is The Monkey and the Mouth, which follows Muslim-Hindu Norwegian hip-hop duo Karpe Diem, who challenge freedom of speech with their plainspoken lyrics. Directed by debutant Thea Hvistendahl, it is a hybrid of music video, live concert and fiction feature. The second recent acquisition is the adventurous family film The Falcons by Bragi Thor Hinriksson, which delves into a children’s football tournament on a large island just off the coast of Iceland. The story is based on the book The Great Football Adventures, written by actor Gunnar Helgason, and the movie is being produced by Sagafilm.

Finally, the market slate for LevelK includes the Canadian drama Never Steady, Never Still by Kathleen Hepburn, which is part of the Berlinale’s focus on Canada, and the Australian indigenous music documentary The Song Keepers.