17/01/2024 - Directed by Emilis Vėlyvis, the 6x45-minute mystery crime-drama promises to combine “mythology, Jung’s ideas and sexual perversions”

A new 6x45-minute Lithuanian-Finnish series, a mystery crime-drama titled A Wolf’s Palate, is now in post-production, Cineuropa has learnt. The show’s synopsis reads as follows: “Young girl Silvija has been brutally murdered. Her desecrated body was found in the woods by Ulvis, the town’s deaf-mute tattoo artist. Everyone in the small town becomes suspects in this terrible crime, divided into several fierce camps accusing each other. Little by little, the viewer discovers the dark and frightening side of life in this seemingly sleepy, backwater town.”

Emilis Vėlyvis is serving as the project’s writer-director. The Vilnius-born filmmaker is best known for his previous films and Lithuanian box-office hits Zero 2, Redirected [+see also:
trailer
film profile] and The Generation of Evil [+see also:
trailer
film profile].

The main cast members are Edward Holcroft (The English Game, Kindred [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile]), Ingeborga Dapkūnaitė (Occupied, The Generation of Evil, Wallander), Agnė Šataitė (Provisionally Yours), Tommi Korpela (Omerta 12/6 [+see also:
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film profile], The Last Ones [+see also:
film review
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interview: Veiko Õunpuu
film profile], Maria’s Paradise [+see also:
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interview: Zaida Bergroth
film profile]) and Ieva Andrejevaitė (Five and Half Love Stories in an Apartment in Vilnius, Lithuania [+see also:
film review
interview: Tomas Vengris
film profile], Pilgrims [+see also:
film review
interview: Laurynas Bareisa
film profile]).

Meanwhile, the technical crew includes DoP Feliksas Abrukauskas, production designer Ramūnas Rastauskas, costume designers Jolanta Rimkutė and Dovilė Cibulskaitė, and make-up artist Jurgita Globytė.

Zooming in on the style of his new show, Vėlyvis tells Cineuropa: “I have combined mythology, Jung’s ideas and sexual perversions. I think this is the first attempt at creating this kind of story since David Lynch’s Twin Peaks.”

Budgeted at €4 million, A Wolf’s Palate is being produced by Daiva Varnaitė-Jovaišienė and Asta Liukaitytė for Kino kultas (Lithuania), and co-produced by Tero Kaukomaa and Josef Brandmaier for Son of a Pitch (Finland). The project has also received backing from the Lithuanian Film Centre, pubcaster LRT, Telia Lietuva and private investors.

The series wrapped filming at the end of last year and is slated for a release in 2025.