DFI supports Arcel and Bornedal
by Annika Pham
Two new ambitious family films by celebrated Danish filmmakers Nikolaj Arcel and Ole Bornedal, have received support from the Danish Film Institute (DFI).
Nikolaj Arcel who directed last year’s most successful Danish film King's Game (over 550,000 admissions in Denmark) is starting to shoot this month Island Of Lost Souls (De fortabte sjaeles ø), the most expensive children film ever made in Denmark with a DKK 39M budget (5,2m euros). The adventure film awarded DKK 10M (1,35m euros) by the DFI, is co-written by Arcel and Rasmus Heisterberg who already collaborated on King’s Game.
13 year old Lulu moves to a small town with her mother and younger brother after her parents’ divorce. One night, her brother is struck by a ray of light representing the spirit of a 19th century landowner Herman von Hartmann. Lulu realises that Hartmann has possessed her brother. The two children are whirled into wild adventures with supernatural beings.
The film produced by Sarita Christensen for Zentropa Film, is a major European co-production with Memfis Film (Sweden), Pain Unlimited (Germany) and Zoma Film (UK). The 11 weeks shooting will move from Denmark, to Sweden (Trollhättan studios) and Germany. Nordisk Film will handle domestic distribution in 2006.
Ole Bornedal’s The Substitute (Vikaren) is the second major project which was just awarded DKK 8M (1m euros) by the DFI towards its DKK 23m budget (3m euros). Based on a script co-written by Bornedal and Henrik Pripp, the film is a thriller about a new substitute teacher who arrives at a local school. She appears nice and friendly to the parents, but soon turns out to be an alien with a sinister plan for the children in her class.
The film is produced by Michael Obel (Thura Film) a long-time collaborator to Bornedal who backed his first film and box office hit Nightwatch in 1996. This is the first project under Thura’s new specialised Fantasia Label. Casting is being finalised for The Substitute, which will be released in Denmark by Thura’s sister company All Right Film in 2006.
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