02/04/2008

Baltasar Kormákur’s domestic hit White Night Wedding [+see also:
trailer
film profile] has been picked up by Celluloid Dreams for world wide distribution.

The romantic comedy has garnered over 53,000 admissions in Iceland since January 16 and is well on its way to joining Kormákur’s previous record-breaking film on domestic ground, Jar City [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (81,000 admissions in 2006).

Loosely based on Anton Chekhov’s play Ivanov, White Night Wedding was developed simultaneously for stage and screen with an all-Icelandic cast, including Margrét Vilhjálmsdóttir (Thicker than Water [+see also:
trailer
film profile]) and Þröstur Leó Gunnarsson (Parents).

The film focuses on the 35 year-old Ivanov, once an energetic entrepreneur, now totally burnt out. He pays no attention to his sick wife and is on the verge of a nervous breakdown, until the young student Sasha falls in love with him and takes it upon herself to save him.

The €2m Icelandic film was produced by Agnes Johansen for Kormákur’s Blue Eyes Productions, in co-production with distributor Sena Film, local public broadcaster RUV, with support from the Icelandic Film Centre.

Meanwhile, Reykjavik Rotterdam, in which Kormákur stars for fellow filmmaker Oskar Jonasson (Remote Control), has just finished filming in Rotterdam. The comedy is based on a script co-written by Arnaldur Indridason, author of crime novel Jar City, and Jonasson.

“It’s an action thriller with a comedy twist,” said Johansen, who hooked up with Dutch production outfit Rotterdam Films. Kormákur plays a security guard who was recently jailed for smuggling alcohol while working on a ship. As he struggles to support his family, he gets the opportunity to do one last smuggling job on a freighter between Reykjavik and Rotterdam. Dutch actor Victor Löw is also in the cast.

The €2.4m budget was supported by the Icelandic Film Centre and Nordisk Film & TV Fond. Johansen told Cineuropa she is negotiating domestic and international distribution rights with a major Nordic company.