19/05/2008

Icelandic producer/filmmaker Julius Kemp will inaugurate with his film Reykjavik Whale Watching Massacre (RWWM) the brand new Atlantic Studios, which he co-owns with production partner Ingvar Thordarson.

RWWR will be Kemp’s comeback to filmmaking after an 11-year absence. The €2m film is produced by his production house Icelandic Film Company (IFC) in co-production with F&ME (UK) and Solar Films (Finland) with co-financing from the Icelandic Film Centre, Nordisk Film & TV Fond and Invest in Iceland.

“We’ve produced very extreme films: a football comedy (Eleven Men Out), a fantasy film Astropia) and now a horror film. We like to take some chances,” Kemp told Cineuropa.

The film starring legendary US actor Gunnar Hansen (Leatherface) will start filming in Iceland on August 4 until September. It will be the first feature film to be made in Atlantic Studios, which will be officially inaugurated in October.

“There are no facilities for interior shooting and weather cover in Iceland, something really needed as weather can change five times a day,” said Kemp. “Atlantic Studios will be a building for rent, but we will not compete in the production services area.”

IFC has invested €5m to raise these new facilities on an abandoned US army base, half an hour from Reykjavik. The studios will include two sound stages, several workshops and production offices, a 500-seat screening room and a water tank.

Iceland is a very popular location for foreign productions lured by the attractive 14% tax refund. IFC is lobbying the government to raise this figure to 20%. “I think it will happen within the next six months,” said a confident Kemp. Recent US productions shot in Iceland include Flags of our Fathers and Batman Returns.

In Cannes, Kemp is also coordinating world sales on Astropia (last year’s biggest hit in Iceland), screening at the market. The film has been acquired by China, Poland and is in negotiations for Japan and Russia.