Denmark’s Lina Flint, of Scanbox Productions, is one of this year’s Producers on the Move, as picked by European Film Promotion. Cineuropa sat down with Flint, who talked us through her career and her new endeavours, among other topics.           

Cineuropa: What prompted you to enter this industry?
Lina Flint: I started making shorts when I was 16. My parents worked in dance theatre and the visual-arts industry. For several years, I thought I was being very innovative and choosing a completely different career path by making films. But I now realise that growing up in a theatre truly shaped me as a film producer: the magical teamwork and collaboration, the immediate reactions of the audience, the many art forms within one body of work, the storytelling [lying] in the details, the light, the silence, the music, the tempo and the characters.

What is the most challenging aspect of a producer’s job?
To be honest, it’s the amount of administrative work that comes with the job that is challenging. Additionally, the uncertainty of a project’s realisation is difficult to manage. I understand why producers are attracted to one-stop-shop financing opportunities, but in my experience, the development of an artistic vision really needs to stay open for as long as possible in order to create something bold – and that takes time! Therefore, securing financing [from someone] that is willing to embrace uncertainty and not demand final answers beforehand is essential.

Which is the most rewarding aspect?
The feeling I get when discovering and falling in love with a new story and a storyteller is magical. And then, when I watch the vision come together towards the end of the editing process and during the sound mixing, it happens again – I fall in love. Watching the film for the first time with an audience is an out-of-body experience.

How would you judge the current state of your country’s film scene?
Like in many other countries, in Denmark, we’re experiencing a massive decline in cinemagoing post-COVID. Understandably, this makes both distributors and production companies anxious. I believe it results in everyone taking fewer chances, which, in my opinion, makes films less bold. This is a huge problem. If we’re going to compete with all of the content that is easily, cheaply and conveniently accessible, we need to shake things up for feature films. Both the cinema experience and the films themselves need to stand out. Additionally, we collectively have a huge task in educating younger generations to watch films – their attention spans are frighteningly short, and that will hit us like a new boomerang.

How do you think being involved in the Producers on the Move initiative will benefit your career?
To be able to build close relationships with ambitious, like-minded producers all over Europe is fantastic, and I’m looking forward to exchanging experiences, ideas and learnings from outside our own “duck pond”. Hopefully, we’ll be able to collaborate artistically and shake things up together.

What’s next for you?
At the moment, I’m developing a handful of very ambitious features. The first is a high-concept hostage thriller called The White Privilege, which is based on true events when four siblings were forced to negotiate their father out of FARC’s hands. It’s being developed with the writer from The Guilty [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Gustav Möller
scheda film], Emil Nygaard Albertsen. Next, we’re working on a dark, character-driven mystery about adult jealousy called Biological, developed by actresses Trine Dyrholm and Andrea Bræin Hovig, and Queen of Hearts [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Gustav Lindh
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scheda film] writer Maren Louise Käehne. Another project in the works is an elevated horror flick about the Black Death coming to Denmark in 1349, developed by writer Anders August and actor Pilou Asbæk, together with Lars Knudsen and the rest of the Square Peg team.

Coming up next is a gritty power play that revolves around true events, titled Blood Guild. In it, three kings fight for power in Denmark. It’s a tale about parenthood, ghosts and spirituality, developed by A Royal Affair [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Nikolaj Arcel
scheda film] writer-director Rasmus Heisterberg. Finally, The Limping Lady is being developed by Queen of Hearts writer Maren Louise Käehne. It follows one of the first female doctors in a no man’s land, who uses the dark forces of the medical profession to take a life in order to save another.