Yahoo Lifestyle Projects by Zu Quirke, Corinna Faith, Anna Fredrikke Bjerke, Ashley Horner Topline Second U.K. Focus at New Nordic Films (EXCLUSIVE)
Four U.K. genre-bending titles from Zu Quirke (“Nocturne”), Corinna Faith (“The Power”), Anna Fredrikke Bjerke (writer of Netflix’s “Midsummer Night”) and Ashley Horner will be teased to potential Nordic partners Aug. 21, at the 19th Nordic Co-production Market in Haugesund, Norway.
The curated pitch slate forms the industry centrepiece of the second U.K. Focus, organised by Haugesund’s industry event New Nordic Films, in partnership with the British Film Institute (BFI).
More from Variety
“We are looking forward to the second U.K. Focus at Haugesund’s Nordic Co- Production Market, sparking co-production conversations for the participating U.K. producer/director teams in meeting potential Nordic partners,” said Denitsa Yordanova, head of the UK Global Screen Fund (UKGSF), which is financed via the UK Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) and administered by the BFI.
“The Nordics offers a very vibrant ecosystem of talents and co-production partners with strong track records. It is also a very interesting location which lends itself perfectly, for instance, to noir topics and thrillers,” added Yordanova.
So far the UKGSF has backed nine co-productions with the Nordics through its international co-productions strand, such as the CPH:DOX opening doc “Life and Other Problems”, the Cannes Un Certain Regard Fipresci winner “The Settlers” and San Sebastian and Toronto-bound “The End.”
Since the UKGSF’s inception in 2021, Yordanova has been actively promoting the Fund’s attractive non-recoupable grants, capped at £300,000 ($380,100) and available to projects with 60% of financing in place where the U.K. producer is a minority partner.
U.K. producer Kamilla Kristiane Hodøl, whose Tribeca-selected chiller “The Damned” received a record £250,000 ($317,500) from the UKGSF, said post-Brexit, the Fund not only “fills an essential gap on the U.K. market, but also made it possible for her company Elation Pictures to keep the U.K. as an official co-production partner in a way that would have been hard without any institutional support.” As a Fund, it is very compatible with other European funding”, she said, “and was therefore easy to combine with the other partners [from Iceland, Belgium and Iceland].
The Norwegian-born U.K. producer Hodøl has been asked by New Nordic Films and the Royal Norwegian Embassy to share her knowledge in the paper ‘Roadmap to Co- Producing with the U.K., an overview of dos and don’ts in co-production which she will pitch in Haugesund at the panel session “How to Co-produce with the UK”.
UK Chills at Co-Pro Pitch
In a concrete effort to facilitate U.K.-Nordic co-productions, four U.K. titles in development jointly selected by New Nordic Films and the BFI, will be making their pitch debut in Haugesund.
“We have focused on projects with a clear creative or financing potential with the Nordics, said Line Halvorsen, New Nordic Films’ program director, who underscored the shared genre focus of this year’s slate and solid credentials of their producers.
The pedigreed Paris-London based The Bureau for instance, credited for Netflix’s “The Strays”, Andrew Haigh’s “45 Years” (Oscar-nominated for best actress), and “Supernova,” starring Colin Firth and Stanley Tucci, will be on hand to pitch “Unspeakable” by rising talent Faith, Bafta-nominated for the short film “Care”.
“Unspeakable” is Faith’s follow up to her 2021 chiller “Power” starring Rose Williams.
“This project offers several options for how we can partner with Nordic co-producers,” said The Bureau’s Gabrielle de Cevins. “In terms of post-production The Bureau have previously worked with Film i Väst and Film Gate, and is currently a minority co-producer on Norway’s Eye Eye Pictures’ “A Prayer For The Dying”, so we already have good experiences of working with the Nordics.”
“There is also the real potential for elements of the production to be conducted in Scandinavia with a co-production partner,”de Cevins added, “and we are excited to discuss all routes to getting Corinna’s terrifying vision onscreen.
So far the project produced by The Bureau with Air Street Films (its partner on Netflix’s “The Strays”) has secured development support from the BFI, with The Bureau Sales providing minimum guarantee against sales estimates. Filming is due to start in the summer 2025.
Also covered on the sales side, via an early deal with The Yellow Affair, the black metal horror “Nothing Holy” will be pitched by its helmer Horner (“Brilliantlove”) of Elation Pictures, with Norwegian production partner Truls Kontny, former Norwegian Film Commissioner.
Penned by Stewart Wright, the fictional story turns on an obscure Norwegian black metal band ‘Nothing Holy’ which travels to an isolated studio in Finland in 1991 trailed by novice filmmaker Hella Trulsdatter. Their mission: to record their album, “Trapped in Purgatory.” As the recording progresses, tensions rise, and the band’s cohesion frays. The producer quits after a massive row, only for his mutilated body to be discovered later, reads the synopsis.
““Think “Blair Witch” meets “Spinal Tap”, via the Metallica documentary, rooted in all the brutality and beauty of the black metal genre,” said Horner.
Pinball Films’ Keith Bell (“Dog Soldiers”, “The Descent”) is producing, in co-production with Norway’s Rein Film, with filming due to start in the winter 2025.
The U.K-Norwegian partners will look for further national and regional funding in Haugesund.
The two other co-pro projects ,“The Fell” and “Let it Come Down,” helmed by visionary writer-directors Quirke (Amazon’s “Nocturne”) and Bjerke (writer of Netflix’s “Midsummer Night”) are also looking mainly for Norwegian coin and co-producers.
“The Fell” reunites Quirke with U.K. genre specialists Escape Plan (“Saint Maud”) and U.S. indie Yoki, Inc (“Animal Kingdom”). In it, a young couple suffers a miscarriage while vacationing on a haunting subarctic island. As each struggles separately with their differing reactions, they begin to suspect that not all on the island is as it seems – least of all, each other, says the synopsis.
“It is rare that a horror combines the traditions of nuanced character drama, folk mythology and a balance of contemporary and timeless truths,” noted Escape Plan’s Anna Keeley who warns that “at the end of the story, you’ll never think of fairies in the same way again.”
Quizzed about the projects’ Nordic hook, Keeley said: “The subarctic landscapes of the Northern Scottish Isles resonate geographically, historically and anthropologically with the Nordic territories. Inhabited by the Picts and Vikings alike, we see this environment as a shared legacy. To this end, we feel that Norwegian partners will bring a spectacularly important perspective that is adjacent and additive to our own, and we are keen to build a world that reflects these dualities.”
The chiller, produced by Oliver Kassman, Brad Zimmerman and David Michôd, is slated for a late spring/early autumn 2025 start of principal photography.
“Let it Come Down” is the feature debut of Norwegian-born London-based Bjerke credited for the BIFA Critics Choice Award winning short “Exposed”.
The character-driven thriller is described by U.K. producer Isabella Speaight of Backscatter Productions, as “a compelling and radical exploration of unconventional human relationships.”
“‘Let It Come Down’ reflects my interest in examining complex human behaviours and moral ambiguities that might be easy to label or judge,” said the helmer who turned to “Don’t Look Now” (1973) and “Beast” (2017) for inspiration. “The film delves into themes such as the isolating effects of dysfunction within a family and the darker sides of intimacy, with emotional depth and resonance.”
According to Speaight, next to Norwegian actor Lisa Loven Kongsli (“Quisling-The Final Days,” “Force Majeure”), “some very exciting U.K. star talent” will soon be announced, with filming slated for later this year or early 2025. In Haugesund, Speaight said she would search for international or Scandinavian sales and distributors.
Last year’s four U.K. projects pitched in Haugesund were “Gunnar’s Daughter”, written by Rebecca Lenkiewicz for Script Cube; “Haven,” helmed by Adam Berg for Poisson Rouges Pictures; Hopscotch Films’ “The DJ” by Jørn Utkilen; and “Who Goes There” by Astrid Thorvaldsen, produced by Gingerbread Pictures and Pulse Films .
Gingerbread Pictures producer Helen Gladders told Variety that following her 2023 pitch, her project “is progressing well and we’re lining up to shoot in early 2025.”
Meanwhile Poisson Rouge Pictures’ founder Christophe Granier-Deferre said, “Haugesund was critical in evaluating Nordic appetite for the project. Since then, we have finalised the script, have several different Scandinavian production and finance partners circling the project and formed a clear understand of how to pull the project together.”
Other highlights of the U.K. Focus take in a case study with producer James Watson and writer-director Mikko Mäkelä on the Sundance-selected feature “Sebastian,” acquired by Kino Lorber for the U.S.
Best of Variety
Sign up for Variety’s Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
