Four projects are selected for the Scandinavia Showcase, which kicks off at 10am sharp in the Riviera 2 Screening Room on May 20. In the main, projects are looking for post-production funding or general gap financing, and are sometimes still open to co-production opportunities. The lead producers on the projects answered questions posed by Business Doc Europe.
Norwegian Julie Lunde Lillesæter’s debut feature An Army of Women, a co-pro with Germany and the US, is currently in post-production with 95% of the film’s €720,000 budget in place.
In the film, two women in Austin, Texas, join forces with 13 other survivors to build a movement legally challenging the system that allowed their rapists to walk free. Their groundbreaking class-action lawsuit is the first to argue that sexual assault isn’t prosecuted due to gender discrimination. This is the landmark story of women fighting to hold law enforcement accountable, with resounding relevance worldwide.
“One in five American women has experienced completed or attempted rape during her lifetime, with two out of three assaults going unreported, and only 5 of 1,000 rapes leading to a conviction,” comments Natalya Sarch of Differ Media, Norway. “Despite these statistics, rape is systematically deprioritized within legal systems across the world. In the wake of the #MeToo movement, a reckoning has been sparked about sexual violence against women. But legal systems are not changed overnight. This is the landmark story of women fighting to hold law enforcement accountable, with resounding relevance worldwide.”
Sarch adds: “An Army of Women is an ambitious and beautiful film, with high production value and a unique emotional and observational approach to a systemic issue that will win hearts and minds. It’s an intimately observed, hopeful, inspiring, character-driven film, which follows the personal journeys of the women in the case over the course of 4 years, aimed primarily at audiences 18-35. Without dwelling on the horrors of the rapes themselves, the film focuses on the fighting spirit and sacrifices the women make in their fight for justice, and offers inspiration and possibilities to work at changing our legal systems to the better. An Army of Women is unique in that it doesn’t just point out the problem – through its focus on the lawsuit, it explores potential solutions.”
Producer Sarch is in Cannes to find a sales agent, distributors, an executive producer, festivals, broadcast/streaming, strategic guidance for release and impact campaign partners. The film’s running time is 80/52 mins, with a mooted release date of March 2024.
Set in Japan, the Danish feature doc I Belong to Nowhere by Kaspar Astrup Schröder centres around a mental health chat service started by the 21-year-old student Koki, who himself has felt lonely all his life. This service quickly becomes a lifeline in a society where more and more people feel isolated. Schröder’s film follows Koki and a handful of the vulnerable users struggling to find meaning in their lives, who now finally have a place to turn to.
“Loneliness is a universal human emotion that many of us will feel from time to time,” says Danish producer Katrine A. Sahlstrøm of Good Company Pictures. “But research shows that persistent loneliness (lasting longer than two weeks) is a condition that should be treated like a disease. The lack of social connections is considered more dangerous than smoking 15 cigarettes a day and is proven to be linked to higher rates of depression, anxiety, heart disease, and suicide.”
Seventy-five per cent of the film’s €526,064 budget is in place. Run times are 90 and 56 minutes respectively and the expected release date is January 2025. Producer Sahlstrøm is looking for presales and grants to close the financing gap.
“Over many years, Kaspar has proven that he is a master of cinematic, observational narratives with human beings at the center. His patience and presence mean that even people in vulnerable positions open up to him and let him be with them, also when life is really difficult,” Sahlstrøm says of director Schröder.
“Our film aims to highlight the universal need for social and physical contact, which is becoming increasingly challenging to fulfil in today’s digital age. As we become more connected to our electronic devices, it is vital to disconnect and connect with others. This message transcends borders and cultures, and we believe our film can play an essential role in spreading it.”
Victoria Verseau’s Meril (Sweden/France) is produced by Malin Hüber (HER Film, Sweden) and Mathilde Raczymow (Les Films du Bilboquet, France). The synopsis reads how, having reached her innermost dream, Victoria tries to understand what changed when she went through gender confirmation surgery. After all that struggle, should she not be happy? Instead, her aspirations were placed on hold when Meril, a close trans friend, decided to end her life. Victoria retraces her memories traveling to Chonburi and Paris piecing together the past in order to face the future.
“The issue of trans rights is a divider, and with the current rise of right wing politics in Europe we are seeing more restrictive legislation for trans and LGBTQ+ communities,” producer Malin Hüber tells Business Doc Europe. “What really caught me was the story told from the inside, and the unfolding of time. The story is not centered around the operation but rather on what happens after. Victoria has recorded herself all throughout her transition and has a vast personal archive from the time before and after, that will create a dialogue between the past and present in the film.”
With an expected February 2024 release for the 70-minute film, Hüber is at Cannes Docs to source festival interest, sales agents, buyers and chats on future strategies for the film. Meril is a working title.
“The uniqueness of Victoria’s lived experience paired with her practice as an artist and filmmaker makes the film a visceral and urgent account of the trans experience,” Malin adds of her film. “Nimbly inhabiting the space where her artistic practice informs her filmmaking, Victoria shares her perspective through a strong cinematic language and an auteur signature.”
Finnish director/producer Virpi Suutari’s Once Upon A Time In A Forest (working title) is a film about brave young people who are defending one of the last coniferous forest areas in Europe. It is described as a morality play and a love story of a younger generation whose main object of love is the Finnish forest. This cinematic documentary explores environmental feelings and witnesses how the 22-year old protagonist Ida grows up to be the leader of the new Forest Movement.
“This is a very cinematic generation film that reflects the environmental feelings of the youth. At the center of the film we find a group of brave youngsters who are fighting for one of the last coniferous forest areas in Europe,” says Suutari. “It is also a love story about the younger generation whose main object of love is the Finnish forest. [During] the film we see them in secret meetings, in protests and actions but also in the meetings with the politicians and the forest industry representatives. The ideological gaps become visible. An important part of the film is also the more intimate private moments like when the protagonists take a break from activism to do karaoke and dancing, or seek consolation [at] grandmother’s lap.”
The majority (90%) of the film’s €455,000 budget is in place, and 80% of the shoot is completed. Editing has commenced. The film has mooted run times of 90 mins and 120 mins, and Suutari (Euphoria Film) is looking for festival interest, a distributor, gap financing and strategic guidance.
In recent years Suutari has produced some of her own films such as the shorts Elegance (2016) and A People’s Radio – Ballads from a Wooded Country (2021) and the feature doc Aalto (2020) which was sold widely across the world by Autlook.
“I am always interested in making films that are at the same time local but universal. I am interested in human behaviour and in this film I am aiming to express the environmental feelings, sorrows, anxieties and also glimmers of hope that we all share at this moment. The subject matter is urgent but I also want to look beyond, and make the film more timeless,” Suutari adds. “This is done with beautiful and precise cinematography, sound design and score…[and] luckily I have on the project one of the best nature cinematographers in Finland, Teemu Liakka, who has shot among others Ailo´s Journey (2018) and the Tale of the Sleeping Giant (2020).”
