Esther van Messel
Esther van Messel’s Zurich-based sales and distribution powerhouse First Hand Films has added several new titles to its early 2021 slate.
Among the films First Hand has been presenting to buyers for the first time during the EFM is Danish doc It’s Not Over Yet! from Louise Detlefsen. This looks at a new and controversial treatment for people with dementia. The release is set to tie in with World Alzheimer’s Day on 21 September.
The doc comes from production outfit Hansen & Pedersen, the team behind Humanity On Trial (2019), another doc on which First Hand has been doing brisk business. This is about a young Dane who is arrested and charged with human trafficking after trying to find a refugee family lost at sea.
Also new to the First Hand slate is the Norwegian doc The Elk Forest, which explores why the elk hunt is such a vital part of community life in Engerdal, a small village in Norway.
Another addition, from Finland, is Joonas Neuvonen and Sadri Cetinkaya’s doc Lost Boys, about westerners on a sex and drugs bender in Asia that ends in tragic, deadly fashion.
“It’s just a fantastic cinematic adventure. It has done really well in theatres Finland,” van Messel says of the film, which will be screening widely on the doc festival circuit in the coming months. “It’s extremely visual and visceral filmmaking. It’s also a bit about colonialism – white boys going to south-east Asia to party.” The doc is produced by Miia Haavisto.
Looking ahead, the First Hand boss has confirmed that her long awaited music doc A-ha – The Movie should finally be launched in spectacular fashion in June. “It’s a really lovely swim through the 80s and beyond,” she says of the film, which tells the story of the Norwegian pop band which became a global phenomenon. “You really dive in. It is super well-told.” Made by Thomas Robsahm and Aslaug Holm, the film should have launched last year – but Covid intervened.
Speaking midway through the Berlin EFM, van Messel explained why she is so drawn to Scandinavian documentary. “There are two reasons. One is that our relationship with Scandinavia has always been strong. Ever since Burma VJ (2008) and even before that, I have loved working with the Nordic countries. The second reason is that I think their funding system [for documentary] is the best in the world,” van Messel said. “They have a really good subsidy system. They take care of the producers and their infrastructure, and so the filmmakers are being taken care of in an understanding way.”
The roll-out of several First Hand films this time last year was interrupted by Covid lockdowns as festivals were cancelled or moved online.
“Spring is our strongest season. We put the line-up together in February, follow up in MIP and close the deals just before summer, ideally. That was all cancelled last year. In some ways, we are behind a year,” the First Hand boss acknowledged. “It’s a bit like Groundhog Day. March again, home again, no markets…”
Nonetheless, First Hand is continuing to add to its slate and van Messel is optimistic about the “new normal” that will emerge once the pandemic is over.
Another new acquisition for world sales is The River Between Us, about the indigenous community in the rainforests in Peru. The film tells how the people of the Mashco Piro fled deep into the Peruvian Amazon to escape the cruelty of colonialist rubber companies. They cut all contact with the outside world and entered an isolation that they haven’t abandoned to this day. Award-winning filmmaker (and biologist) Carl Gierstorfer turns around in front of the river and looks back at those who want to break the contact with the isolated people.
