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Exclusive: Canada’s CBC is stocking its streaming service with dramas from Scandinavia and the UK.

CBC Gem will launch British comedy-drama Cheaters, Scandi co-pro comedy All and Eva and Danish drama Families Like Ours in coming weeks. All and Eva will lead off on Friday, November 1, followed by Cheaters amon November 8 and Families Like Ours on November 22.

All and Eva, from Warner Bros. International Television Sweden for Viaplay, is a six-part series in which a woman’s journey to discover her sperm donor and their unexpected relationship, despite his ignorance of his impending fatherhood. Viaplay Content Distribution shops it internationally.

It is created, written and directed by Johanna Runevard and stars Tuva Novotny, Joachim Fjelstrup, Sanna Sundqvist and Bengt Braskered.

The show has been gaining...

“Game of Thrones” star Pilou Asbæk and Iben Hjejle (“High Fidelity”) are leading the Nordic cast of “Secrets,” a contemporary Danish drama series directed by Kaspar Munk (“Ride Upon the Storm”) and represented globally by Viaplay Content Distribution.

Asbæk and Hjejle star as Mads and Eva, siblings who struggle to set boundaries and free themselves from old patterns as they live next to each other with their respective families in Copenhagen. Mads is a music teacher who escapes into a world of partying and drugs to avoid his predictable everyday life and family responsibilities. Eva, meanwhile, is trying to save both her marriage and her company, an architectural firm facing a serious crisis after a tragic death.

The eight-part series, which Munk co-wrote with Lone Hørslev, explores family relationships, abuse and co-dependency. Two of Scandinavia’s best-established producers, Anders Toft Andersen (“Follow the Money”) and Rasmus Kastberg (“Bamse”) are producing at Monday Scripted.

Birthe Neumann as Karen Blixen with Thorkild Bjørnvig (Simon Bennebjerg) in The Pact, Bille August’s elegant take on creation and destruction.

Karen Blixen herself, if you take her word for it, had made a deal with the devil in exchange for the power to tell tales. In Bille August’s The Pact (Pagten), co-written with Christian Torpe and based on the memoir by Thorkild Bjørnvig, starring Birthe Neumann as Blixen, opposite Simon Bennebjerg as Bjørnvig, she tests her own devilishness, and yet remains always very human. Blixen’s Seven Gothic Tales and Out Of Africa, plus Sydney Pollack’s film version of the latter with Meryl Streep, Robert Redford, and Klaus Maria Brandauer may float in and out of our memory while watching the machinations of mutual manipulation unfold.

Bille August with Anne-Katrin Titze on Karen Blixen: “Doing this film I was trying to understand how she worked as a storyteller,...

Oscar and double Palme d’Or winning director Bille August is attending the Göteborg Film Festival for a Director’s Talk and the gala screening of his psycho-drama “The Pact”.

He will also pitch at the adjoining Nordic Film Market (Feb. 3-6), the work in progress of his upcoming Danish pic “The Kiss”.

August spoke exclusively to Variety about “The Kiss,” his enduring interest in the complexity of human beings, book-to-screen adaptations and his belief in the big screen experience.

Loosely based on Stefan Zweig’s novel “Beware of Pity and transposed from an Austrian to a Danish setting, “The Kiss” is a romantic drama set in 1913. The helmer has reunited with “A Fortunate Man”’s lead Espen Smed, cast as cavalry officer trainee Anton. Introduced to Baron von Løvenskjold’s daughter Edith, a wheelchair user following an accident, Anton is attracted to her, but unsure if his feelings are of pity or true love.

The film is currently in post-production, with a release in Denmark this July.

TrustNordisk has boarded international sales for Danish writer/director Frelle Petersen’s new feature Forever.

The drama is about a family thrown into a crisis after losing one of their own. The film, which is now in post-production, shot in the rural communities of Southern Jutland, the southernmost corner of Denmark.

TrustNordisk has footage to show buyers at the EFM. Nordisk will release in Denmark on July 7.

The cast features Jette Søndergaard (who also starred in the director’s 2019 feature Uncle[/link]), Mette Munk Plum (A Fortunate Man...

‘Mulan’ actor Gong Li will serve as the chairman of the international jury doling out the top Tiantan Awards at this year’s Beijing International Film Festival (Bjiff), the event said Tuesday. The festival’s 11th iteration is set to take place in person in the Chinese capital from August 14-21, 2021.

In Bjiff’s official announcement of Gong’s role, it mentioned all of Gong’s past experiences as jury chairman at major festivals, such as the 50th Berlin International Film Festival, the 59th Venice International Film Festival, the 16th Tokyo International Film Festival, and the 17th Shanghai International Film Festival, noting that in 1997, she also served as a jury member at Cannes.

It did not, however, mention her turn as jury president of the Taipei-based Golden Horse Awards in 2018. That year, an awards speech mentioning Taiwanese independence caused a political rift between the festival and its Chinese attendees after...

TrustNordisk has closed further sales on Christoffer Boe‘s “A Taste of Hunger” and has unveiled the international poster for the anticipated film.

“A Taste of Hunger,” which is headlined by Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (“Game of Thrones”) and Kathrine Greis-Rosenthal (“A Fortunate Man”), has sold to France (Kinovista) and Poland (Hagi Film).

The film has Coster-Waldau and Greis-Rosenthal as a power couple on the Danish gourmet scene who run the popular restaurant Malus in Copenhagen. The couple is willing to sacrifice everything to achieve their dream – a coveted Michelin star.

Boe co-wrote the script with Tobias Lindholm, the writer-director of “A War,” who co-wrote many films by Thomas Vinterberg, including his latest, the Mads Mikkelsen-starrer “Another Round.”

The movie has now been sold near worldwide by TrustNordisk, notably in the U.S. with Magnolia, Germany (Koch Films), Spain (Adso Films), Brazil (Synapse) and Greece (Rosebud), Capella Film.

TrustNordisk has also...

TrustNordisk has sold U.S. rights to “A Taste of Hunger,” an anticipated romantic drama starring Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (“Game of Thrones”) and Katrine Greis-Rosenthal (“A Fortunate Man”), to Magnolia Pictures.

Directed by Christoffer Boe, “A Taste of Hunger” has also been acquired in a raft of territories, including Germany (Koch Films), Spain (Adso Films), Brazil (Synapse) and Greece (Rosebud). TrustNordisk is unveiling an exclusive trailer of the movie.

Boe co-wrote the script with Tobias Lindholm, the writer-director of “A War,” who co-wrote many films by Thomas Vinterberg, including his latest, the Mads Mikkelsen-starring “Another Round.”

“A Taste of Hunger” has Coster-Waldau and Greis-Rosenthal play a power couple within the Danish gourmet scene who run the popular restaurant Malus in Copenhagen. The couple is willing to sacrifice everything to achieve their dream — getting the coveted Michelin star. Boe co-wrote the script with Lindholm.

The U.S. deal was negotiated by...

TrustNordisk has scored a raft of key territory sales on Maria Sodahl’s “Hope,” which won the European Cinemas Label Award at this year’s Berlin Film Festival. “Hope” world premiered at Toronto in the Discovery section in 2019.

The heartfelt drama stars Stellan Skarsgard and Andrea Braein Hovig (“All the Beauty”) as a couple with a large blended family whose life breaks down when the wife is diagnosed with terminal brain cancer, exposing neglected love. The film is inspired by Sodahl’s life and what she went through after discovering she had brain cancer many years ago.

“Hope” has just been pre-selected for the European Film Awards and picked up two nods at this year’s Amanda Awards in Norway, including the best actress award for Bræin Hovig, who delivered a strong performance as Anja, a forty-something accomplished professional who runs the household of her extended family and has to fight a deadly cancer.

TrustNordisk has closed a raft of deals on Christoffer Boe’s “A Taste Of Hunger,” the Danish romantic drama starring Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (“Game Of Thrones”) and Katrine Greis-Rosenthal (“A Fortunate Man”).

The movie, now in post-production and set for a Feb. 25 release in Denmark, has inspired a virtual reality experience “A Taste of Hunger – VR” which is also directed by Boe and is being presented at the Venice Film Festival as part of the Venice VR Expanded program.

“A Taste of Hunger” has Coster-Waldau and Greis-Rosenthal play a power couple within the Danish gourmet scene who run the highly-popular restaurant Malus in Copenhagen. The couple is willing to sacrifice everything to achieve their dream — getting the coveted Michelin star. Boe co-wrote the script with Tobias Lindholm, the writer-director of “A War,” who co-wrote many films by Thomas Vinterberg, including his latest “Another Round.”

Since boarding the project last year, TrustNordisk...

Streaming online via video presentations from March 25, Series Mania’s experimental Digital Forum will make or break on the quality of its centerpiece, its Co-Pro Pitching Sessions. This year’s lineup, at least on paper, looks particularly strong.

Following, a break-down on the 16 originally selected projects:

“The Abduction of Yossele Shuchmacher” (Israel)

Co-created and to be directed by celebrated Israeli cineaste Eran Riklis, based on a notorious true case in 1961 and co-created by “Fauda” writer Moshe Zonder.-Backed by veteran producer Michael Sharfshtein, the title “blends an intimate, painful drama within a powerful social-political set up, wrapped as a psychological thriller,” says Riklis.

“The Black Lady”

An English-language six-part bio-series led by Brussels-based At-Prod about Madga Goebbels which author Hélène Duchateau describes as a “depressingly modern” miniseries: “Beyond Madga Goebbels’ unique experience, it echoes the growing populist trends in Europe and the processes of radicalization in our time.”

“Casa Girls” (France)

A comedic,...

TrustNordisk has picked up international sales rights to Martin Zandvliet’s next crime-thriller “The Marco Effect” which is based on Jussi Adler-Olsen’s bestselling novel by the same name.

The screenplay for “The Marco Effect” is written by Anders F. August (“A Fortunate Man”) and was co-written by Thomas Porsager. The film follows 14-year-old Marco, a homeless gipsy boy, who is arrested at the Danish boarder control for possession of a missing public servant’s passport. But the traumatized Marco refuses to talk to them and runs away from those who intend to kill him because of what he knows.

The film, which just started shooting, stars Ulrich Thomsen (“The Young Pope”), alongside upcoming talents Zaki Youssef (“Sons of Denmark”) and Sofie Torp (Wildland”). Zandvliet is a very well-established director whose made his feature debut with “Applaus.” Zandvliet credits also include “Land of Mine” which competed the prestigious Platform section...

Scandi major TrustNordisk will handle world sales on The Marco Effect, which is based on Jussi Adler-Olsen’s bestselling crime-thriller novel of the same name.

Danish filmmaker Martin Zandvliet, whose credits include the Oscar-nominated war pic Land Of Mine, is helming the project, which is budgeted at $8.1m (€7.4m) and began shooting this week.

Written by Anders F. August (A Fortunate Man) with co-writer Thomas Porsager, the movie stars Ulrich Thomsen (The New Pope), Zaki Youssef (Sons Of Denmark), and Sofie Torp (Wildland) in the story of a homeless boy who is arrested at the Danish boarder control for possession of a missing public servant’s passport.

A police inspector is tasked with finding the connection, but the case contains several suspicious elements: The public servant was accused of pedophilia shortly before he disappeared, and his case was closed unusually quickly. The silent, traumatized Marco refuses to talk to them,...

The film follows a couple in pursuit of a Michelin star for their restaurant.

TrustNordisk has boarded international sales for Christoffer Boe’s Danish romantic drama A Taste of Hunger, now in pre-production.

The story follows an ambitious culinary couple, Carsten and Maggi, who sacrifice everything in pursuit of a Michelin star for their trendy Copenhagen restaurant Puri.

Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Game of Thrones) and Katrine Greis-Rosenthal (A Fortunate Man) lead the cast, which also includes Nicolas Bro, Charlie Gustafsson and Flora Augusta.

Boe reteams with Zentropa producer Louise Vesth who he recently worked with on the Department Q thriller The Purity of Vengeance,...

The film follows a couple in pursuit of a Michelin star for their restaurant.

TrustNordisk has boarded international sales for Christoffer Boe’s Danish romantic drama A Taste of Hunger, now in pre-production.

The story follows an ambitious culinary couple, Carsten and Maggi, who sacrifice everything in pursuit of a Michelin star for their trendy Copenhagen restaurant Puri.

Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Game of Thrones) and Katrine Greis-Rosenthal (A Fortunate Man) lead the cast, which also includes Nicolas Bro, Charlie Gustafsson and Flora Augusta.

Boe reteams with Zentropa producer Louise Vesth who he recently worked with on the Department Q thriller The Purity of Vengeance,...

Scandi sales outfit TrustNordisk has picked up Christoffer Boe’s Danish feature A Taste Of Hunger, the romantic drama starring Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Game Of Thrones) and Katrine Greis-Rosenthal (A Fortunate Man).

The film, which is in pre-production, will follow a couple who sacrifice everything to achieve the highest possible accolade in the culinary world – a Michelin star.

Director Boe, who also co-wrote the script with Tobias Lindholm (A War), has credits including 2003 feature Reconstruction, which won two prizes in Cannes.

Louise Vesth is producing the project for Danish outfit Zentropa. Her credits include Lars von Trier’s Melancholia and Nymphomaniac.

A Taste Of Hunger is being made in co-production with Zentropa Sweden and Film i Väst, with support from the Danish Film Institute, Svenska Filminstitutet and Nordisk Film & TV Fond, in collaboration with TV 2 Danmark and Svt with development backing from the Creative Europe Media programme.

TrustNordisk will have...

Exclusive: Oscar and Palme d’Or-winning Danish director Bille August (Pelle The Conqueror) is teaming up with U.S. producer David Brown’s fledgling outfit Clear Horizon on historical drama A War Of Their Own about two of the first women to serve as ambulance drivers on the front lines during WWI. Clear Horizon will co-produce and handle world sales at the Afm.

The film is inspired by the remarkable story of British women Mairi Chisholm and Elsie Knocker, who became nurses and ambulance drivers during World War One. The duo won numerous medals for bravery and saved many soldiers on the Western Front in Belgium. Chisolm first got the job as ambulance driver when she was spotted making hair-pin bends on her motorbike in London as a courier. After the war, despite failing health as a result of her exploits on the front, she briefly took up car racing.

Martin Zandvliet to direct Ulrich Thomsen and Zaki Youssef in fresh adaptation of Jussi Adler-Olsen’s novels.

After a hugely successful run of four films produced by Zentropa, the Department Q crime thriller series is moving to Nordisk Film.

Director Martin Zandvliet and producer Mikael Rieks – both Oscar nominated for Land Of Mine – reunite on the project after also working together on Applause and A Funny Man.

Ulrich Thomsen and Zaki Youssef are confirmed to star in The Marco Effect as Carl Mørck and Assad; they take over from the previous pairing of Nikolaj Lie Kaas and Fares Fares in the first four films,...

Nordisk Film and Land of Mine director Martin Zandvliet have set the cast for upcoming Scandi detective thriller The Marco Effect.

Ulrich Thomsen (In a Better World) and Zaki Youssef (Sons of Denmark) will star in the feature, based on Jussi Adler-Olsen’s fifth novel in the bestselling Department Q series. Nordisk Film Production’s Mikael Rieks is producer.

In the Danish-language crime thriller, Thomsen will play detective Carl Mørck and Youssef will portray his assistant Assad. The story follows a 12-year-old boy named Marco who is on the run and who also happens to be the key to uncovering a story of multinational corruption within government funds earmarked for development aid in Africa.

The adaptation is the first in a series of six Department Q films planned by Nordisk Film in co-production with Peter Nadermann’s Nadcon Film from Germany. Script is from Anders August (A Fortunate Man) and newcomer Thomas Porsager.

Netflix is famously tight-lipped when it comes to revealing how many people are tuning in to its endless supply of movies and TV series, though the streaming giant does occasionally toot its own horn when one of its titles does especially well. Now the company is experimenting with a weekly list of its most-watched offerings in the UK, with nature docuseries “Our Planet” topping the first edition.

In a Twitter thread, the company announced that it will be releasing such lists on a weekly basis from here on out. To compile them, “we look at the most-watched individual season of a show, film or special (regardless of when it launched). ‘Watched’ means members finished at least 70% of one episode.”

“It’s a test as we want to make sure this information is useful for you,” Netflix added. “So we may tweak it in the weeks ahead. eg. we’re not including kids right now.

Netflix might be skipping this year’s Cannes Film Festival, but the streaming giant is offering a bit of a mea culpa in its April offerings, which come with some exciting options from bonafide auteurs who also happen to be Cannes regulars, including Lee Chang-Dong, Andrea Arnold, and Quentin Tarantino. Ken Loach’s Palme d’Or winner “I, Daniel Blake” will also join Netflix’s ranks next month, along with classics like “All the President’s Men,” “Bonnie and Clyde,” and “Deliverance.”

In April, Netflix will add Lee’s lauded Cannes competitor “Burning,” which missed out on Oscar love but picked up plenty of other accolades during last year’s awards circuit, including a number of nods for star Steven Yeun. It will be joined by Arnold’s 2016 Palme d’Or entry “American Honey,” along with an extended version of Tarantino’s “The Hateful Eight”.

The streaming service will also...

Goteborg, Sweden — The BBC has boarded Dr Sales’ “Follow the Money” 3, now bound for Berlinale Series, as Link TV has acquired Seasons 1 and 2 for the U.S.

Season 3 of the Danish crime series “Follow the Money” (“Bedrag”) was acquired ahead of its international premiere at the Berlinale Series by the BBC for the U.K./Ireland, Npb for the Netherlands, Rtp for Portugal and Prava for former Yugoslavia, all on board the first two seasons.

Other territories closed on Seasons 1 and 2 of the series include France (France Televisions) and the U.S. (Link TV). The deals were announced by Maiken Maigaard, sales and acquisition director at Dr Sales.

Season 3 of “Follow the Money,” created and penned by Jeppe Gjervig Gram (“Borgen”),will arrive in Berlin with a trail of rave reviews from the Danish media, following its launch on the Danish public broadcaster in early January.

Described as...

Goteborg, Sweden — Netflix is co-producing its first Icelandic series, “The Valhalla Murders,” a crime show created and directed by newcomer Þórður Pálsson and produced by Truenorth and Mystery Productions for RÚV. The deal was announced today at the Göteborg Festival by Netflix’s director of co-productions and acquisitionsLina Brounéus.

Half-way through its Icelandic shoot, the eight-part crime series “The Valhalla Murders” is produced by Truenorth’s Kristinn Thordarson and Leifur B. Dagfinnsson with Mystery Productions’ David Oskar Olafsson for Icelandic public broadcaster RÚV. Streaming giant Netflix has boarded the €5.5m ($6.3 million) series as co-producer.

Thanks to Netflix’s investment and pre-sales closed earlier by Dr Sales, half the series’ overall cost comes from overseas, according to RÚV.

Truenorth’s Thordarson told Variety: “We are extremely pleased to have signed this ground-breaking deal with Netflix. This is a validation of our efforts to bring the best quality content to the...

Goteborg, Sweden — Christoffer Boe and a stellar Danish cast are on board Miso Film’s series “Face to Face,” produced for the Nent Group.

The show, currently in production, will be sold worldwide by Fremantle. This is Boe’s second TV series produced by Miso Film’s Peter Bose and Jonas Allen after “Warrior,” and his first TV drama for Nent Group’s Nordic streaming service Viaplay.

The Danish director, who struck gold in 2018 with the local pic “The Purity of Vengeance,” last year’s biggest B.O hit in Denmark, and the drama series “Warrior” – delves deeper into crime with “Face to Face” (“Førhøret” in Danish), co-penned by Jakob Weis (“That Time of Year”).

An exceptional all-star cast have joined the director: Ulrich Thomsen (“The New Pope”), Lars Mikkelsen (“Ride Upon the Storm”), Nikolaj Lie Kaas (“Britannia”), Trine Dyrholm (“The Legacy”), David Dencik (“MacMafia”), Lars Ranthe (“Pros and Cons...

Last year, Danish, Icelandic and Norwegian films triumphed with local audiences, fueling general attendance. In Sweden, local fare also upped their share of an overall sluggish market, while Finland had a quieter year after a record 2017. Everywhere “Mamma Mia-Here We Go Again” was number one except in Denmark where local films were back in favor.

Denmark

After two years of slide, Danish films were back in favour with local crowds, and boosted general admissions to 13 million (up 4.6%) and box office to Dkk 1.1 billion ($173 million). With 3.8 million admissions (up 34.2% from 2017), representing Dkk 290.9 million ($44.5 million) in revenue, local titles claimed a 29% market share, the success target just set in new Danish Film Agreement for 2019-2023.

“In a country like Denmark with a relatively small feature film production [21 films in 2018], the box office will inevitably vary from one year to the next,” commented Claus Ladegaard, CEO at the Danish Film Institute. The latter welcomed the...

Denmark, Iceland and Norway registered rises in 2018, but Finland and Sweden saw dips.

Denmark

Denmark has had a strong year for local films, led by Christoffer Boe’s The Purity Of Vengeance (also known as Journal 64), the Nordisk Film release that has already broken records as the highest-ever grossing local film in Danish cinemas and will remain on release until at least January 2019.

The film is the fourth and final feature that Zentropa has produced based on the bestselling Department Q series of novels, about two mismatched detectives solving cold cases; it has earned $10.1m (dkk66.4m) as of December...

Denmark, Iceland and Norway registered rises in 2018, but Finland and Sweden saw dips.

Denmark

Denmark has had a strong year for local films, led by Christoffer Boe’s The Purity Of Vengeance (also known as Journal 64), the Nordisk Film release that has already broken records as the highest-ever grossing local film in Danish cinemas and will remain on release until at least January 2019.

The film is the fourth and final feature that Zentropa has produced based on the bestselling Department Q series of novels, about two mismatched detectives solving cold cases; it has earned $10.1m (dkk66.4m) as of December...

Gustav Möller’s thriller “The Guilty” which won Sundance’s Audience Award in World Cinema, has been selected as Denmark’s official Oscar entry for best foreign language film.

Möller’s feature debut, “The Guilty” takes place over the course of a single night and centers on police officer Asger Holm (Jakob Cedergren) who has just been demoted to desk work and answers a panicked phone call from a kidnapped woman. The film follows Asger’s race against time to save the woman with the phone as his only tool.

On top of Sundance, “The Guilty” played at New Directors/New Films, as well as Seattle where it won Best Director and the Audience Award, and Rotterdam where it won the Audience Award. Magnolia Pictures will release the film on Oct.19 in 25 markets, including New York and Los Angeles, with a national rollout to follow.

Represented in international markets by TrustNordisk,...

Completed films will also screen at the New Nordic Films Market, including ‘X&Y’.

Haugesund’s New Nordic Films Market has confirmed the 24 completed films that will screen during the event, as well as the 16 works in progress projects that will be presented.

“We are proud to present a programme that reflects high quality, with a strong and exciting line up from new and emerging talents,” said Gyda Myklebust, programme director for New Nordic Films.

Completed films screening in the market include Anna Odell’s hotly anticipated X&Y; the second of three Utoya-related films this year, Carl Javer’s Reconstructing Utoya...

Netflix has boarded Freud, a German-language period crime thriller that sees the young eponymous psychoanalyst involved in a nerve-racking investigation into a murderous conspiracy. The co-production from Satel Film/Bavaria Fiction for Orf and Netflix is set in Vienna and is the streaming service’s first Austrian original. Zdf Enterprises is distributing internationally.

The story sees Sigmund Freud in Vienna in 1886, just as his revolutionary theories are being met with strong opposition from colleagues and wider Austrian society. It’s at this time he meets the war veteran and policeman ​Alfred​ Kiss and notorious medium Fleur Salomé and unwittingly becomes part of the hunt for a serial killer.

The thriller will blend its period setting with a contemporary style, and is billed as a modern, sexy and suspenseful take on the life of the celebrated doctor.

Directed by Marvin Kren, Freud is currently casting the eight-episode series. Production...

Netflix has boarded “Freud,” the upcoming German-language thriller following a young Sigmund Freud as he teams with a medium and a police inspector to track a serial killer in 19th century Vienna.

Netflix will launch “Freud” internationally. It will be its first original drama out of Austria. The streamer is enjoying success with its German scripted series “Dark,” setting an overall deal with its creators and greenlighting a second season. Austria-Germany co-production “Freud” will bow on Austrian pubcaster Orf locally, and Netflix will take it into the U.S., U.K., Germany and other international markets.

Freud studied in Vienna and is considered the founder of psychoanalysis. In the “Freud” series he is on the trail of a killer, alongside medium Fleur Salomé, and a surly war veteran and police inspector, Kiss.

Marvin Kren is attached to direct, off the back of working on TNT Serie’s hit original drama “4 Blocks.