Fresh Flesh: Meet the Rising Nordic Genre Talents

A Scandinavian Films Cannes 2020 webinar, Fresh Flesh, on June 25 spoke to six rising genre talents from across the Nordic territories about their upcoming films and what makes the region’s genre films so unique.

Text by Wendy Mitchell

Hanna Bergholm, director, Hatching (Finland)

Hatching, Hanna Bergholm’s debut feature, explores themes of control and keeping up appearances in a twisted coming-of-age body horror meets psychological drama. The plot follows as 12-year-old gymnast who finds a strange egg that soon hatches.

Bergholm said, “The film is very much about this girl, trying to hide all her own flaws, and her sorrow and her aggression so that her mother would love her. But, and she's terrified and afraid of losing control of all her feelings.The story actually was very close to me because when I was a child I had a closet full of imaginary monsters and I knew them so well that they became my friends.”

The look of the film will have many contrasts – “The world the mother has created is this kind of this perfect surface of this family, and the sun is always shining. But the only shadow in the house is the shadow of the wardrobe of this girl, where there is this slimy, disgusting creature.”

The film is sold by Wild Bunch International, and in one of the first deals announced at the 2020 Cannes Marche, IFC Midnight acquired North American rights. Bergholm’s previous short Puppet Master screened at festivals including Fantasia and Fantastic Fest.

Emma Broström, writer, Knocking (Sweden)
Broström wrote the script for psychological thriller Knocking, which is directed by Frida Kempff. Cecilia Milocco stars as Molly, a woman who moves into her new apartment after a tragic accident and begins to hear strange sounds from upstairs. But she questions if the noises are real. Broström said, “Everyone around her thinks she's crazy and they shouldn't let her out of the mental ward. She gets more agitated to to get to know these knockings, are they real or is it just in her head? And she thinks the knockings are asking for help, like in morse code. So people are gaslighting her in a way telling her she's crazy. And then she's doubting her own sanity.”

Bankside Films handles sales on the film, which is now in post-production.

Kjersti Helen Rasmussen, writer/director, The Nightmare (Norway)
As a writer, Rasmussen has worked on films including Villmark Asylum, Varg Veum, Until Death and The Tunnel. She directed the sci-fi short Voyager in 2018 and she will make her feature directorial debut with horror feature The Nightmare, which is being presented in the Frontieres International Co-Production Market. The story is about a demon who possesses a young woman in her dreams.

“This demon is seducing her over and over again, and she realizes she is pregnant and the demon is looking for a way into our world. And if this demon is born, all our nightmares. will become real.

The story also draws on Nordic mythology – the director said, “I did the research for the nightmare demon in Norwegian mythology is called the mare, which is the origin of the word nightmare, actually.”

Handmade Films In Norwegian Woods produces; no sales company is appointed yet.
They hope to shoot the film in late 2020 or early 2021.

Marc Fussing Rosbach, director, Among Us - In the Land of Our Shadows (Greenland) 
Marc Fussing Rosbach has worked as a visual effects artist, composer, and editor on a number of film, TV and music video productions in Greenland. His 2017 feature Among Us - In The Land Of Our Shadows is considered the first sci-fi fantasy made in Greenland. The story follows two young men who are swept up in a parallel world of shaman, sorcerers and evil spirits.

“It’s fantasy, but there are small bites of horror, and comedy,” the director explains.
He is already in post-production on the film’s sequel. “We dive deeper into the main character's story, and also his past. He has a fear of the ocean. Then we have to find out why he's afraid of the water. The theme of the movie will be fear.”

Rosbach is also the CEO and founder of Greenland-based production company Furos Image.
 
Sissel Dalgaard Thomsen, writer, Breeder (Denmark) 
Sissel Dalsgaard Thomsen graduated from Denmark’s independent film school Super16 in 2014 and since then has focused on telling stories about gender, sexuality and personal identity, often with a genre twist. Among her credits are short films Venus (Slamdance). LevelK handles sales for Breeder, and had Cannes Marche screenings for the film, which is directed by Jens Dahl. The story follows a woman who is abducted while she investigates a mysterious health supplement company that is conducting dangerous experiments.

She discovers that women “are being kidnapped and held captive and used in these experiments and Mia herself is eventually also captured and has to find a way of breaking free and escaping with the other women as well,” Thomsen explans.

“It was really an ambition to make a horror film that goes all in on the genre elements, and it's very unapologetic about that, but also brings something extra to the story. I wanted to have a relationship story and I also wanted to comment on society, and relevant issues today. I wanted to explore things like consent and female agency.”

Marteinn Thorsson, writer/director, Recurrence (Iceland)
Marteinn Thorsson moves into supernatural storytelling with his fifth feature, upcoming thriller Recurrence. The story, adapted from the novel Una by Óttar M. Nordfjord, is about a woman whose infant son disappeared from his cradle a year ago; she discovers parallel stories when she meets a sinister creature. The director says, “It takes her deeper and deeper into the sort of subconscious world, and her past lives, and it deals with intergenerational trauma, depression, and oppression of minority groups, women.
“The creature is based on a creature from Icelandic folklore it comes from a story about when young mothers were forced to abandon their babies because they've been raped by the priest or the sheriff.”

The Yellow Affair handles sales and the film will shoot later this year with a cast including Udo Kier as an Irish ghost. Thorsson’s other features include One Point OStormlandXL and Backyard Village (which is now in post).
 
Further reading and resources 

PANELISTS

Hanna Bergholm
Writer/Director, The Hatching

Finnish film director Hanna Bergholm graduated in 2009 from the University of Art and Design Helsinki with MA in Film Directing. She has directed several internationally awarded short films and also children’s TV drama series. Her short horror film Puppet Master screened at festivals including Fantasia and Fantastic Fest. Her first feature film, coming-of-age horror drama Hatching, will arrive in cinemas in spring 2021.

Emma Broström
Writer, Knocking

Emma Broström is a Swedish playwright with more than 45 theatrical productions to her name. Her screenwriting debut came in 2015 with drama Flocking, which was directed by Beata Gårdeler and won the Crystal Bear at the Berlinale. Her second script, Knocking, has been directed by Frida Kempff for release in 2020. She has recently reunited with Gårdeler for the short film Beauty, which is set for release in 2021.

Sissel Dalgaard Thomsen
Writer, Breeder

Sissel Dalsgaard Thomsen graduated from Denmark’s independent film school Super16 in 2014 and since then has focused on telling stories about gender, sexuality and personal identity, often with a genre twist. Among her credits are short films Venus (Slamdance) and Growing Pains (Toronto), feature film The Return (Rotterdam), and upcoming feature film Breeder, directed by Jens Dahl and sold by LevelK.

Kjersti Helen Rasmussen
Writer/Director, The Nightmare

Kjersti Helen Rasmussen graduated from the Danish National Film School in 2002 and has since worked as a screenwriter and script editor. Kjersti has written short films, commercials and features including Villmark Asylum, Varg Veum, Until Death and The Tunnel. She directed the sci-fi short Voyager in 2018 and she will make her feature directorial debut with The Nightmare, which is being presented in the Frontieres International Co-Production Market.

Marc Fussing Rosbach
Director, Among Us - In the Land of Our Shadows

Marc Fussing Rosbach has worked as a visual effects artist, composer, and editor on a number of film, TV and music video productions in Greenland. These include Among Us - In The Land Of Our Shadows, considered the first sci-fi fantasy made in Greenland. Marc is also the Ceo and founder of Greenland-based Furos Image and is at work on sequel Among Us – The Masked Man.

Marteinn Thorsson
Writer/Director, Recurrence

Marteinn Thorsson was born in Reykjavik and studied film at Canada’s Ryerson University. He went to Sundance with his debut feature One Point O, and later directed Stormland and Xl. He is now editing his fourth feature Backyard Village and is in pre-production on the supernatural thriller Recurrence (Una), which will reunite him with actor Udo Kier. He has also taught screenwriting, directing and producing at The Icelandic Film School.