’22 July’ Writer Sara Johnsen Scoops Nordisk Film & TV Fond Prize

Recipients of the 29th Polar Music Prize were announced today and include 11-time Oscar nominated songwriter Diane Warren and Russian-born opera singer Anna Netrebko. The 2020 gala ceremony is scheduled for June 9 at Stockholm’s Grand Hôtel. Each Laureate receives prize money of one million Swedish Kroner (just over $100,000).

Candlemass staked its place as architects of the doom genre with its iconic 1986 debut, Epicus Doomicus Metallicus.

Berlin-based sales agent M-appeal has picked up Norwegian children’s film “Sisters: The Summer We Found Our Superpowers,” ahead of the European Film Market in Berlin, where it will screen.

Red Arrow Studios-backed Endor Productions has hired former Fox Networks Group exec Sara Johnson as creative director.

In today’s film news roundup, Woody Harrelson will star in a satire, Kaitlyn Dever will be honored, and the docs “Saul & Ruby’s Holocaust Survivor Band” and “Before the Plate” find distribution.

Stories of children in peril are always distressing, but when the cause of their distress is that they've been kidnapped by their own mother, there’s an additional layer of warped psychology and disturbing motives involved. Such is the case inCharter,the second feature from Swedish writer-director Amanda Kernell, whose 2016 debut,Sami Blood,accrued numerous international awards.

A wide range of Scandinavian films, including the politically-charged Danish drama “Shorta,” the supernatural Icelandic drama “Lamb” with Noomi Rapace, and the Finnish-Iranian refugee tale “Any Day Now,’ were some of the highlights at this year’s Nordic Film Market.

GÖTEBORG, Sweden  — Norwegian helmer-writer Dag Johan Haugerud’s “Beware Of Children,” a complex, almost novelistic examination of how people reveal their true colors under pressure when crisis strikes, came away the biggest winner at the 43rd Göteborg Film Festival, scoring the generously endowed ($104,000) best Nordic film prize.

GÖTEBORG, Sweden — Home to the most dynamic streaming markets in Western Europe, the Nordic region still posted solid box office returns in 2019, especially from Hollywood tentpoles “The Lion King,” “Avengers: Endgame” and “Joker,” which ruled on all top ten charts, except in Denmark. Local fare, however, lost ground in all five territories.

Netflix has added another promising series to its library. Ragnarok is a new teenage drama which is based on Norse mythology.

Sometimes journalists and documentary filmmakers stumble into circumstances that produce unforeseeably fascinating results, while occasionally they fall into disaster or worse. Tragically, the latter was true for a Swedish writer when a charismatic genius tortured and murdered her on his homemade submarine, while the former is the case for the woman who has madeInto the Deep, which breathtakingly tells the tale of the entire grievous affair.

Lagardere Studios Distribution has boarded “The Machinery,” an action-packed thriller series headlined Kristoffer Joner (“The Revenant”) which was teased by Viaplay during a presentation at Goteborg’s TV Drama Vision conference on Thursday.

Swedish helmer Jens Jonsson, who is currently editing Netflix’s “Young Wallander,” is set to direct the political thriller “Eight Months” (“Åtta månader”), based on acclaimed Swedish author Magnus Montelius’ suspense eponymous novel. Swedish scribe Erik Ahrnbom (“The Bridge,” “Stockholm Stories,” “Arne Dahl”) will be adapting for television.

By Peter White

Little Dragon are releasing a new album: New Me, Same Us comes out on March 27 (via Ninja Tune). Check out the LP’s first track, “Hold On,” below.

The Nordisk Film & TV Fond is celebrating its 30th anniversary with a new CEO at the helm: Writer, producer and chair of the EBU Fiction Expert Group Liselott Forsman.

Scandinavian major NENT Group has commissioned romantic drama “Harmonica” from Warner Bros. International Television Production Sweden.

GÖTEBORG, Sweden  —  Swedish prodco Dramacorp has signed with U.K. scribe Michael Robert Johnson (“Sherlock Holmes,” “Mute,” “The Frankenstein Chronicles”) for the English-language supernatural thriller “Heritage” (a working title).