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Mikael Marcimain, the Swedish director of hits “Call Girl” and “Gentlemen,” is on track to direct “Devastation,” an epic and horrific tale of survival set in 1867. “Devastation” is one of the first projects developed by Mylla Films, the new banner set up by Jakob Abrahamsson and Patrik Andersson (“Midsommar”).

Mylla Films has enlisted Nordic distributor Scanbox and French boutique genre specialist Alexis Perrin of Rumble Fish as co-producers.

A period piece set in northern Sweden, “Devastation” is penned by Melina Maraki (“The Liberation of Harold Kvist”). Unfolding during the hard winter and famine of 1867, the film revolves around two brothers, one the local industrialist and the other the local preacher, who keep the town in a tyrannical stronghold. An uprising begins from the most unexpected place.

Marcimain, who is rolling off a a string of TV hits, including “Blackwater,” which won a prize at Series Mania in Lille, made his debut feature with “Call Girl,...

Albatros is a boutique agency, launched by Elin Sandström Lundh and Martina Österling in 2017, which represents directors and screenwriters working across film and TV.

Stockholm-based Albatros has struck an exclusive output deal with Partners in Stories to represent the worldwide TV and film rights to the literary agency’s properties.

Partners in Stories represent authors and book rights tied to Swedish publishers Natur & Kultur, Piratförlaget and Weyler, as well as authors from other publishers. Their stable of authors includes Jonas Jonasson (The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared) and Klas Östergren.

Albatros is a boutique agency, launched...

Mikael Marcimain drama leads pack; Ruben Ostlund, Roy Andersson films follow.

With 13 nominations, Gentlemen, Mikael Marcimain’s adaption of the novel by Klas Östergren, has become one of the most nominated films in the history of Sweden’s national film awards, the Guldbagges.

Ruben Östlund’s Force Majeure (Turist) follows with ten nominations, while there are seven nominations for Venice Golden Lion winner A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence (En duva satt på en gren och funderade på tillvaron) by Roy Andersson.

A jury of 45 members voted in a secret ballot for the nominations in the main categories.

The Guldbagge Awards ceremony will be held on 26 January, 2015, in Stockholm.

Guldbagge nominees 2015Best Film

A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence / En duva satt på en gren och funderade på tillvaron

Producer: Pernilla Sandström

Force Majeure / Turist

Producers: Erik Hemmendorff, Marie Kjellson, Philippe Bober

Gentlemen

Producers: Fredrik Heinig, Mattias Nohrborg, [link...

The Stockholm International Film Festival has unveiled the programme for its 25th edition, with more than 200 films from 60+ countries screening from Nov 5-16.

The festival opens with Mikael Marcimain’s hotly anticipated adaptation of Klas Östergren’s postwar Swedish classic Gentlemen [pictured].

Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu’s Birdman will be the centerpiece film of the festival and Jean-Marc Vallee’s Wild will close.

“We are extra proud to present a record breaking program when celebrating our 25th anniversary,” said festival director Git Scheynius.

This year’s spotlight theme is hope, and films selected in that programme include Richard Raymond’s Desert Dancer, Hong Khaou’s Lilting, Shira Geffen’s Self Made and Stephen Daldry’s Trash.

Uma Thurman will be honoured with the Stockholm Achievement Award and give a public talk followed by a screening of Kill Bill 1 & 2.

Mike Leigh will also be honoured with the Lifetime Achievement Award and will give a talk and screen Mr. Turner.

Ai...

The festival’s 25th edition will feature a contribution from Ai Weiwei and competition titles including Whiplash, Nightcrawler and Foxcatcher.

The Stockholm International Film Festival (Nov 5-16) is to present its Achievement Award to Us actress Uma Thurman.

The Kill Bill star will will visit Stockholm to receive the prestigious Bronze Horse and meet the audience during an exclusive “Face2Face”.

Thurman will also take part in the inauguration ceremony, which will include the unveiling of an ice sculpture by Chinese artist Ai Weiwei.

Weiwei was a Stockholm jury member last year but since he wasn’t allowed to leave China, he sent an empty chair named ”The Chair for Non-attendance” as symbol of his absence.

He is still not allowed to leave China so will send a design that will be portrayed in the form of a large ice sculpture symbolising this years’ Spotlight theme - Hope.

Brazil

The festival will focus this year on Brazil...

Mikael Marcimain’s follow-up to award-winning Call Girl to open Swedish festival.

The Stockholm International Film Festival has revealed that Mikael Marcimain’s Gentlemen will open its 25th edition (Nov 5-16).

The adaptation of Klas Östergren’s eponymous novel will also compete in the Stockholm Xxv Competition section, and is nominated for the best film Bronze Horse Award.

The film centres on a young novelist who discovers the story of a lifetime when his host - a bon vivant and possible spy with friends in high places - reveals the existence of a conspiracy by Europe’s ultra-wealthy elite, who are secretly remodelling the continent to serve their own sinister needs.

The cast features David Dencik, David Fukamachi Regnfors, Ruth Vega Fernandez and Sverrir Gudnason.

Marcimain’s previous feature, Call Girl, opened Stockholm in 2012 where it won the audience award and went on to win the Fipresci prize at Toronto, where [link=tt...

The Toronto International Film Festival announced more selections Tuesday for the upcoming 2014 edition of the annual awards season kick-off. The majority of the festival's program was announced last month, but this group includes intriguing world premieres from notable directors such as Todd McCarthy ("The Cobbler") and Gina Prince-Bythewood ("Beyond the Lights"). A number of the titles revealed have screened at other festivals including the underrated "Infinitely Polar Bear" and "Laggies" from Sundance as well as Cannes players "Two Days, One Night," "The Search" and "Clouds of Sils Maria." And yes, the presence of "Sils Maria," which is a favorite of this particular writer, means Kristen Stewart will likely hit one of the festival's many red carpets. As you'd expect for Toronto, the world premieres feature some big names including Josh Hutcherson and Benicio Del Toro in "Escobar: Paradise Lost," Jean Dujardin in "The Connection (La French)," Dustin Hoffman in "Boychoir,...

The 2014 Toronto Film Festival, which begins Sept. 4, added seven Galas and 17 Special Presentations to its lineup, including a semi-serious Adam Sandler project from Tom McCarthy, the director of The Station Agent and The Visitor. In The Cobbler, Sandler plays a man who has the unique ability to walk in his customers’ shoes. The movie features Dustin Hoffman, who also stars in Boychoir, François Girard’s tale of an orphan’s steep learning curve at a prestigious music school. In Welcome to Me, Kristen Wiig plays a mentally unstable woman who wins the lottery and decides to sink her winnings into a talk show.

Expect to see a bevy of stars on the red carpet at the Toronto International Film Festival this September. Today, more Gala and Special Presentation titles were announced, with some star-studded projects in the mix. Now, Escobar: Paradise Lost, starring Benicio del Toro as the infamous drug lord, will have its world premiere at Tiff, as will The Forger, with John Travolta, Christopher Plummer and Tye Sheridan.

Other promising projects newly announced to be screening at Tiff are Win Win director Thomas McCarthy’s The Cobbler, which finds Adam Sandler taking on a rare dramatic role; Clouds of Sils Maria, which stars Juliette Binoche as an aging actress who confronts the young starlet (Chloe Grace Moretz) taking on the role that made her famous decades earlier; and Gemma Bovery, starring Gemma Arterton as the sensual object of a French food critic’s affection. Check out the full list of new...

The 39th Toronto International Film Festival added another seven Galas and 17 Special Presentations to its September fest lineup running September 4 to 14. Here are the newcomers:

Galas

Boychoir François Girard, USA World Premiere

An orphaned 12-year-old boy is sent to prestigious music school where he struggles to join an elite group of world-class singers. No one expects this rebellious loner to succeed, least of all the school’s relentlessly-tough conductor who wages a battle of wills to bring out the boy’s extraordinary musical gift. Starring Dustin Hoffman, Kathy Bates, Josh Lucas, Kevin McHale, Eddie Izzard, Debra Winger and Garrett Wareing.

The Connection (La French) Cédric Jimenez, France/Belgium World Premiere

Marseille, 1975. Pierre Michel, a young police magistrate with a wife and children, has just been transferred to help crack down on the city’s organized crime. He decides to take on the French Connection, a Mafia-run operation that exports heroin all over the world.

Exclusive: Paris-based sales powerhouse heads to Cannes with American director Mark Osborne’s anticipated feature-length animation The Little Prince, as well as Strangerland, Gentlemen and Red Army.

The $80m The Little Prince is Osborne’s first feature-length work since co-directing DreamWorks Animation’s Kung Fu Panda, which grossed more than $650m worldwide.

The director will attend the market to give an hour-long presentation of the film, which is due for delivery at the end of 2015.

Osborne adapted Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s 1943 classic alongside British screenwriter Irena Brignull. The Little Prince (Le Petit Prince) is the second most translated book in the world.

“The film intertwines a contemporary tale of a little girl who discovers The Little Prince through a reclusive elderly neighbour,” said Wild Bunch’s Vincent Maraval.

The feature combines CG animation for the real world of the little girl and stop-motion animation for the world of the book as imagined by her.

The English-language...

Exclusive: Paris-based sales powerhouse will also launch sales on Nicole Kidman starrer Strangerland, Gentlemen and Red ArmyWild Bunch will launch sales on American director Mark Osborne’s highly anticipated feature-length animation The Little Prince at Cannes.The $80m work is Osborne’s first feature-length work since co-directing DreamWorks Animation’s Kung Fu Panda, which grossed more than $650m worldwide.The director will be in Cannes

Exclusive: Paris-based sales powerhouse will also launch sales on Nicole Kidman starrer Strangerland, Gentlemen and Red Army

Wild Bunch will launch sales on American director Mark Osborne’s highly anticipated feature-length animation The Little Prince at Cannes.

The $80m work is Osborne’s first feature-length work since co-directing DreamWorks Animation’s Kung Fu Panda, which grossed more than $650m worldwide.

The director will be in Cannes to give an hour-long presentation of the film, which is due for delivery at the end of 2015.

Osborne adapted Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s 1943 classic alongside British...