News

Sky Studios Elstree Exec Tom Avison To Lead Perth Film Studios

The upcoming Perth Film Studios has a CEO. Tom Avison is relocating from the UK, where he works as Director of Operations for Sky Studios Elstree outside London, for Western Australia and will lead the multi-million dollar studio. Avison has helped to accommodate films such as Wicked, Paddington in Peru and Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy at Comcast-owned Sky Studios Elstree, having held management-level role at UK studios for the past 10 years for the likes of 3 Mills Studios in East London and the historic Twickenham Studios on the other side of the English capital. His hire follows a global recruitment search and a meeting with a selection panel comprising Home Fire Operations, the Arts and Culture Trust and industry specialist recruitment firm Entertainment Personnel Australia. “I have always been attracted to opportunities that are full of creative energy,...

One of Banijay’s scripted centrepieces at the London TV Screenings, the Swedish crime drama “Fallen” (“Sanningen”), sees the first reunion of star actor Sofia Helin, writer Camilla Ahlgren, and Stockholm-based Filmlance International since the multi-season hit crime show “The Bridge” (2011-2018).

Their collaboration has paid off again as “Fallen” has wooed a first batch of global sellers – including MHz Choice for the U.S. and Canal+’s Polar+ for France – and more than 1.1 million combined viewers watched the first episode on Swedish commercial broadcaster TV4 last Christmas.

“This is 1/10of the Swedish population, which is astonishing these days, considering the series is based on an original idea,” said producer Anna Wallmark of Banijay-owned Filmlance.

Created by Ahlgren, who serves as head-writer, next to co-writers Martin Asphaug and Alex Haridi, the six-part series is, however, a very different type of noir to the cross-border iconic “The Bridge,” Lighter, more emotional.

Banijay Rights has scored a first batch of sales on “Fallen,” a crime drama reuniting “The Bridge” showrunner Camilla Ahlgren and star Sofia Helini. The series is produced by Banijay-owned Filmlance, a leading Scandinavian outfit.

Unveiled at the Goteborg Film Festival’s TV Drama Vision conference, deals on “Fallen” include Canal+’s channel Polar+ in France, MHz Choice in the U.S., Npo in the Netherlands, Sbs in Australia, Ert in Greece and Syn Hf in Iceland.

Created and written by Ahlgren along with Martin Asphaug and Alex Haridi, the six-part series stars Helin (“Atlantic Crossing”) and Hedda Stiernstedt. The show is co-produced by TV4, Film i Skåne and Filmlance, in collaboration with Zdf.

In “Fallen,” Helin plays Iris Broman, the new head of Kalla Fall, a group solving cold cases in Malmö. Iris has just left Stockholm following a tragedy and moved to the small southern town of Ystad,...

Festivals

The U.K. premiere of “Good Luck To You, Leo Grande,” directed by Sophie Hyde, will open this year’s Sundance London (June 9-12), with lead actors Emma Thompson and Daryl McCormack in attendance. The festival will close with the U.K. premiere screening of Jim Archer’s “Brian and Charles,” starring actor and comedian David Earl.

In all, the festival will host several features chosen from the larger U.S. Sundance Film Festival. These include Adamma Ebo’s “Honk For Jesus. Save Your Soul”; Andrew Semans’ “Resurrection”; Max Walker-Silverman’s “A Love Song”; Lena Dunham’s “Sharp Stick”; Chloe Okuno’s “Watcher”; Sara Dosa’s “Fire of Love”; Ed Perkins’ “The Princess”; Joe Hunting’s “We Met in Virtual Reality”; Julie Ha and Eugene Yi’s “Free Chol Soo Lee”; and Hanna Bergholm’s “Hatching.”

This year, the festival will feature an equal number of male and female directors across features and shorts.

The Bridge screenwriter Camilla Ahlgren has created a European crime drama series about the head of a group solving cold cases in Sweden.

Production has been greenlighted on Fallen, which will star The Bridge lead actress Sofia Melin as Iris Broman, the new head of the Kalla Fall. Due to a tragedy, she moves from Stockholm to the southern town of Ystad to live with her half-sister Kattis (Hedda Stierstedt), where a cold case turns topical again and turns everything upside down, intertwining the lives of several people.

Filming on the co-production begins shortly in Malmo and Ystad ahead of a 2023 launch.

Sweden’s C More and TV4 are co-producing along with Film i Skane and Banijay-owned drama house Filmlance, in collaboration with German public broadcaster Zdf. Banijay Rights takes international distribution rights.

Ahlgren, who rose to prominence as a lead writer on Hans Rosenfeldt’s influential Scani Noir drama The Bridge,...