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Exclusive: Eric Paquette’s Meridian Pictures is readying survival-thriller The Edge and has set Danish filmmaker Kasper Torsting to direct.

Written by Jordan Barber and produced by Aaron Barnett, Jessica Postigo, Eric Paquette, and The Exchange’s Brian O’Shea, the film will tell the story of a romantic escape that turns deadly when a bus plunges off a mountain road. Faced with a harrowing decision, a woman whose partner has been killed must save herself and a ten-year-old boy while battling unforgiving terrain, brutal weather, and the grief of losing her love.

The Exchange will handle worldwide sales and arrange financing on the movie, which is in development.

A graduate of the National Danish Film School, Torsting is known for debut narrative feature In Love & War (2018), the war-drama which won both the Nordic Competition and the Audience Award at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival. He also directed documentary Rocket Brothers,...

Cinema numbers are shrinking again as Covid-19 cases rise across Europe.

France, opening Wednesday October 14

It has been a complicated few days for French distributors and exhibitors following the introduction of a night-time curfew from Saturday night in Paris and eight other major cities, as part of measures to slow the spread of Covid-19.

The measure, which obliges people to return home by 9pm, effectively wipes out key evening screening slots although exhibitors are lobbying the government for a special dispensation for cinemagoers. A final decision was expected late Friday or over the weekend, but if the answer is ‘no...

Danish filmmaker Kasper Torsting’s feature debut In Love And War will be released in German cinemas on October 15.

Hamburg-based production company Tamtam Film is expanding into distribution to release the Danish filmmaker Kasper Torsting’s feature debut In Love And War in German cinemas on October 15.

The Danish-German-Czech co-production between Tamtam Film, Fridthjof Film, Nordfilm and Film United had its world premiere at the Filmfest Hamburg in 2018.

Based on actual events in South Jutland during the First World War, the screenplay by Ronnie Fridthjof and Torsting centres on a Danish soldier who has involuntarily been fighting on the side...

Sf Studios has boarded Nordic distribution and worldwide sales rights to a pair of action-thriller films and a series based on Ilkka Remes’ bestselling novel “6/12,” which will be directed by Antti J. Jokinen (“Flowers of Evil”) and headlined by Jasper Pääkkönen.

Titled “Omerta,” the new Finnish franchise will be produced by the banner Cinematic and will revolve around a secret unit of European special forces. The two feature films will be titled “Omerta 6/12” and “Omerta 7/12,” and will be released in the fall of 2021 and 2022 by Sf Studios across Scandinavia. The TV series has been ordered by C More in Sweden.

“Omerta 6/12” begins as a hostage thriller, with a Serbian terrorist group executing a coordinated attack on the presidential reception ball on Dec. 6, Finland’s Independence Day. The storylines of “Omerta 6/12” and “Omerta 7/12” will take place in Helsinki, Moscow, Brussels and Minsk, and will be shot in several languages, including Finnish,...

As Sf Studios bulks up its pipeline with ambitious in-house productions, the company’s international sales division is now aiming to widen its scope through third-party pickups, with an eye on non-Scandinavian projects.

Spearheaded by Anita Simovic, Sf Studios’ international sales team will be bringing to Cannes a couple pickups: Santiago Requejo’s heartfelt comedy drama “Grandpas,” the company’s first Spanish-language acquisition, and Kasper Torsting’s Wwi-set Danish love drama “A War Within.”

Simovic says the company is now actively seeking projects from independent producers which have definite international potential. “These can be Nordic, but can be of any origin and in any language, as long as we find them commercial from an international perspective,’ says the sales exec, who added that Sf Studios is primarily looking for actioners, thrillers, crime tales, family animation and genre films.

A feel-good Spanish drama, “Grandpas” underscores this new mandate because it “will...

Sf Studios has scooped international sales rights to Santiago Requejo’s heartfelt comedy drama “Grandpas” and Kasper Torsting’s Wwi-set Danish love drama “A War Within” in the run up to Cannes. Both films are third-party pickups.

“Grandpas” is a high-profile Spanish movie starring Carlos Iglesias (“Crossing Borders”), Roberto Álvarez (“Talk to her”) and Ramón Barea (“Everybody knows”). Produced by Carlos Sanz and Santiago Requejo at 02:59 Films, “Grandpas” is planned for an October release in Spain.

“Grandpas” tells the story of three old friends having hard times adapting to the ever-changing job market, which seems uninterested in anyone above 50 years old – no matter the experience or knowledge. Reluctant to the thought of stepping down and retire, they decide to set up a daycare center against all odds.

“This marks an important step for us in our strategy of becoming even more attractive to our distributors around the globe,” said Anita Simovic,...

The 35th Santa Barbara International Film Festival will run from Jan. 15 to Jan. 25, 2020 — a radical shift in dates that will affect Oscar strategies as well as other festivals.

Next year, Academy Award nominations will be announced Jan. 13, two days before the start of the Santa Barbara Festival. The Oscar ceremony will be Feb. 9, which is two weeks earlier than this year’s event. Those changes will continue to have a ripple effect on the dates of other festivals as well as awards planning.

The Santa Barbara Fest has enjoyed a long (but unofficial) Oscar connection. This year, Variety presented its annual Artisan Awards earlier this week to nine behind-the-camera creatives who are all Oscar nominees; other contenders saluted at Sbiff this year include Glenn Close, Viggo Mortensen, Rami Malek, Melissa McCarthy, and Richard E. Grant.

Santa Barbara next year will overlap with Sundance, which will run from Jan. 23 to Feb.

The winners for the 34th Annual Santa Barbara International Film Festival were announced Saturday, with Sam Friedlander’s Babysplitters and Kasper Torsting’s In Love and War picking up awards.

The winners were revealed during a breakfast held in their honor at Belmond El Encanto in Santa Barbara. The jury that selected the winners included Anthony and Arnette Zerbe, David and Sandy Wasco, Joe Medjuck, Katharine O’Brien, Leslie Zemeckis, Margaret Lazarus, Olivia Hamilton, Paul Brickman, Roger Avary, and Tamara Asseyev.

“We’re so grateful to all of our honorees, filmmakers, attendees, sponsors, press and volunteers for making the 34th edition our best yet, Sbiff Executive Director Roger Durling said in a press release.

Next year’s festival will shift earlier in the year to accommodate the Academy Awards, with the 35th edition of Sbiff running from January 15 – 25, 2020.

Below is the list of 2019 winners.

Audience Choice Award sponsored by The...

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...