Hot Swedish helmer of Georgian descent Levan Akin is due to kickstart Berlin’s Panorama Feb. 15 with his feature drama “Crossing.” Nine years earlier, he walked the Berlinale red carpet with his youth sci-fi “The Circle,” showcased at Generation. Next to him were his Swedish producers of Rmv Film – Abba’s Benny Andersson and his son Ludvig Andersson.
The latter who met Akin over 20 years ago, has stayed by his side since his debut pic “Certain People” in 2011, serving also as executive producer on the 2019 Swedish Oscar entry “And Then We Danced,” and as co-producer this year of “Crossing”.
“Rmv Film spotted Levan from his very first film and has supported him all along,” confirms French Quarter’s Mathilde Dedye, producer of “Crossing” and “And Then We Danced,”, who believes “trust and continuity to be very important for the development of auteurism.”
“I met Ludvig through Levan and he is...
The latter who met Akin over 20 years ago, has stayed by his side since his debut pic “Certain People” in 2011, serving also as executive producer on the 2019 Swedish Oscar entry “And Then We Danced,” and as co-producer this year of “Crossing”.
“Rmv Film spotted Levan from his very first film and has supported him all along,” confirms French Quarter’s Mathilde Dedye, producer of “Crossing” and “And Then We Danced,”, who believes “trust and continuity to be very important for the development of auteurism.”
“I met Ludvig through Levan and he is...
- 2/14/2024
- by Annika Pham
- Variety Film + TV
Paris-based sales outfit Totem Films has boarded the new, as-yet-untitled project from “And Then We Danced” director Levan Akin, which has just wrapped shooting in Istanbul. Totem will present the film to buyers at next month’s European Film Market in Berlin.
The story is “about finding your family, not your blood relatives, but those that accept and love you unconditionally, without prejudice, for who you are,” the production company, French Quarter Film, said.
Akin said of the project: “My whole life, Istanbul and its inhabitants have held a special place in my heart, and I’m very excited to soon be able to share this world and its unique spaces with an audience.”
Totem Films said: “Levan perfectly knows how to capture genuine atmospheres and characters. We launched Totem in Cannes 2019 with ‘And Then We Danced.’ What a joy to continue our collaboration with this tribe!”
Akin’s Georgia-set...
The story is “about finding your family, not your blood relatives, but those that accept and love you unconditionally, without prejudice, for who you are,” the production company, French Quarter Film, said.
Akin said of the project: “My whole life, Istanbul and its inhabitants have held a special place in my heart, and I’m very excited to soon be able to share this world and its unique spaces with an audience.”
Totem Films said: “Levan perfectly knows how to capture genuine atmospheres and characters. We launched Totem in Cannes 2019 with ‘And Then We Danced.’ What a joy to continue our collaboration with this tribe!”
Akin’s Georgia-set...
- 1/25/2023
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
Project will be partially shot in Turkey, with production to start in September 2021.
Levan Akin, the writer/director of Cannes 2019 hit And Then We Danced, is planning his next film, Passage, to be partially shot in Turkey.
Passage is now in development with production to start in September 2021. It will shoot in Istanbul and also in Georgia, which was the setting for And Then We Danced.
Akin is writing the script now and will spend more research time in Turkey. The Swedish Film Institute is supporting development.
Passage is described as “a story about love and longing for a place to belong.
Levan Akin, the writer/director of Cannes 2019 hit And Then We Danced, is planning his next film, Passage, to be partially shot in Turkey.
Passage is now in development with production to start in September 2021. It will shoot in Istanbul and also in Georgia, which was the setting for And Then We Danced.
Akin is writing the script now and will spend more research time in Turkey. The Swedish Film Institute is supporting development.
Passage is described as “a story about love and longing for a place to belong.
- 7/8/2020
- by 1100142¦Wendy Mitchell¦39¦
- ScreenDaily
The sci-fi epic Aniara has scooped four gongs, with a low yield for main contenders Roy Andersson and Mikael Håfström. In what has been called a lacklustre Swedish film year, the clearest beacon of light in 2019 was surely provided by Levan Akin in his heartfelt tale of a forbidden romance between two male dancers in the conservative Georgian dance community, And Then We Danced. It opened in the Cannes Directors’ Fortnight, became Sweden’s submission for the 92nd Academy Awards for Best International Feature Film and has now been sold to nearly 40 territories. The co-production between Sweden’s Mathilde Dedye and Georgia’s Ketie Danelia, with additional co-production by Julien Féret, picked up the Guldbagge Awards for Best Film, Best Lead Actor (for Levan Gelbakhiani), Best Script (Akin) and Best Cinematography (Lisabi Fridell). Last week, it was awarded the Greta, the annual award handed out by the...
The film premiered in Directors’ Fortnight in May.
Sweden has selected Levan Akin’s dance drama And Then We Danced as its entry for the best international feature film award for the Oscars.
The film premiered in Directors’ Fortnight at Cannes in May this year.
Set in the homophobic, gender-conservative dance world in Georgia, it stars Levan Gelbakhiani as Merab, a dancer who falls for his biggest rival in the dance company, charismatic newcomer Irakli, played by Bachi Valishvili.
The film played in competition at the Sarajevo Film Festival last week, with Gelbakhiani winning the event’s best actor prize.
Sweden has selected Levan Akin’s dance drama And Then We Danced as its entry for the best international feature film award for the Oscars.
The film premiered in Directors’ Fortnight at Cannes in May this year.
Set in the homophobic, gender-conservative dance world in Georgia, it stars Levan Gelbakhiani as Merab, a dancer who falls for his biggest rival in the dance company, charismatic newcomer Irakli, played by Bachi Valishvili.
The film played in competition at the Sarajevo Film Festival last week, with Gelbakhiani winning the event’s best actor prize.
- 8/28/2019
- by Ben Dalton
- ScreenDaily
Georgian-Swedish filmmaker Levan Akin is already enjoying success with “And Then We Danced,” his acclaimed social drama about a young dancer struggling with the confines of tradition and forbidden love. The film, which premiered in Directors’ Fortnight in Cannes, went on to win three top awards at the Odessa Film Festival, including best film and best actor for Levan Gelbakhiani.
It’s Akin’s third feature after the 2011 Swedish drama “Certain People” and 2015 Swedish fantasy film “The Circle,” produced by Benny Andersson of Abba fame. Akin spoke to Variety about the challenges of dealing with homosexuality in a conservative society, the hope in a new generation and the roles of art and tradition. “And Then We Danced” screens in competition at Sarajevo Film Festival.
Congratulations on the film’s success in Odessa. In view of the subject matter, how do you expect it will perform in Eastern and Southeastern Europe?...
It’s Akin’s third feature after the 2011 Swedish drama “Certain People” and 2015 Swedish fantasy film “The Circle,” produced by Benny Andersson of Abba fame. Akin spoke to Variety about the challenges of dealing with homosexuality in a conservative society, the hope in a new generation and the roles of art and tradition. “And Then We Danced” screens in competition at Sarajevo Film Festival.
Congratulations on the film’s success in Odessa. In view of the subject matter, how do you expect it will perform in Eastern and Southeastern Europe?...
- 8/19/2019
- by Ed Meza
- Variety Film + TV
Swedish production company French Quarter, the outfit behind Cannes Directors’ Fortnight entry “And Then We Danced,” is venturing into TV with a web series adapted from Henrik Bromander’s graphic novel “Kurs I självutplåning” (“Course in self-annihilation”).
The comedy series has been commissioned by the Swedish broadcaster Svt, as first reported by Nordic Film & TV News. Adapted from the graphic novel by Joakim Granberg and Isabella Rodriguez, the series follows a young woman, Maria, who enrolls in a summer camp for clowns to find new friends and get away from her hectic life but quickly gets subjected to bullying.
The series, which just wrapped shooting, is directed by Rodriguez and stars stand-up comedians Evelyn Mok, who appeared in Chris Ramsey’s “Stand Up Central,” and Jonatan Unge. The cast is completed by Karin Franz Körlof (“The Wife”) and Pelle Hanaeus (“Anna Holt”).
Film Capital Stockholm, Film I Dalarna and Svt are co-producing the series,...
The comedy series has been commissioned by the Swedish broadcaster Svt, as first reported by Nordic Film & TV News. Adapted from the graphic novel by Joakim Granberg and Isabella Rodriguez, the series follows a young woman, Maria, who enrolls in a summer camp for clowns to find new friends and get away from her hectic life but quickly gets subjected to bullying.
The series, which just wrapped shooting, is directed by Rodriguez and stars stand-up comedians Evelyn Mok, who appeared in Chris Ramsey’s “Stand Up Central,” and Jonatan Unge. The cast is completed by Karin Franz Körlof (“The Wife”) and Pelle Hanaeus (“Anna Holt”).
Film Capital Stockholm, Film I Dalarna and Svt are co-producing the series,...
- 6/18/2019
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Film Republic has taken worldwide rights to “Mating,” Lina Maria Mannheimer’s feature documentary that played in competition at the Goteborg Film Festival.
The film is an investigation into young love. Mannheimer set out to follow two millennials over the internet, to track each of their dating habits, and see how they create their digital personas over a year. She finds her two subjects and the film takes an unforeseen twist when they start dating one another.
Mannheimer said the film is an exercise in having – and letting go of – control. “On the one hand my main characters controlled everything by being in possession of the cameras. They pressed record and stop and decided what to upload,” she said. “On the other, I listened to them several hours a week for a whole year, gaining a profound insight into their lives. Giving them tasks to film, I constantly suggested how they should frame their reality.
The film is an investigation into young love. Mannheimer set out to follow two millennials over the internet, to track each of their dating habits, and see how they create their digital personas over a year. She finds her two subjects and the film takes an unforeseen twist when they start dating one another.
Mannheimer said the film is an exercise in having – and letting go of – control. “On the one hand my main characters controlled everything by being in possession of the cameras. They pressed record and stop and decided what to upload,” she said. “On the other, I listened to them several hours a week for a whole year, gaining a profound insight into their lives. Giving them tasks to film, I constantly suggested how they should frame their reality.
- 2/4/2019
- by Stewart Clarke
- Variety Film + TV
The Swedish Film Institute has backed nineteen projects in its latest round of funding.
Swedish director Sanna Lenken, who won Berlin’s Crystal Bear in 2015 with My Skinny Sister, is now making a 30-minute short Night Child (Nattbarn), based on a graphic novel by Hanna Gustafsson.
The story is about 14-year-old girl Iggy “who lives a parallel online life to avoid the everyday tedium. A story about identity, sexuality, borderlands and friendship.”
The film is one of several new productions getting backing from the Swedish Film Institute. Others include Dome Karukoski’s anticipated new Tom Of Finland biopic [pictured] and Agnieszka Holland’s Polish drama Game Count.
Other projects backed, listed from highest investments, are:
Becoming Zlatan, wr/dirs Fredrik Gertten, Magnus Gertten; prods Margarete Jangård, Lennart Ström. Documentary about charismatic footballer Zlatan Ibrahimović. $246,000 (2m Sek)
Tom Of Finland, dir Dome Karukoski, wr Aleksi Bardy, prods Gunnar Carlsson, Emma Åkesdotter Ronge. Drama about the...
Swedish director Sanna Lenken, who won Berlin’s Crystal Bear in 2015 with My Skinny Sister, is now making a 30-minute short Night Child (Nattbarn), based on a graphic novel by Hanna Gustafsson.
The story is about 14-year-old girl Iggy “who lives a parallel online life to avoid the everyday tedium. A story about identity, sexuality, borderlands and friendship.”
The film is one of several new productions getting backing from the Swedish Film Institute. Others include Dome Karukoski’s anticipated new Tom Of Finland biopic [pictured] and Agnieszka Holland’s Polish drama Game Count.
Other projects backed, listed from highest investments, are:
Becoming Zlatan, wr/dirs Fredrik Gertten, Magnus Gertten; prods Margarete Jangård, Lennart Ström. Documentary about charismatic footballer Zlatan Ibrahimović. $246,000 (2m Sek)
Tom Of Finland, dir Dome Karukoski, wr Aleksi Bardy, prods Gunnar Carlsson, Emma Åkesdotter Ronge. Drama about the...
- 4/4/2016
- by wendy.mitchell@screendaily.com (Wendy Mitchell)
- ScreenDaily
Anna Odell’s drama wins best film at the Guldbagge Awards; Per Fly’sWaltz for Monica (Monica Z) wins four.
Anna Odell’s feature debut The Reunion (Återträffen) received two top prizes at the 50th Guldbagge Awards in Sweden last night. The depiction of a class reunion after 20 years won Best Film and Best Screenplay.
Odell, who wrote the screenplay, said on stage: “I usually say things how they are, but I’m really bewildered. Long live art, life and liberty! And culture and everything.”
It marks the third consecutive year that a debut female filmmaker collected the Best Film statuette after Lisa Aschan’s She Monkeys (Apflickorna) and Gabriela Pichler’s East Sleep Die (Äta sova dö).
Produced by Mathilde Dedye, for French Quarter Film, The Reunion previously picked up the Fipresci prize for Best First Feature in Venice last August and is set to screen at the Rotterdam Film Festival (Jan 22 - Feb 2).
The night’s...
Anna Odell’s feature debut The Reunion (Återträffen) received two top prizes at the 50th Guldbagge Awards in Sweden last night. The depiction of a class reunion after 20 years won Best Film and Best Screenplay.
Odell, who wrote the screenplay, said on stage: “I usually say things how they are, but I’m really bewildered. Long live art, life and liberty! And culture and everything.”
It marks the third consecutive year that a debut female filmmaker collected the Best Film statuette after Lisa Aschan’s She Monkeys (Apflickorna) and Gabriela Pichler’s East Sleep Die (Äta sova dö).
Produced by Mathilde Dedye, for French Quarter Film, The Reunion previously picked up the Fipresci prize for Best First Feature in Venice last August and is set to screen at the Rotterdam Film Festival (Jan 22 - Feb 2).
The night’s...
- 1/21/2014
- by jornrossing@aol.com (Jorn Rossing Jensen)
- ScreenDaily
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