Exclusive: Leonine Studios has taken worldwide rights to German-Norwegian thriller series The Seed (working title), which is set around the explosive takeover of a seed company and comes from Chameleon writer Christian Jeltsch.
The Germany-based producer-distributor joins its subsidiary Odeon Fiction, alongside co-commissioners German broadcaster Ard Degeto and Norway’s Nrk and Czech producer Mia Film on the production, which began shooting on May 10 at spectacular original locations in Spitsbergen (Norway), Munich (Germany) and Prague (Czech Republic). The service producer in Spitsbergen is PolarX As.
Jeltsch, who is writing upcoming Sky Deutschland corporate lobbying mystery drama Chameleon and works on Ard procedural Tatort, is creator and head writer of the English-language series. He wrote the screenplays with Axel Hellstenius and Alexander Dierbach (Line of Separation) is directing.
Westworld‘s Ingrid Bolsø Berdal Heino Ferch stars opposite Heino Ferch.
The drama uses the Svalbard Global Seed Vault on the Norwegian island of Spitsbergen as the backdrop to the six-part thriller. The vault acts as an insurance policy and backup facility for crops globally by providing storage for seed duplicates storied in gene banks around the world.
The Seed follows German detective Max (Ferch) and Norwegian policewoman Thea (Bolsø Berdal), who set out to find Max’s missing nephew Victor (Jonathan Berlin) in Spitsbergen. It soon becomes apparent his disappearance may be connected to the takeover of a seed company that is causing controversy in Brussels. As they plunge deeper into webs of intrigue and political interests they find their own lives in danger too.
Rainer Bock, Seumas Sargent, Erik Madsen and Friederike Becht round out the international cast.
“With The Seed, we would like to draw attention to an important global issue because it is about the struggle for food,” Ard Degeto Senior Vice President of Drama Christoph Pellander told Deadline. “With a top cast in front of and behind the camera, this is an exciting German-Norwegian co-production that will not only reach the German audience but also attract international attention.“
Pellander is overseeing the drama for Ard Degeto along with Head of Acquisitions and Co-Productions Sebastian Lückel, with Elisabeth Tangen doing the same for Nrk. The producers are Odeon Fiction’s Britta Meyermann (Spy City) and Mischa Hofmann and the Director of Photography is Ian Blumers. FilmFernsehFonds Bayern, Creative Europe Media of the European Union, the German Motion Picture Fund and the Czech Tax Incentive are supporting the production.
Babylon Berlin commissioner Ard Degeto and Nrk have been two of the most active co-producers of European drama this year. Last month, Deadline revealed Nrk had ordered a drama about Leonard Cohen’s relationship with muse Marianne Ihlen from the UK’s Buccaneer Media, Oslo-based Redpoint Productions and Canada’s Connect3 Media, for example.
Ard Degeto is working on several new dramas, including mystery thriller series Oderbruch, which is co-produced by Syrreal Entertainment and CBS Studios. Others such as Scandinavian series Blackwater, co-produced with Sweden’s Svt, ITV Studios-owned Apple Tree Productions and Filmpool Nord) are in post-production.
The firm is a wholly owned subsidiary of German public broadcaster Ard, commissioning and producing more than 100 productions of feature films, TV movies and series each year. It also acquires programs, with all of its content going out on the Das Erste (Ardi) channel and streaming platform Mediathek.
The Germany-based producer-distributor joins its subsidiary Odeon Fiction, alongside co-commissioners German broadcaster Ard Degeto and Norway’s Nrk and Czech producer Mia Film on the production, which began shooting on May 10 at spectacular original locations in Spitsbergen (Norway), Munich (Germany) and Prague (Czech Republic). The service producer in Spitsbergen is PolarX As.
Jeltsch, who is writing upcoming Sky Deutschland corporate lobbying mystery drama Chameleon and works on Ard procedural Tatort, is creator and head writer of the English-language series. He wrote the screenplays with Axel Hellstenius and Alexander Dierbach (Line of Separation) is directing.
Westworld‘s Ingrid Bolsø Berdal Heino Ferch stars opposite Heino Ferch.
The drama uses the Svalbard Global Seed Vault on the Norwegian island of Spitsbergen as the backdrop to the six-part thriller. The vault acts as an insurance policy and backup facility for crops globally by providing storage for seed duplicates storied in gene banks around the world.
The Seed follows German detective Max (Ferch) and Norwegian policewoman Thea (Bolsø Berdal), who set out to find Max’s missing nephew Victor (Jonathan Berlin) in Spitsbergen. It soon becomes apparent his disappearance may be connected to the takeover of a seed company that is causing controversy in Brussels. As they plunge deeper into webs of intrigue and political interests they find their own lives in danger too.
Rainer Bock, Seumas Sargent, Erik Madsen and Friederike Becht round out the international cast.
“With The Seed, we would like to draw attention to an important global issue because it is about the struggle for food,” Ard Degeto Senior Vice President of Drama Christoph Pellander told Deadline. “With a top cast in front of and behind the camera, this is an exciting German-Norwegian co-production that will not only reach the German audience but also attract international attention.“
Pellander is overseeing the drama for Ard Degeto along with Head of Acquisitions and Co-Productions Sebastian Lückel, with Elisabeth Tangen doing the same for Nrk. The producers are Odeon Fiction’s Britta Meyermann (Spy City) and Mischa Hofmann and the Director of Photography is Ian Blumers. FilmFernsehFonds Bayern, Creative Europe Media of the European Union, the German Motion Picture Fund and the Czech Tax Incentive are supporting the production.
Babylon Berlin commissioner Ard Degeto and Nrk have been two of the most active co-producers of European drama this year. Last month, Deadline revealed Nrk had ordered a drama about Leonard Cohen’s relationship with muse Marianne Ihlen from the UK’s Buccaneer Media, Oslo-based Redpoint Productions and Canada’s Connect3 Media, for example.
Ard Degeto is working on several new dramas, including mystery thriller series Oderbruch, which is co-produced by Syrreal Entertainment and CBS Studios. Others such as Scandinavian series Blackwater, co-produced with Sweden’s Svt, ITV Studios-owned Apple Tree Productions and Filmpool Nord) are in post-production.
The firm is a wholly owned subsidiary of German public broadcaster Ard, commissioning and producing more than 100 productions of feature films, TV movies and series each year. It also acquires programs, with all of its content going out on the Das Erste (Ardi) channel and streaming platform Mediathek.
- 5/24/2022
- by Jesse Whittock
- Deadline Film + TV
Norwegian festival will open with Beatles; record number of works-in-progress; 350 delegates for New Nordic Films.
This year’s 42nd Norwegian International Film Festival Haugesund (Aug 16 – 22) will open with a film that is receiving plenty of local attention.
Danish director Peter Flinth’s Beatles is adapted from one of Norway’s most popular coming-of-age novels.
Scripted by Axel Hellstenius, it follows four Oslo boys in their adolescent and early adult years between 1965-1972.
“True friendship endures all, and no band in the world is better than The Beatles,” concludes the film which will have its world premiere in Haugesund and stars Halvor Tangen Schultz, Jonathan Chedeville, Louis Williams and Håvard Jackwitz.
“It was like climbing a mountain, starting with getting the rights to The Beatles’ music,” said Norwegian producer Jørgen Storm Rosenberg about his new film.
The opener is a fitting send off for festival director Gunnar Johan Løvvik, who will step down after having run the event...
This year’s 42nd Norwegian International Film Festival Haugesund (Aug 16 – 22) will open with a film that is receiving plenty of local attention.
Danish director Peter Flinth’s Beatles is adapted from one of Norway’s most popular coming-of-age novels.
Scripted by Axel Hellstenius, it follows four Oslo boys in their adolescent and early adult years between 1965-1972.
“True friendship endures all, and no band in the world is better than The Beatles,” concludes the film which will have its world premiere in Haugesund and stars Halvor Tangen Schultz, Jonathan Chedeville, Louis Williams and Håvard Jackwitz.
“It was like climbing a mountain, starting with getting the rights to The Beatles’ music,” said Norwegian producer Jørgen Storm Rosenberg about his new film.
The opener is a fitting send off for festival director Gunnar Johan Løvvik, who will step down after having run the event...
- 8/15/2014
- by jornrossing@aol.com (Jorn Rossing Jensen)
- ScreenDaily
Norwegian producer Jorgen Storm Rosenberg has secured a deal with Sony/Atv Music Publishing and Emi Music Nordics for an adaptation of Lars Saabye Christensen's 1984 novel "Beatles".
The story is set in Olso between 1965 and 1972, and follows four boys obsessed with the Beatles who take on the names John, Paul, George and Ringo.
It has taken years for Rosenberg to secure the music rights, but now that he has shooting will begin on the $8.6 million project in June.
"Kon-Tiki" helmets Espen Sandberg and Joachim Ronning will direct the film from a script by Axel Hellstenius. A Norwegian release is planned for Valentine's Day 2014.
Source: Screen Daily...
The story is set in Olso between 1965 and 1972, and follows four boys obsessed with the Beatles who take on the names John, Paul, George and Ringo.
It has taken years for Rosenberg to secure the music rights, but now that he has shooting will begin on the $8.6 million project in June.
"Kon-Tiki" helmets Espen Sandberg and Joachim Ronning will direct the film from a script by Axel Hellstenius. A Norwegian release is planned for Valentine's Day 2014.
Source: Screen Daily...
- 3/21/2013
- by Garth Franklin
- Dark Horizons
TORONTO -- "Elling", a smash hit in its native Norway, concerns two mentally challenged men forced to sink or swim in society. It's a comic crowd-pleaser, meaning that it has no real interest in the problems of mental illness or alienation. Rather, its makers -- writer Axel Hellstenius, working from a well-known Norwegian novel, and director Petter Naess, who also directed a stage version of "Elling" -- zero in on gags and situations reminiscent of "The Odd Couple".
The film has a certain gentle whimsy in the bickering and affection between the two misfits. And the abilities of its two leads -- Per Christian Ellefsen as the fussy mommy's boy Elling and Sven Nordin as the hulking, libidinous Kjell-Bjarne -- give the film's lighthearted if illogical story a comic charge.
The film, selling well in other territories, could possibly become a minor art house hit in North America.
Thrown out of a state institution, the two roommates, who have had few experiences with the outside world, get tossed into state-sponsored housing in Oslo. Initially, the simple act of going around the corner for groceries is a challenge. But as their courage grows, the two find oddball ways to cope with society.
When Kjell-Bjarne strikes up a friendship with a single, pregnant neighbor, Elling flies into a jealous rage. Striking out on his own independent course, Elling, who is actually well-read, goes to a poetry reading. There his disgust with the works presented jibes with the sentiments of an old man who turns out to be a well-known poet.
Soon the two men have an extended family of the pregnant neighbor, the lonely, aging poet and his rusted 1958 Buick, which Kjell-Bjarne grows determined to restore.
Naess directs with the lightest of touches, which is fortunate given the flimsiness of the material. One feels his affection for the characters and their neuroses. While it would be uncharitable to point out that the two men -- remarkably and without explanation -- actually grow smarter as the story progresses, Naess lets these changes creep in so gradually that many might not even notice.
Technical credits are fine, especially Svien Krovel's cinematography, which bathes the movie in a midnight-sun glow that suits this contemporary fable.
ELLING
Maipo Film and TV Production
Producer:Synnove Horsdal
Director:Petter Naess
Screenwriter:Axel Hellstenius
Based on a novel by:Ingvar Ambjornsen
Executive producer:Dag Alveberg
Director of photography:Svein Krovel
Production designer:Harald Egede Nissen
Music:Lars Lillo Stenberg
Editor:Inge-Lise Langfeldt
Color/stereo
Cast:
Elling:Per Christian Ellefsen
Kjell-Bjarne:Sven Nordin
Alfons Jorgensen:Per Christensen
Frank Assti:Jorgen Langhelle
Reidun Nordstellen:Marit Pia Jacobsen
Running time -- 90 minutes
No MPAA rating...
The film has a certain gentle whimsy in the bickering and affection between the two misfits. And the abilities of its two leads -- Per Christian Ellefsen as the fussy mommy's boy Elling and Sven Nordin as the hulking, libidinous Kjell-Bjarne -- give the film's lighthearted if illogical story a comic charge.
The film, selling well in other territories, could possibly become a minor art house hit in North America.
Thrown out of a state institution, the two roommates, who have had few experiences with the outside world, get tossed into state-sponsored housing in Oslo. Initially, the simple act of going around the corner for groceries is a challenge. But as their courage grows, the two find oddball ways to cope with society.
When Kjell-Bjarne strikes up a friendship with a single, pregnant neighbor, Elling flies into a jealous rage. Striking out on his own independent course, Elling, who is actually well-read, goes to a poetry reading. There his disgust with the works presented jibes with the sentiments of an old man who turns out to be a well-known poet.
Soon the two men have an extended family of the pregnant neighbor, the lonely, aging poet and his rusted 1958 Buick, which Kjell-Bjarne grows determined to restore.
Naess directs with the lightest of touches, which is fortunate given the flimsiness of the material. One feels his affection for the characters and their neuroses. While it would be uncharitable to point out that the two men -- remarkably and without explanation -- actually grow smarter as the story progresses, Naess lets these changes creep in so gradually that many might not even notice.
Technical credits are fine, especially Svien Krovel's cinematography, which bathes the movie in a midnight-sun glow that suits this contemporary fable.
ELLING
Maipo Film and TV Production
Producer:Synnove Horsdal
Director:Petter Naess
Screenwriter:Axel Hellstenius
Based on a novel by:Ingvar Ambjornsen
Executive producer:Dag Alveberg
Director of photography:Svein Krovel
Production designer:Harald Egede Nissen
Music:Lars Lillo Stenberg
Editor:Inge-Lise Langfeldt
Color/stereo
Cast:
Elling:Per Christian Ellefsen
Kjell-Bjarne:Sven Nordin
Alfons Jorgensen:Per Christensen
Frank Assti:Jorgen Langhelle
Reidun Nordstellen:Marit Pia Jacobsen
Running time -- 90 minutes
No MPAA rating...
TORONTO -- "Elling", a smash hit in its native Norway, concerns two mentally challenged men forced to sink or swim in society. It's a comic crowd-pleaser, meaning that it has no real interest in the problems of mental illness or alienation. Rather, its makers -- writer Axel Hellstenius, working from a well-known Norwegian novel, and director Petter Naess, who also directed a stage version of "Elling" -- zero in on gags and situations reminiscent of "The Odd Couple".
The film has a certain gentle whimsy in the bickering and affection between the two misfits. And the abilities of its two leads -- Per Christian Ellefsen as the fussy mommy's boy Elling and Sven Nordin as the hulking, libidinous Kjell-Bjarne -- give the film's lighthearted if illogical story a comic charge.
The film, selling well in other territories, could possibly become a minor art house hit in North America.
Thrown out of a state institution, the two roommates, who have had few experiences with the outside world, get tossed into state-sponsored housing in Oslo. Initially, the simple act of going around the corner for groceries is a challenge. But as their courage grows, the two find oddball ways to cope with society.
When Kjell-Bjarne strikes up a friendship with a single, pregnant neighbor, Elling flies into a jealous rage. Striking out on his own independent course, Elling, who is actually well-read, goes to a poetry reading. There his disgust with the works presented jibes with the sentiments of an old man who turns out to be a well-known poet.
Soon the two men have an extended family of the pregnant neighbor, the lonely, aging poet and his rusted 1958 Buick, which Kjell-Bjarne grows determined to restore.
Naess directs with the lightest of touches, which is fortunate given the flimsiness of the material. One feels his affection for the characters and their neuroses. While it would be uncharitable to point out that the two men -- remarkably and without explanation -- actually grow smarter as the story progresses, Naess lets these changes creep in so gradually that many might not even notice.
Technical credits are fine, especially Svien Krovel's cinematography, which bathes the movie in a midnight-sun glow that suits this contemporary fable.
ELLING
Maipo Film and TV Production
Producer:Synnove Horsdal
Director:Petter Naess
Screenwriter:Axel Hellstenius
Based on a novel by:Ingvar Ambjornsen
Executive producer:Dag Alveberg
Director of photography:Svein Krovel
Production designer:Harald Egede Nissen
Music:Lars Lillo Stenberg
Editor:Inge-Lise Langfeldt
Color/stereo
Cast:
Elling:Per Christian Ellefsen
Kjell-Bjarne:Sven Nordin
Alfons Jorgensen:Per Christensen
Frank Assti:Jorgen Langhelle
Reidun Nordstellen:Marit Pia Jacobsen
Running time -- 90 minutes
No MPAA rating...
The film has a certain gentle whimsy in the bickering and affection between the two misfits. And the abilities of its two leads -- Per Christian Ellefsen as the fussy mommy's boy Elling and Sven Nordin as the hulking, libidinous Kjell-Bjarne -- give the film's lighthearted if illogical story a comic charge.
The film, selling well in other territories, could possibly become a minor art house hit in North America.
Thrown out of a state institution, the two roommates, who have had few experiences with the outside world, get tossed into state-sponsored housing in Oslo. Initially, the simple act of going around the corner for groceries is a challenge. But as their courage grows, the two find oddball ways to cope with society.
When Kjell-Bjarne strikes up a friendship with a single, pregnant neighbor, Elling flies into a jealous rage. Striking out on his own independent course, Elling, who is actually well-read, goes to a poetry reading. There his disgust with the works presented jibes with the sentiments of an old man who turns out to be a well-known poet.
Soon the two men have an extended family of the pregnant neighbor, the lonely, aging poet and his rusted 1958 Buick, which Kjell-Bjarne grows determined to restore.
Naess directs with the lightest of touches, which is fortunate given the flimsiness of the material. One feels his affection for the characters and their neuroses. While it would be uncharitable to point out that the two men -- remarkably and without explanation -- actually grow smarter as the story progresses, Naess lets these changes creep in so gradually that many might not even notice.
Technical credits are fine, especially Svien Krovel's cinematography, which bathes the movie in a midnight-sun glow that suits this contemporary fable.
ELLING
Maipo Film and TV Production
Producer:Synnove Horsdal
Director:Petter Naess
Screenwriter:Axel Hellstenius
Based on a novel by:Ingvar Ambjornsen
Executive producer:Dag Alveberg
Director of photography:Svein Krovel
Production designer:Harald Egede Nissen
Music:Lars Lillo Stenberg
Editor:Inge-Lise Langfeldt
Color/stereo
Cast:
Elling:Per Christian Ellefsen
Kjell-Bjarne:Sven Nordin
Alfons Jorgensen:Per Christensen
Frank Assti:Jorgen Langhelle
Reidun Nordstellen:Marit Pia Jacobsen
Running time -- 90 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 9/19/2001
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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