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PRODUCTION / FUNDING Sweden / Denmark / Norway / Finland / Iceland / Germany

Pernilla August to direct TV series Blackwater

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- The six-episode crime-drama will start principal photography later this spring

Pernilla August to direct TV series Blackwater
Director Pernilla August

Stockholm-born actress-writer-director Pernilla August will direct the six episodes of a brand-new crime-drama series entitled Blackwater, commissioned by Sweden’s pubcaster SVT. August debuted as a director in 2005, with the short Time Bomb, which was followed by her successful first feature as a writer-director, Beyond [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
(2010), a movie that starred Noomi and Ola Rapace in the lead roles and represented Sweden at the 2012 Academy Awards. Before working on her new effort, August directed a number of episodes of the TV series The Legacy (2014-2017) and her sophomore feature, A Serious Game [+see also:
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interview: Karin Franz Körlof
film profile
]
(2016).

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Blackwater is based upon Kerstin Ekman’s 1993 best-selling crime novel of the same name. The story, adapted by Maren Louise Käehn (Queen of Hearts [+see also:
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interview: Gustav Lindh
interview: May el-Toukhy
film profile
]
), begins on a midsummer night in 1970, when two tourists are found murdered in a tent, far up in the mountains of Northern Sweden, near the small town of Blackwater. The incident causes four random people’s lives to intersect, intertwining their destinies for better and for worse, as events are told from multiple viewpoints. Confirmed crew members include director of photography Marek Wieser (Darling [+see also:
film review
trailer
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), Oscar-winning production designer Anna Asp (Fanny and Alexander, A Serious Game) and producer Piv Bernth (the TV series Equinox and The Legacy).

Speaking about the production, SVT’s head of drama, Anna Croneman, said: “Developing a novel as iconic as Blackwater into a series inevitably means taking a huge risk. But with a beautiful script by Maren Louise Käehne, Piv Bernth producing and Pernilla August as director, I’m certain we’re about to make something quite extraordinary. I’m also thrilled about the collaboration with ARD Degeto.” Meanwhile, ARD Degeto’s head of acquisitions and co-productions, Sebastian Lückel, added: “With the pedigree of the team behind this project and an outstanding plot, we simply could not say no to this collaboration with SVT.”

Blackwater is being produced by Denmark’s Apple Tree Productions, in co-production with Germany’s ARD Degeto and Sweden’s Filmpool Nord. The project is also being backed by pubcasters DR, NRK, YLE and RÚV, as well as Creative Europe - MEDIA. Britain’s ITV Studios is in charge of its global distribution. Principal photography will commence later this spring, and an official release date is yet to be confirmed.

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