30/08/2021 - The Danish project ended up being the big winner of New Nordic Films, this year held both online and on site

New Nordic Films, the special industry section of the Norwegian International Film Festival in Haugesund, ran this year from 24-27 August both on site and digitally, with more than 300 accredited industry guests attending the event in total.

At the 16^th edition of the Nordic Co-Production Market, the Award for Best Project went to Acts of Love by Danish writer-director Jeppe Rønde, which was selected from among 19 projects (see the news). The story follows a woman who lives an orderly life in a religious community until her brother arrives. The leader of the community knows about their difficult upbringing and insists that they resolve their childhood trauma through the therapeutic rituals of the community. But a secret starts to surface which could prove disastrous.

Dealing with the taboo subject of carnal love between siblings, Acts of Love is Rønde’s sophomore fiction work after Bridgend [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], which was awarded at Tribeca six years ago. The script, which is loosely inspired by Rønde’s sister, who was also in a religious community, is co-penned by the director and Christopher Grøndahl. Produced by Julie Walenciak and Maria Møller Christoffersen for Copenhagen-based boutique film production company Paloma Productions, the project is budgeted at €2 million, and has already received the support of the Danish Film Institute and the West Danish Film Fund. According to the producers, shooting is set to start in early autumn 2022, and the project is looking for distributors, sales agents, co-producers, TV channels and regional funds.

The award enables participation in the Producers Network at the Cannes Marché du Film, and the winner was determined according to the votes cast by the audience after the Nordic Co-Production Market project-pitching session.