The Danish thriller Shorta (“Police” in Arabic) has just wrapped principal photography. The project, directed by duo Frederik Louis Hviid and Anders Ølholm, is set in a fictive ghetto outside the Danish capital.

Hviid, a former student at Super16 in Valby, recently directed two episodes of the successful crime TV series Follow the Money, while Ølholm, a graduate of the National Film School, has penned several important Danish productions, such as Fenar Ahmad’s Flow [+leggi anche:
trailer
scheda film] (2014) and Jacob Bitsch’s Letters for Amina [+leggi anche:
trailer
scheda film] (2017).

The story, written in its entirety by the young duo, centres on Talib Ben Hassi, a 19-year-old boy whose life hangs by a thread. The exact details of what took place while he was in police custody remain unclear. Police officers Jens and Mike are on routine patrol in the local ghetto when news of Talib’s death comes in over the radio, igniting uncontrollable, pent-up rage in the ghetto’s youth, who want revenge. Suddenly, the two officers find themselves fair game and must fight tooth and nail to find a way out.

Simon Sears is taking on his first lead role for the big screen as Jens, following his work on Hlynur Pálmason’s Winter Brothers [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
intervista: Elliott Crosset Hove
intervista: Hlynur Pálmason
scheda film] (2017) and Adam Price’s TV series Ride Upon the Storm (2017-2018). Meanwhile, Jacob Lohmann (Domino [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
scheda film], The Guilty [+leggi anche:
recensione
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intervista: Gustav Möller
scheda film]) will play Mike. The Copenhagen-born actor was recently nominated for both a Danish Robert and a Bodil Award for his supporting role in Paprika Steen’s That Time of Year [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
scheda film] (2018), which was selected at the Toronto International Film Festival last year. Members of the crew attached to the project include director of photography Jacob Møller (The Purity of Vengeance [+leggi anche:
trailer
intervista: Elliott Crosset Hove
scheda film]), editor Anders Albjerg Kristiansen (TV series Ride Upon the Storm, Wildwitch), production designer Gustav Pontoppidan (The Guilty, Winter Brothers) and sound designer Morten Green (The Purity of Vengeance, Before the Frost [+leggi anche:
trailer
intervista: Elliott Crosset Hove
scheda film]).

Shorta is being produced by Signe Leick Jensen and Morten Kaufmann for Copenhagen-based outfit Toolbox Film. The feature has also received backing from the Danish Film Institute and will be ready for theatrical release in October next year. Scanbox Entertainment will handle its domestic distribution.