Cannes Film Festival has announced the titles in the Official Selection of the much-awaited 74th edition – Scandinavian Films is proud to present the first titles of the Nordic 2021 lineup. Two films were invited to compete for the Palme d’Or, and two films are among the titles at Un Certain Regard.
Compartment no. 6, directed by Juho Kuosmanen and produced by Jussi Rantamäki and Emilia Haukka from Film Company Aamu, was selected to the main competition. The road movie, loosely based on a novel by Rosa Liksom, is a Finnish-German-Estonian-Russian co-production. The film follows a young Finnish student who meets a Russian miner on a train. The main roles are played by Seidi Haarla, recently selected to the Shootings Stars in Berlinale, and the Russian actor Juri Borisov. The previous Finnish film in Cannes’ Competition was Le Havre by Aki Kaurismäki in 2011. Compartment no. 6’s international sales is handled by Totem Films.
Joachim Trier’s film The Worst Person in the World will be shown in the main competition. This is the second time Trier has had a film in Cannes competition, after Louder Than Bombs in 2015. The Norwegian film is produced by Thomas Robsahm from Oslo Pictures, and the international sales is handled by MK2. The Worst Person in the World is the third film in Trier’s Oslo trilogy, and it is a comic drama about love in our time and about having all the opportunities in life, but still feeling like the worst person in the world. The leading actors are Renate Reinsve, Anders Danielsen Lie and Herbert Nordrum.
Valdimar Jóhannsson’s debut feature Lamb was selected to Un Certain Regard. Lamb is a supernatural drama about an Icelandic couple who live with their herd of sheep on a beautiful but remote farm. It is the fifth Icelandic film to participate in Un Certain Regard. The film stars Noomi Rapace, Hilmir Snær Gudnason, Björn Hlynur Haraldsson, and Ingvar E. Sigurdsson. The film is an Icelandic-Swedish-Polish co-production, and it was produced by Hrönn Kristinsdóttir and Sara Nassim from Go to Sheep, Piodor Gustafsson and Erik Rydell from Black Spark Film & TV, and Klaudia Śmieja-Rostworowska and Jan Naszewski from Madants. It was co-produced by Film i Väst, Chimney Sweden, and Chimney Poland, in association with Rabbit Hole Productions and Helgi Jóhannsson. International sales for Lamb are handled by New Europe Film Sales.
Eskil Vogt’s The Innocents has been invited to the Un Certain Regard. The film follows four children who become friends and discover hidden powers during the summer holidays. It is the first time in ten years that a Norwegian film has been invited to this program. The Innocents features Rakel Lenora Fløttum, Alva Brynsmo Ramstad, Sam Ashraf, Mina Yasmin Bremseth Asheimi, Ellen Dorrit Petersen, Morten Svartveit, Kadra Yusuf and Lisa Tønne. The supernatural thriller is produced by Maria Ekerhovd from Mer Film, and the international sales agent is Protagonist Pictures. The Finnish minority co-producers of the film are Mark Lwoff and Misha Jaari from Bufo.
The 74th Festival de Cannes takes place between July 6–17, 2021. Due to the pandemic, the festival postponed its dates from May. The sidebars La Semaine de la Critique and Directors’ Fortnight will announce their selection later.
For the latest updates, follow Scandinavian Films on Facebook, and the Nordic film institutes: Danish Film Institute, Finnish Film Foundation, Icelandic Film Centre, Norwegian Film Institute and Swedish Film Institute.
Scandinavian Films will also gather the Nordic lineup on a separate page shortly.
