A slate of genre projects is currently in development through the inaugural Nordic Genre Lab, Variety reports, including the Swedish horror movie Trespassers.
Feed director Johannes Persson is set to helm the project, described as a Swedish Deliverance, from a script by Melina Maraki (Summer of 1985).
The backwoods horror thriller follows “four young people from a failed anti-establishment movement travel to the vast wilderness of Northern Sweden to reconnect with nature, but after a river rafting accident leaves them stranded, they discover they are not alone, and not welcome on land controlled by a group that has isolated itself for centuries with its own terrifying beliefs.“
It’s produced by Patrik Andersson (Midsommar), with Mylla Films co-founder Jakob Abrahamsson.
Molly Nutley and Sofia Kappel star.
Also joining the Nordic Genre Lab finalists slate for development are The Evil Eye, an online found footage film in which the lead is also the villain, and Whistler, a folk horror movie set on the Faroe Islands that sees marine biologists hunted by a farmer and his half-human creatures.
The finalists represent “an extraordinary range of genre filmmaking, from folk horror rooted in Faroese landscape to dystopian survival thriller in Norway and from animated psychological horror to dark political satire from Finland and more,” Two Magpies Entertainment’s Claire Willats said.
The Nordic Genre Lab titles will be pitched live to 500-plus delegates, attend workshops and receive mentorship.
“Nordic genre remains very strong, in my view,” producer Todd told Variety. “The base of talent is deep, and the Nordics in general do a remarkable job of balancing class and critical quality with audience accessibility. You continue to not only see a high volume of projects at global festivals but also see those perform commercially.”
Expect to hear more on these projects soon.
