Two of Film i Väst’s co-productions have been selected for the Official Competition at the Festival de Cannes: Ali Abbasi’s The Apprentice and Magnus von Horn’s drama The Girl With The Needle, filmed in Göteborg. Both directors have previously been succesful at the festival with Palme d’Or nominations for Holy Spider and Cannes Label 2020 for Sweat. In addition, Norwegian director Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel’s debut Armand has been selected to take part in Un Certain Regard.

– We congratulate the nominated co-procuctions and wish them all luck. One of the stated goals for us as co-producers is to have a co-production selected for Official Competition in Cannes. 2024 is the eighth year in a row our co-productions have fulfilled this goal, with the double Palme d’Or win for Ruben Östlund as the crowning glory. It shows the strength among producers, post production companies and talents in Region Västra Götaland, says Kristina Börjeson,Head of Production at Film i Väst.

Official competition

The Girl with the Needle

In Magnus von Horn’s new film The Girl with the Needle Karoline (Vic Carmen Sonne), a young factory worker, is struggling to survive in post WW1 Copenhagen. When she finds herself unemployed, abandoned and pregnant, she meets Dagmar (Trine Dyrholm), a charismatic woman running an underground adoption agency, helping mothers to find foster homes for their unwanted children. With nowhere else to turn, Karoline takes on the role of a wet-nurse. A strong connection is formed between the two women, but Karoline’s world shatters when she stumbles upon the shocking truth behind her work. Inspired by a true story and directed by Magnus von Horn (The Here After, Sweat) The Girl with the Needle is an unsettling tale about a woman struggling to find love and a sense of morality.

Partly filmed in Göteborg, Region Västra Götaland. Post production Can Film and DUPP Film.

Produced by Nordisk Film Creative Alliance in co-production with Film i Väst, Lava Films & Nordisk Film Sverige (Madeleine Ekman), EC1 Lodz Lower Silesia Film Centre with support from Danish Film Institute, Polish Film Institute co-financed production Swedish Film Institute, Nordisk Film /& TV Fond, Creative Europe & Eurimages and in association with Danmarks Radio and Sveriges Television.

Magnus von Horn
Magnus von Horn’s breakthrough came with his The Here After, filmed in Region Västra Götaland, and won three Swedish Guldbagge Award including Best Directing and Best Film 2016. The Here After was selected for Quinzaine des Réalisateurs and nominated for the Camera d’Or. His next feature Sweat was quality marked Cannes Label 2020 during the pandemic edition of Cannes. Both features are co-produced with Film i Väst.

The Apprentice

Ali Abbasi’s The Apprentice is a dive into the underbelly of the American empire. It charts a young Donald Trump’s ascent to power through a Faustian deal with the influential right-wing lawyer and political fixer Roy Cohn.

Starring Sebastian Stan (Donald Trump) Emmy & Golden Globe Award Nominee, Silver Bear Winner; Jeremy Strong (Roy Cohn) Emmy, Golden Globe Award, and SAG Award Winner; Maria Bakalova (Ivana Zelníčková/IvanaTrump) Academy & Golden Globe Award Nominee; Martin Donovan (Fred Trump Senior).

Director: Ali Abbasi. Screen writer: Gabe Sherman. Producers: Daniel Bekerman, Scythiafilms, Jakob Jarek, Profile Pictures, Ruth Treacy and Julianne Forde, Tailored Films, Ali Abbasi and Louis Tisné, Film. Executive Producers: Amy Baer, Mark H. Rapaport, Emanuel Nunez, Josh Marks, Grant S. Johnson. Financiers: Kinematics, Head Gear Films,  Screen Ireland, Film i Väst, The Danish Film Institute, National Bank of Canada.

Ali Abbasi
Ali Abbasi’s Border, filmed in Region Västra Götaland, won Un Certain Regard in Cannes and five Swedish Guldbagge Awards, among them Best Film. 2022 Holy Spider was nominated for the Palme d’Or and Zar Amir Ebrahimi won Best Female Actress. Holy Spider was also shortlisted for an Oscar. All films co-produced with Film i Väst. VFX by Dupp.

Un Certain Regard:

Armand

During one fatal afternoon in an empty elementary school the two mothers of Armand and Jon get into a desperate fight to be believed when one son is accused of crossing boundaries against the other. All means are used, and soon a blend of madness, desire and obsession arises. Where the truth lies is impossible to know, and soon everything evolves less and less around the children, who we never meet, and more about the adults.

Starring Renate Reinsve, winner of the palme for Best Female Actress for her role in Joachim Trier’s The Worst Person in the World during the Cannes Film Festival 2021.

Director and script: Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel. Producer: Andrea Berentsen Ottmar, Eye Eye Pictures. Executive Producer: Dyveke Bjørkly Graver, in co-production with Film i Väst, Stina Eriksson and Alicia Hansen, Prolaps Produktion, Koji Nelissen and Derk-Jan Warrink, Keplerfilm, Fred Burle and Sol Bondy, One Two Films. Distribution: Norsk Filmdistribusjon