The Discovery selection for Nordic Film Market 2023

Discovery is Göteborg Film Festival’s platform for promoting feature films in development by Nordic talents. The co-financing platform provides an opportunity for the international industry to discover projects in an early stage, and to meet with new Nordic directors, writers and producers. Presenting partner: Film i Väst. 

The 11 selected projects for the Discovery platform 2023:

2001, directed by Fanni Metelius, produced by Joel Rostmark, production company Pine. Sales: TBA 

2001 is a coming-of-age film about turning pretty over the summer, starting 9th grade, having sex for the first time and losing your best friend. 

Contact: Joel Pine, joel@pine.se 

Abdu, directed by Ibrahim Mursal produced by Geir Bergersen, Skagerak Film, Sales: TBA 

Abdu is a 21-year-old refugee recently released from prison. He dreams of a good life while fighting addiction and a traumatic past. Meanwhile, the state that raised him has decided to deport him. Using innovative gaming technology, Abdu replays his past to understand who he is. Is he a criminal drug addict unworthy of life in the country he grew up in? Or a kid failed by the system?  

Contact: Geir Bergersen, g.bergersen@gmail.com   

Almería, directed by Liv Joelle Barbosa Blad, produced by Louise Beyer, Storm Films. Sales: TBA 

Spanish-Norwegian Ines (33) tries to reconnect with her roots through her hen party and wedding in Andalucía. But when her fiancé breaks up a week ahead, Ines tells no-one. The four friends road trip through the Spaghetti-Western desert and tourist-infested beaches. Though Ines’s own repression and her friends’ rejection of her multiculturalism overwhelms her. How long can Ines keep reality at bay?  

 Contact:  Louise Beyer, louise@stormfilms.no

Act of God, directed by Alicia Hansen, produced by Stina Eriksson, Prolaps Produktion. Sales: TBA 

Simone, 35, lives her best life when she unintentionally gets pregnant. Pressured by her boyfriend – who knows everything about declining fertility – Simone decides to keep the baby. When a much younger guy mistakes Simone for his date she gets the opportunity to create a new self, free from her future. Eventually, we will see how far she is willing to go in order to avoid becoming a mother.   

Contact: Stina Eriksson, stina@prolapsproduktion.se 

Mothership, director TBA, written by Ilona Ahti, produced by Helen Vinogradov and Inka Hietala, Helsinki-filmi. Sales: TBA 

Four best friends, Elsa, Sara, Janni and Maryam, leave on cruise together. What is supposed to be a surprise baby shower turns into a chaotic journey of lies and confessions. Mothership is a drama-comedy about re-discovering life-long friendship and escaping the weight of motherhood.   

Contact: Inka Hietala, inka@aurorastudios.com 

No, wait, directed by Gabriel Bier Gislason, produced by Thomas Heinesen, Nordisk Film Production. Sales: TBA  

A spooky tragicomedy about letting go. On a trip to Iceland, Miriam and Jakob get lost and wind up in a remote village, full of odd locals – some more than others. That night, Jakob falls into a river. Dies. And comes back to life. The village, they learn, is a supernatural pocket, in which the dead can keep living, as long as they never leave. But staying alive, it turns out, comes at a great cost.  

Contact: Thomas Heinesen, thomas.heinesen@nordiskfilm.com 

Paradise, directed by Emma Pål Brunzell, produced by Agnes Parkrud, B-Reel Films. Sales: TBA 

A love story about two reality show participants who fall in love for the first time while filming the show. Their lack of life experience and the TV show’s unspoken expectations create self-fulfilling prophecies that lead to heartbreaking betrayal.  

Contact: Agnes Parkrud, agnes.parkrud@brf.co    

The Patron, directed by Julia Thelin, produced by Eliza Jones and Markus Waltå, Grand Slam Film. Sales: TBA 

The Patron is a story about the power of belief. Anna, a woman of no means or money, invents a new identity as an art patron, inviting two young male artists to a house in the Swedish archipelago. In the isolated setting, their inherent roles and power dynamics shift as our female protagonist experiences freedom in the games she creates, as she has never felt before. Lies can set you free, but not all can uphold them.   

Contact:  Eliza Jones, eliza@grandslamfilm.se, Markus Waltå, markus@grandslamfilm.se

The Seal Woman, directed by Tea Lindeburg, produced by Lise Orheim Stender and Jesper Morthorst, Motor. Sales: TBA 

Legend has it that those who drown themselves turn into seals. Once a year they return to shore in their human shape. In the hopes of reuniting with his late wife, Aske seeks out this mythical place of transformation. Desperate not to lose her again, he hides her sealskin so she can’t return to sea. She doesn’t remember their past together but as her memory returns a dark and menacing story unfolds.   

Contact: Jesper Morthorst, jesper@motorproductions.dk  

Utopia, directed by Isabella Carbonell, produced by TBA. Sales: TBA 

Utopia explores the effects of sexual violence in a world where guilt knows its place. Here survivors can choose to enter a treatment program built within a virtual reality framework. A program that invites the user to return and confront, but on their own terms. Utopia is a tale about allowing shame to move aside in the name of pleasure. But most of all; The power of reclaiming control.   

Contact: Susanna Rönn, susanna@ttg.se and Viviane Telio, VTelio@vervetla.com

Wannabe, directed by Patricia Bbaale Bandak, produced by Victor Cunha, Monolit Film. Sales: TBA  

During the summer of 1995, in a small poor town in Denmark, a group of girls get together to form a band when a national kids TV-show announces a Spice Girls “Wannabe”-lookalike music video competition. At the helm is 13-year-old Patricia – a Ugandan refugee from the only brown family within miles – who can suddenly dream of a future where she might be seen as something else than just “different”.   

Contact:  Victor Cunha, victor@monolitfilm.dk  

Discovery, launched in 2013, is a platform for promoting new Nordic film projects in development and collaboration between Nordic Film Lab and Nordic Film Market. Discovery provides an opportunity for the international and Scandinavian film industry to discover and get in touch with new Nordic talents and film projects in an early stage.