The film is produced by ‘No Paradise If You are Killed by a Woman’’s Janne Hjeltnes and Anne Borgaard Sørensen Copenhagen-based sales and aggregation outlet LevelK has boarded the Norwegian psycho-thriller “Anathema” by promising directing duo Ea Johanne Sandberg and Alpha Nord. One of 21 projects in development to be pitched today at the Nordic Co-Production Market in Haugesund, “Anathema” is being shepherded by the seasoned Janne Hjeltnes (Netflix’s “Royalteen,” “Midsummer Night”) and Anne Borgaard Sørensen (“Camino”, “Bullshit”), also credited respectively as producer and executive producer of the Venice-bound “No Paradise If You Are Killed by a Woman.” Penned by Sandberg and Nord, “Anathema” is billed as a “visceral, unsettling exploration of repression, denial and collective madness.” The central character Dafne, lives in a valley with her mother and Bror. When he vanishes, she begins to question if she or her community is falling apart.
His eventual return, drowned and dead, pushes the town into full‑scale delusion: no one admits his zombie-like state and everyone insists on celebrating his wedding, even if it means sacrificing his fiancée. She added: “This is the kind of project that fits very well into our strategy of including more genre titles to our slate, as well as of getting involved in projects before production, having a full journey and collaboration with the filmmakers from script to worldwide release.” “Anathema” is also the first feature under Hjeltnes and Sørensen’s banner Empathitude Pictures, set up in 2025 between Oslo and Copenhagen. It is the kind of filmmaking that does not simply work within an existing cinematic language but actively pushes it forward and expands what contemporary cinema can be.” The project’s film financing is being structured so far as a three-way co-production between Empathitude Pictures in Norway and Denmark and Junafilm in Germany, with funding from the Norwegian Film Institute.
At the Norwegian Film Festival’s industry sidebar New Nordic Films, currently underway, the Empathitude Pictures co-heads are looking for further co-financiers and distributors for “Anathema” and for their overall film and series slate. Starting a new company these days is not easy, but we’re optimistic,” offered Hjeltnes who’s also thrilled to attend the Venice Film Festival with the world premiere – out of competition – of Halkawt Mustafa’s “No Paradise if You Are Killed by a Woman,” produced by Hene Films. Film Festival in Haugesund on Aug. 28.
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