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The Göteborg Film Festival has unveiled the 53 Nordic Films that will take part in the latest edition of the Nordic Film Market, running February 2 – 5. Scroll down for the list.

The line-up consists of 17 completed feature films, 15 works in progress, 11 films in development presented at the market’s co-financing platform Discovery, and another 10 features in development from up-and-coming Swedish creators at Talent to Watch.

The 2023 edition of Nordic Film Market will comprise a full on-site event in Göteborg alongside digital screenings on the festival’s dedicated industry platform. This year the festival has said close to 500 invited buyers, distributors, sales agents, producers, festival programmers, and other key industry delegates from 32 countries are expected to attend.

Elsewhere, the 17th edition of the TV Drama Vision summit will run February 1–2.

Göteborg will run January 27 – February 5. As previously announced, Holy Spider breakout Zar Amir Ebrahimi will head the jury of the festival’s Nordic Competition.

Sophie Vukovic’s narrative feature film project “My Best Friend’s Baby,” her take on non-traditional love and family, won the top Works in Development prize of Karlovy Vary Film Festival’s industry section, Eastern Promises, this week. The project, budgeted at Euros1.65 million (1.68 million), is produced by Eliza Jones and Markus Walta’s Grand Slam Film, whose porn industry drama “Pleasure” – produced alongside Erik Hemmendorff at Plattform Produktion – was selected by Sundance and was distributed in the U.S. by Neon.

Vukovic’s story centers on Damir, a gay man in Sweden and his roommate, Sara, a lesbian friend from Croatia, who’s intent on becoming a single mom. When they embark on a trip to more traditional Balkan surroundings for the wedding of Damir’s cousin, things get complicated fast.

Vukovic says the story is not autobiographical, but definitely built on personal experiences.

“The idea for the film...

Yemeni film “The Burdened,” directed by Amr Gamal, won the Works in Progress Post-Production Development Award in Eastern Promises, the industry section of the Karlovy Vary Intl. Film Festival on Tuesday.

The story, written by Gamal and Mazen Refaat, centers on Ahmed, Isra’a and their three children in Aden, Yemen in 2019. Both parents lose their jobs and suffer from the economic crisis. The movie starts with Isra’a finding out about her pregnancy at a time when they cannot cover the expenses of a new child, leading them to make difficult decisions in order to survive.

The jury said it was “impressed by the director’s brave approach to tackling this sensitive subject against all odds.”

The Yemen-Sudan coproduction is produced by Mohsen Alkhalifi, Gamal, Amjad Abu Alala and Mohammed Alomda.

The Works in Progress Karlovy Vary Iff Award went to “Endless Summer Syndrome,” directed by Kaveh Daneshmand, an...

Karlovy Vary Intl. Film Festival’s industry section, Eastern Promises, has unveiled its lineup of 35 film projects, which will be showcased during the Works in Progress, Works in Development – Feature Launch, First Cut+ Works in Progress and Odesa International Film Festival Works in Progress presentations. The most promising projects will receive awards totaling Euros 125,000.

The showcasing of projects to industry professionals will take place in Karlovy Vary during Kviff Industry Days. On July 4, are Works in Progress and Works in Development – Feature Launch; on July 5, First Cut+ Works in Progress and Oiff WiP Selection.

For Works in Progress, 10 fiction and documentary feature films in the late stage of production or post-production from the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, the Balkans, the former Soviet Union, the Middle East, and North Africa have been selected. The prize will be decided by jury members Dennis Ruh (European Film Market), Óscar Alonzo (Latido Films...

The feature recently world premiered in Sundance and was feted with a Cannes 2020 special label.

Paris-based sales company Versatile has unveiled a round of fresh deals on Swedish director Ninja Thyberg’s exploration of gender and power in the adult film industry Pleasure, which recently premiered at Sundance.

It has sold to France (The Jokers), Germany and Austria (Weltkino), Spain (Karma Films), Switzerland (Xenix), Canada (MK2 Mile End), Poland (Mayfly), South Korea (Kth) and Taiwan (Moviecloud).

Latin America, Australia/New Zealand and Japan are currently under negotiation. Previously announced deals include to A24 for the US and Mubi for the UK,...

The feature recently world premiered in Sundance and was feted with a Cannes 2020 special label.

Paris-based sales company Versatile has unveiled a round of fresh deals on Swedish director Ninja Thyberg’s exploration of gender and power in the adult film industry Pleasure, which recently premiered at Sundance.

It has sold to France (The Jokers), Germany and Austria (Weltkino), Spain (Karma Films), Switzerland (Xenix), Canada (MK2 Mile End), Poland (Mayfly), South Korea (Kth) and Taiwan (Moviecloud).

Latin America, Australia/New Zealand and Japan are currently under negotiation. Previously announced deals include to A24 for the US and Mubi for the UK,...

Global distributor, producer and streamer Mubi has snapped up major European markets for hot Sundance title “Pleasure,” which delves into the world of the porn industry in Los Angeles.

The service has acquired all rights to the provocative film in the U.K., Ireland, Italy and Turkey. Directed by Ninja Thyberg, the film recently received its world premiere as part of Sundance’s World Cinema Dramatic Competition.

Starring newcomer Sofia Kappel, “Pleasure” tells the story of a young woman (Bella Cherry) who moves from a small town in Sweden to Los Angeles in pursuit of stardom, and lands squarely in the porn industry. Variety’s chief film critic Owen Gleiberman praised “Pleasure” in his review, calling it an “intentionally stark” and “disturbingly authentic” look at what the porn industry has become.

“A movie like ‘Pleasure’ jerks the skeevy, compulsive porn world out of the closet in a way that few movies have,...

Sofia Kappel plays young woman seeking stardom in LA porn industry.

A24 has acquired US rights to Ninja Thyberg’s Sundance and Cannes Label selection Pleasure.

Sofia Kappel stars as a young woman seeking stardom in the porn industry in Los Angeles.

A24 plans to release the full uncensored version alongside a new R-rated version later this year.

Eliza Jones, Markus Waltå, and Erik Hemmendorff produced the film, and Pape Boye and Violaine Pichon of international sales agent Versatile served as executive producers.

A24 brokered the deal with CAA Media Finance alongside Versatile.

‘Mank’ leads Critics Choice Awards film nominations...

A24 has acquired U.S. rights to “Pleasure,” an explicit drama about the adult film industry, following its premiere at the virtual Sundance Film Festival.

A24 will release the full uncensored film, as well as an R-rated version, later this year.

Directed by Ninja Thyberg, “Pleasure” takes a look at the Los Angeles porn industry through the lens of newcomer Bella Cherry (portrayed by Sofia Kappel), who moves from a small town in Sweden to pursue her dreams of stardom.

Variety’s chief film critic Owen Gleiberman praised “Pleasure,” calling it an “intentionally stark” and “disturbingly authentic” look at what the porn industry has become.

“A movie like “Pleasure” jerks the skeevy, compulsive porn world out of the closet in a way that few movies have,” Gleiberman wrote. “That’s a brave thing to, and what makes it work is that Ninja Thyberg, revealing the instincts of a true filmmaker,...

A24 said Monday that it acquired U.S. rights to the Ninja Thyberg-directed 2021 Sundance Film Festival drama Pleasure. This was a film that had been announced as a Cannes title for 2020 before the fest was canceled because of Covid, and made its debut as part of virtual Sundance.

The drama stars Sofia Kappel as an aspiring porn star who arrives from Sweden determined to become a big star. While the drama’s point is to recognize the rape culture and degradation that women are put through in that line of business in Los Angeles, the film itself is about as close to a porn film as any that has been released theatrically in recent memory, with complete nudity and simulated sex that is shocking.

A24 will release the full uncensored version alongside a new R-Rated version later this year.

The film is produced by Eliza Jones, Markus Waltå, and Erik Hemmendorff.

A24 has acquired the U.S. rights to “Pleasure,” Ninja Thyberg’s film about the pornography and adult entertainment industry in Los Angeles that was a selection of Cannes 2020 and made its world premiere at Sundance.

A24 will release an R-rated version of the narrative feature film as well as an uncensored version, which is sexually explicit in its examination of the porn industry and the predatory practices of managers and male-dominated sets.

Thyberg’s “Pleasure” stars Sofia Kappel as Bella Cherry, who relocates to LA from Sweden in the hopes of making it in the adult entertainment industry as the world’s next big porn star. In its description of the film, Sundance said that it uses nudity in order to “expose rather than titillate.” The film also features a supporting cast of other actors who have had experience in the porn industry.

In TheWrap’s review of the film,...

Projects include period drama ‘The Emigrants’ and ‘Margrete – Queen Of The North’, starring Trine Dyrholm.

Goteborg’s Nordic Film Market has revealed the 13 Nordic films that will be presented as works in progress at its online market.

They include two big-budget historical epics, Charlotte Sieling’s Margrete – Queen Of The North, starring Trine Dyrholm as a powerful ruler in the early 15th century; and Erik Poppe’s The Emigrants, about Swedes moving to America in the 19th century.

Scroll down for full list

Further features set to be previewed include Bille August’s drama The Pact, about Karen Blixen’s...