Over the last few weeks our animated documentary ‘Flee’ has been screening in more than 100 cinemas across France!
The above photo of the happy audience is form Cinéma ARVOR in Rennes, where the director, Jonas Poher Rasmussen attended the screening and answered the questions of the approx. 100 teenagers who are studying cinema. We had such an interesting debate and enjoyed the dedicated audience!
We are very happy that ‘Flee’ will continue to run in French cinemas until the end of the year!
More amazing EFA-news: Simon Lereng Wilmont’s A House Made of Splinters has been shortlisted for the European Film Awards 2022 - the film is included in the 13 documentary films in this years selection.
Read MoreWe are so happy to announce that Tarik Saleh’s Boy From Heaven has been shortlisted for the European Film Awards 2022!
Read MoreWe are happy to announce that this year’s Nordisk Panorama in Malmö will have two films from Final Cut for Real in the main competition for Best Nordic Documentary!
Read More
We are sad to announce that The Government of Zimbabwe has slapped a ban on our Oscar-shortlisted documentary, PRESIDENT, by Camilla Nielsson. The reason for the ban is based on the argument that the film “has the potential to incite violence” as Zimbabwe gears up for presidential elections in 2023.
In an exclusive article published by Variety on August 8, film director, Camilla Nielsson and producer, Signe Byrge Sørensen comment upon the ban and how it’s a clear example of a growing crackdown on dissent by the Zimbabwean government.
Click her to read the full article from Variety.
These are very sad and disturbing news, however we are unfortunately not surprised with the verdict, and we continue to fight and challenge the ruling in Zimbabwe’s constitutional court, promising a long legal battle ahead.
While we wait for a solution on this critical censorship, PRESIDENT is in the meantime having it’s release across the U.S. on PBS’ POV documentary series on August 8.
This year’s Karlovy Vary International Film Festival is right around the corner, and we are happy to announce that our film ‘The Killing of a Journalist’ has been selected for the Special Screenings section, which represents an exclusive selection of international and Czech films presented as premieres and avant-premieres.
‘The Killing of a Journalist,’ directed by Matt Sarnecki and produced by Signe Byrge Sørensen, will have its European premiere on July 5, 2022.
The film explores the brutal murder of a young Slovakian investigative journalist and his fiancée. Their deaths inspire the biggest protests in Slovakia since the fall of communism. The story takes an unexpected turn when a source leaks the secret murder case file to the murdered journalist’s colleagues which includes the computers and encrypted communications of the assassination’s alleged mastermind, a businessman closely connected to the country’s ruling party. Trawling these encrypted messages, journalists discover that their country has been captured by corrupt oligarchs, judges and law enforcement officials. A reckoning awaits.
Karlovy Vary International Film Festival is the largest film festival in the Czech Republic and one of the most prestigious festivals in Central and Eastern Europe. Every year, the festival presents more than 200 films from around the world, and regularly hosts famous and important filmmakers.
Click here to read more about the other films selected for the Special Screenings section.
We are so happy that ‘Flee’ by Jonas Poher Rasmussen obtained an impressive second place at the LUX Audience Award at the European Parliament in Strasbourg this week!
The European Parliament wrote the following about the film:
One of this film’s many great flourishes comes in the opening minutes, as Amin (all the main characters have pseudonyms to protect their anonymity) lies down on a plush couch and prepares to narrate his impressive tale to Rasmussen. Then, just as we in the audience are similarly settling down, a film clapperboard hovers in the corner of the frame, the two main characters giggle and then the scene. And this is all rendered in hand-drawn animation, with the slanted lines and imperfections of a sketch. What reality are we in here? Subjective reality and the nature of our perceptions are in fact one of this film’s key concerns.
The masterstroke of using animation to literally illustrate Amin’s story is that its colourful splendour and spatial exaggerations bring us closer to the feeling of actually ‘accessing’ memory, a bit like the colour-coded levels of reality in Christopher Nolan’s work.
Unlike many migrant narratives in contemporary film, Flee takes place at an earlier point in time – the latter stages of the Afghan-Soviet War in the late 1980s – where escaping had become civilians’ only option. The affinity with the modern refugee crisis is nonetheless obvious. In his early teens, Amin initially decamped from Afghanistan, along with his frail mother and three older siblings, to Russia, the only country that would take them. Yet this was merely a temporary solution, with their Russian visas expiring and the country descending into turmoil after the fall of communism. The bulk of the film follows Amin’s increasingly hapless and Kafkaesque attempts to settle in a more secure Western European country. Yet a person is not solely defined by their political status, and a key thread in this story is Amin’s burgeoning queer sexuality; we see his struggles to conceal this from his family, and how he explores his urges in private and with people of his own age.
We are very excited to announce that ‘Boy From Heaven’ directed by Tarik Saleh has won Best Screenplay at the 75th Festival de Cannes. The film is produced by Kristina Åberg at Atmo Sweden, in co-production with Monica Hellström and Signe Byrge Sørensen from Final Cut for Real, Memento Film, Bufo, Arte France and Film i Väst. ‘Boy From Heaven’ further won the Francois Chalais Prize – an award dedicated to the values of life affirmation and journalism.
The film reunites Saleh with the top creative team from ‘The Nile Hilton Incident’ (Saleh’s first film exploring the modern Arabic world) including Swedish actor Fares Fares, production designer Roger Rosenberg, French cinematographer Pierre Aïm, Danish editor Theis Schmidt and VFX specialist Peter Hjorth, VFX producer Mikael Windelin and editing consultant Janus Billeskov Jansen. For 'Boy From Heaven' the Danish team has been expanded with the Danish actor Hassan El Sayed.
The film is supported in Denmark by The Danish Film Institute and DR.
The Cannes Film Festival 2022 took place on the 17th May to the 28th May. The Festival is organised in various sections, where ‘Boy From Heaven’ was presented in Competition, the category displaying films that are representative of “arthouse cinema with a wide audience appeal”.
To read more about the Festival de Cannes click here.
We are proud and happy to announce that He’s My Brother directed by Cille Hannibal and co-director Christine Hanberg and produced by Monica Hellström and President directed by Camilla Nielsson and produced by Signe Byrge Sørensen and Joslyn Barnes has been selected for the 35th Season Lineup at POV.
POV is the longest-running series for independent documentaries on television and launches on July 11th. As is tradition, the series will program social issues films topics including environmental justice, immigration and systemic inequity.
Read more about the 35th POV lineup here.
Our co-production ’Boy From Heaven’ by Swedish director Tarikh Saleh, has been selected for the main competition at the Cannes Film Festival 2022.
‘Boy From Heaven’ is produced by Kristina Åberg of Atmo Sweden and co-produced by Monica Hellström and Signe Byrge Sørensen for Final Cut for Real, Memento Film, Bufo, Arte France and Film I Väst, with co-financing from Canal+ France, Business Finland and the Swedish Film Institute.
The film reunites Saleh with the top creative team from ‘The Nile Hilton Incident’ (Saleh’s first film exploring the modern Arabic world) including Swedish actor Fares Fares, production designer Roger Rosenberg, French cinematographer Pierre Aïm, Danish editor Theis Schmidt and VFX specialist Peter Hjorth, VFX producer Mikael Windelin and editing consultant Janus Billeskov Jansen. For 'Boy From Heaven' the Danish team has been expanded with the Danish actor Hassan El Sayed.
The film is supported in Denmark by The Danish Film Institute and DR.
The Cannes Film Festival 2022 will take place on the 17th May to the 28th May. The Festival is organised in various sections, where ‘Boy From Heaven’ is presented in Competition, the category displaying films that are representative of “arthouse cinema with a wide audience appeal”.
To read more about the Cannes Film Festival 2022 click here.
It is our great pleasure to announce that we have four films screening at the HotDocs film festival, all of which will be part of the Nordic Bridges programme. These include: “A House Made of Splinters” directed by Simon Lereng Wilmont; “The Killing of a Journalist” directed by Matt Sarnecki; “Our Memory Belongs to Us” directed by Rami Farah; and “Outside” directed by Olha Zhurba. You can read more about each of them, including tickets and streaming info, below:
‘A House Made of Splinters,’ directed by Simon Lereng Wilmont and produced by Monica Hellström, follows three children at a temporary shelter, as war-torn Ukraine leaves devastating and enduring marks on the population. Through the eyes of kids, the film depicts a personal, tender, and simultaneously tragic and hopeful story about lives in limbo. Gorgeous, patient camerawork respects the children's vulnerability but expertly detects the unmistakable normalisation of violence in their desperate play, temporary friendships and fragile family connections.
‘The Killing of a Journalist’, directed by Matt Sarnecki and produced by Signe Byrge Sørensen, explores the brutal murder of the Slovakian investigative journalist Ján Kuciak and his fiancée Martina Kušnírova. Their deaths inspire the biggest protests in Slovakia since the fall of communism. When prosecution efforts turn up honey-pot schemes, paid assassins and dubious political appointees instead of delivering justice, democracy itself may not survive in one of the European Union's most jaw-dropping corruption scandals
“Our Memory Belongs to Us” directed by Syrian filmmaker Rami Farah and produced by Signe Byrge Sørensen, Liana Saleh and Anne Köhncke, reunites citizen journalists Yadan, Odai and Rani in an empty theatre to watch smuggled footage on the big screen nearly 10 years after the beginning of the Syrian revolution. Together, they revisit the events, people and places that changed the trajectory of their lives. How does one survive - by forgetting or by remembering? Building to a shattering crescendo, this collective memory exercise provides a corrective history and chronology for the revolution that was reframed as a civil war by a dictator who preferred to displace over six million people rather than be deposed — and is confirmation that people must tell their own stories.
“Outside” directed by Olha Zhurba, produced by Darya Bassell and Viktoria Khomenko for Moon Man and co-produced by Anne Köhncke and Monica Hellström for Final Cut for Real, follows 13-year old Roma, an abandoned street kid adopted by random soldiers in Kyiv’s Independence Square during Ukraine’s Maidan Uprising. But when the media and military encampments cleared out, he was again discarded, this time to an orphanage. At 18, with just a knife and a lighter in his pocket, can he possibly take control of his life? Security footage, heartbreaking phone calls and chance meetings populate this expertly layered study of a lost soul who belongs to no one and has nowhere to go.
The Nordic Bridges programme is a year-long initiative led by Toronto’s Harbourfront Centre fostering cultural exchange between the Nordic Region and Canada. Working with partners across Canada, Nordic Bridges presents multidisciplinary contemporary art, culture and ideas throughout the year.
To read more about the HotDocs film festival, online streaming or how to secure a ticket, click here.
The HotDocs film festival is just around the corner, and we are happy to announce that we have two films selected for the main competition this year.
‘The Killing of a Journalist,’ directed by Matt Sarnecki and produced by Signe Byrge Sørensen, will have its world premiere on May 1st 2022. The film explores the brutal murder of a young Slovakian investigative journalist and his fiancée. Their deaths inspire the biggest protests in Slovakia since the fall of communism. The story takes an unexpected turn when a source leaks the secret murder case file to the murdered journalist’s colleagues which includes the computers and encrypted communications of the assassination’s alleged mastermind, a businessman closely connected to the country’s ruling party. Trawling these encrypted messages, journalists discover that their country has been captured by corrupt oligarchs, judges and law enforcement officials. A reckoning awaits.
Also screening in the main competition is ‘Outside’, directed by Olha Zhurba, and produced by Darya Bassell and Viktoria Khomenko for Moon Man. Anne Köhncke and Monica Hellström have co-produced for Final Cut for Real. In ‘Outside’, Roma, a 13-year old street kid neglected by his family and the state, becomes a poster boy for the Ukrainian Revolution in 2014. His story traverses the years he spent on the streets of revolutionary Kyiv and after his release from the orphanage, left to face the outside world with nothing. As Roma sets out to build an adult life, it seems that his future has already been decided. Through a series of phone calls with the film’s director he reflects on one main question: can you ever escape your childhood?
Outside had its world premiere at CPH:DOX in March, where it was selected for the main competition.
Hot Docs was founded in 1993 by the Documentary Organization of Canada, a national association of independent documentary filmmakers and continues to be one of the most prestigious documentary film festivals, always focusing on promoting excellence in documentary production. Each year, Hot Docs presents over 200 cutting edge films from around the world.
To read more about the HotDocs 2022 programme click here.
It has been a week since the team behind ‘Flee’ directed by Jonas Poher Rasmussen went to the Oscars, and what a week it’s been! While we left the Dolby Theatre empty-handed, the Flee journey has truly been one for the books, and we are so grateful for all the amazing and inspiriting moments that it has brought along. We are moreover simultaneously humbled and proud for the way it has been received all across the world from people of completely different paths of life. And not to forget – Thank you to Amin, whose bravery and generosity in sharing his story has demonstrated the brutal and inhumane, but nevertheless ultimately beautiful, complicated and courageous reality for millions of refugees scattered around the globe.
‘Flee’ is produced by Monica Hellström and Signe Byrge Sørensen for Final Cut for Real and Charlotte de la Gournerie for Sun Creature.
‘Flee’ tells the extraordinary true story of Amin who, on the verge of marriage, is compelled to uncover his past for the first time – one that he has kept secret for over twenty years and which has continuously threatened the life he has built for himself since making the journey as a child refugee from Afghanistan to Denmark. Told mostly through animation, ‘Flee’ weaves together a stunning tapestry of images and memories which tell the affecting story of a young man grappling with his traumatic past in order to discover his true self and the meaning of home.
The Oscars ceremony was held on the 28th of March 2022. To read more about the ceremony click here.
We are very happy and proud to announce that ‘A House Made of Splinters’ by Simon Lereng Wilmont and produced by Monica Hellström has receives the Politiken: DOX Award! The prize is awarded by Politiken's film critics, who choose a winner among the nominated films from this year's festival programme and the ceremony was held on April 1st 2022.
‘A House Made of Splinters’ follows three children at a temporary shelter, as war-torn Ukraine leaves devastating and enduring marks on the population. Through the eyes of kids, the movie depicts a personal, tender, and simultaneously tragic and hopeful story about lives in limbo.
To read more about the other winners and nominees of this year’s CPH: DOX click here.
We are very happy to announce that ‘A House Made of Splinters’ directed by Simon Lereng Wilmont has won the grand prize for Best Documentary of the International Competition as well as the FIPRESCI award at Thessaloniki Documentary Festival! The award for Best Documentary was one among two under the International Competition awards - A joint jury reasoning for the selection was thus given for ‘A House Made of Splinters’ and ‘Young Plato’ by Declan McGrath & Neasa Ní Chianáin:
“There are two films that stood out for us. Two profoundly moving and intricate films that, in many ways, struck us as companion pieces, and that deserve to be seen together. The Special Jury Award goes to a film that can only give us hope in future generations and their capacity to make the world a better place. The award goes to Young Plato. The Golden Alexander Award goes to an unforgettable film that shines a light on the burden carried by children for the horrors and mistakes perpetrated by the world of the adults who should be caring for them. The Golden Alexander Award goes to A House Made of Splinters”.
‘A House Made of Splinters’ follows three children at a temporary shelter, as war-torn Ukraine leaves devastating and enduring marks on the population. Through the eyes of kids, the movie depicts a personal, tender, and simultaneously tragic and hopeful story about lives in limbo.
To read more about the 24th Thessaloniki Documentary Festival, click here.
We are very proud to announce that ‘FLEE’ directed by Jonas Poher Rasmussen won the category for Best Documentary at the Bodil Awards this saturday!
‘Flee’ is produced by Monica Hellström and Signe Byrge Sørensen for Final Cut for Real and Charlotte de la Gournerie for Sun Creature.
‘Flee’ tells the extraordinary true story of Amin who, on the verge of marriage, is compelled to uncover his past for the first time – one that he has kept secret for over twenty years and which has continuously threatened the life he has built for himself since making the journey as a child refugee from Afghanistan to Denmark. Told mostly through animation, ‘Flee’ weaves together a stunning tapestry of images and memories which tell the affecting story of a young man grappling with his traumatic past in order to discover his true self and the meaning of home.
The prestigious Bodil statuettes have been given out yearly by the Association of Danish Film Critics since the first Bodil award ceremony in 1948. This year the award ceremony took place on the 19th of March in Folketeatret, Copenhagen.
To see the full list of winners and nominees for this year's Bodil, visit: www.bodilprisen.dk (in Danish)
Final Cut for Real is proud to have two films at this year’s CPH:DOX - two films with a very special connection. ‘OUTSIDE’ by Olha Zhurba is nominated for the DOX:AWARD and has its world premiere at CPH:DOX. ‘A House Made of Splinters’ by Simon Lereng Wilmont won Best Director at Sundance and for best Nordic Dox at Göteborg Film Festival, and is selected for HIGHLIGHTS.
‘OUTSIDE’ is produced by Darya Bassel and Viktoriia Khomenko from Moon Man, Ukraine, in co-production with Final Cut for Real and Tangerine Films (NL), while ‘A House Made of Splinters’ is produced by Monica Hellström at Final Cut for Real, in co-production with Moon Man, Story (SE) and Donkey Hotel (FI). Both films are stories from Ukraine about vulnerable children and youth. ‘A House Made of Splinters’ follows three children at a temporary shelter, as war-torn Ukraine leaves devastating and enduring marks on the population. ’OUTSIDE’ follows Roma, a 13-year-old street boy neglected by his family and the state from his days as a poster boy for the Ukrainian Revolution in 2014, through 7 years in the streets of Kyiv until he is a young man. Both films are also supported by the Ukrainian State Film Agency, Danish Film Institute and International Media Support (in addition to funders that are not involved in both films, please see each film’s page for further info).
The screening times for ‘Outside’ are as follows:
March 25th, 19:45 – Empire Cinema
March 31st, 18:15 – Cinemateket Carl
April 2nd, 12:00. – Nordisk Film Dagmar
Read more and buy tickets for ‘Outside’ by clicking here.
The screening times for ‘A House Made of Splinters’ are as follows:
March 4th, 19:00 – The Grand Theatre
March 24th, 21:30 – The Grand Theatre
March 29th, 17:15 – Empire Cinema
March 30th, 19:30 – Politikens Hus
April 2nd, 19:15 – The Grand Theatre
Read more and buy tickets for ‘A House Made of Splinters’ by clicking here.
Press: Freddy Neumann, neumann@mail.dk
We are very proud to announce that ‘Flee’ directed by Jonas Poher Rasmussen and produced by Monica Hellström, Signe Byrge Sørensen, and Charlotte De La Gournerie has won the award for Best Feature at IDA (International Documentary Association) Documentary Awards!
‘Flee’ tells the extraordinary true story of Amin who, on the verge of marriage, is compelled to uncover his past for the first time – one that he has kept secret for over twenty years and which has continuously threatened the life he has built for himself since making the journey as a child refugee from Afghanistan to Denmark. Told mostly through animation, ‘Flee’ weaves together a stunning tapestry of images and memories which tell the affecting story of a young man grappling with his traumatic past in order to discover his true self and the meaning of home.
The IDA Documentary Awards is the world's most prestigious event dedicated to the documentary genre, celebrating the best nonfiction films and programs of the year. It seeks to represent excellence in the documentary field from around the world, by emerging and established documentarians. The 2021 Awards was presented at a virtual ceremony on Friday, March 4, 2022.
To see the full list of winners and nominees, click here.
It is with great pleasure that we announce that ‘Flee’ directed by Jonas Poher Rasmussen has taken the top prize at the 15th annual Cinema Eye Honors, winning the award for Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Filmmaking in addition to the award for Outstanding Achievement in Graphic Design or Animation!
‘Flee’ tells the extraordinary true story of Amin who, on the verge of marriage, is compelled to uncover his past for the first time – one that he has kept secret for over twenty years and which has continuously threatened the life he has built for himself since making the journey as a child refugee from Afghanistan to Denmark. Told mostly through animation, ‘Flee’ weaves together a stunning tapestry of images and memories which tell the affecting story of a young man grappling with his traumatic past in order to discover his true self and the meaning of home.
Cinema Eye is the only international nonfiction award to recognize the whole creative team, presenting annual craft awards in directing, editing, producing, cinematography, original score and graphic design/animation. Cinema Eye presents and produces the annual Cinema Eye Weekend and Honors Awards Ceremony. The 2021 Awards was presented on March 1st, 2022.
To see the full list of winners and nominees, click here
Come on Friday March 4 for the CPH:DOX launch and be among the first in Denmark to watch 'A House Made of Splinters' by Simon Lereng Wilmont, who just won awards in Göteborg and at Sundance Festival
‘A House Made of Splinters’ follows three children at a temporary shelter, as war-torn Ukraine leaves devastating and enduring marks on the population. Through the eyes of kids, the movie depicts a personal, tender, and simultaneously tragic and hopeful story about lives in limbo
Click here for more information about the event.
