Copenhagen-based Elk Film’s hunger for global reach with quality creative docs was fully-achieved with the art world mystery “The Lost Leonardo,” one of the most buzzed about documentaries of 2021, released in the U.S. by Sony Pictures Classics.
Elk Film’s co-founders, director/producer Andreas Dalsgaard (“The War Show,” “Afghan Muscles”) and editor Nicolás Nørgaard Staffolani (“Cold Case Hammarskjöld”) are on the verge of inking a deal for a fiction series take of “The Lost Leonardo” with Studiocanal, The Picture Company, Entertainment 360, together with Vestigo Films’ Christoph Jörg. At the same time, the partners are gearing up for the world premiere of “As the Tide Comes In” at IDFA in the International Competition section.
The Danish film is helmed by Basque-born Juan Palacios (“Pedaló,” “Inland”) with co-director Sofie Husum Johannesen, a trained anthropologist like most of Elk’s creatives. The feature-length doc is a portrait of the Danish Wadden Sea island of Mandø and its 27 dwellers, as they experience climate change in the shape of extreme weather and flooding. But the islanders stubbornly resist and cling to their roots.
“’As the Tide Comes In’ is the perfect example of our ambition to deliver high quality creative documentaries for a wide audience, developed as a team,” Dalsgaard explains. “I initiated the project and had the idea while travelling on the west coast of Denmark and saw this tiny island of Mandø. I felt it was an incredible metaphor for a world facing climate disaster and rising sea levels threatening our existence.”
Together with Staffolani, Dalsgaard approached Palacios, based on his earlier works, and attached Johannesen. “We felt that having Juan as a Spanish filmmaker and Sofie who is from that region and could connect with the local people, would be a perfect fit to bring an insider and outsider’s perspective,” he says.
The film, produced by Kasper Lykke Schultz, received backing from the Danish Film Institute’s New Danish Screen, TV 2 Denmark and Realdania. World sales are being negotiated at press time.
“As the Tide Comes In” is at the lowest budget-end of Elk’s premium lineup, which includes a handful of major European-co-productions.
Next up is “Daughter of Genghis,” co-produced by “The Lost Leonardo’s” Swedish partner Mantaray Film and French Pumpernickel Films, to be showcased at IDFA in the Docs for Sale section. Broadcasters on board comprise Denmark’s DR, Sweden’s SVT and Norway’s VGTV.
First-timers Kristoffer Juel Poulsen and Christian Als have followed for more than seven years the violent neo-nationalist Gerel, boss of an all-female gang from the underworld of Mongolia’s capital of Ulaanbaatar. Gerel neglects her son Temuulen in her fight for her motherland, but she gradually embraces her maternal responsibilities while abandoning her violent path. The national release is set for early 2024.
“Afghan Circus” by Camille Bildsøe (“I Wish the World Was a Paper Plane”) is in late development, moving into production. The film chronicles the life of young boys and girls in Afghanistan. It depicts what it’s like for them to grow up in a war zone, while investigating spaces of play, imagination and quiet resistance. “We are one of the few foreign teams that have been granted a unique access to filming in Afghanistan since the Taliban regained control of the country,” said Dalsgaard, who anticipates the film to be delivered in a year’s time.
In a totally different genre, “Breaker” is a high energy dive into the world of breakdance, co-directed by “On the Edge of Freedom’s” Anita Hopland and Jens Lengerke.
“Breakdance is a huge youth activity, and at the same time a counter culture phenomenon,” notes Dalsgaard, who goes on: “It’s a street culture which has evolved and will be allowed for the first time at the Olympics 2024. But breakdance doesn’t need the Olympics. It’s the Olympics that need breakdance to reach out to a wider youth audience,” he says.
“What we’re following in this film is the street level culture, being now co-opted by the powers of nationalistic interest and in the midst of this, there are wonderful people who just do it out of pure passion and the will to experiment with their body.”
The project, now in development, is being co-produced by Banijay Benelux’s doc label Scenery and the U.K.’s Dogwoof, also handling sales.
“Breaker” is the second premium doc after “The Lost Leonardo” set to benefit from Elk Film and Dogwoof’s collaboration. The two companies recently sealed a joint development and production partnership exclusively announced in PvNew. A third partner, the Danish Growth Fund, Væksfonden, is involved in the Elk Film Development Fund (EFDF), which earmarks about $424,000 to $566,000 a year towards Elk Film’s docu features and series projects.
Rounding out Elk’s current lineup is “Tarantola, the Venom and the Band,” in which Dalsgaard and Staffolani themselves will wear their directors’ cap to explore Italy’s centuries-old Tarantella Pizzica folk music and dance phenomenon. Italy’s Fluid Production is co-producing. “In a world full of trouble, we need some light and fun and this film will be full of it,” Dalsgaard observes.
