Birthe Neuman stars in Bille August’s Karen Blixen drama The Pact
On June 10, award-winning Danish director Bille August (Pelle the Conqeuror, The Best Intentions, Silent Heart) started production of the psychological drama The Pact about the intense friendship between world renowned Karen Blixen and the young and promising poet Thorkild Bjørnvig, starring Birthe Neumann (Open Hearts, Move Me, The Seaside Hotel) and Simon Bennebjerg (The Man, When the Dust Settles) in the leading roles. The film also stars Asta August as Benedicte and Nanna Voss as Grete. The Pact is produced by SF Studios and Motor with producers Jesper Morthorst and Karin Trolle.
The young poet Thorkild Bjørnvig meets the aging, literary world star Karen Blixen. It will be a fatal meeting between two people, resulting in a pact that requires indispensable fidelity on the part of Bjørnvig to be able to stay under the protective wings of the genius Karin Blixen.
”The Pact is a relationship drama, the eternal story of seduction and wanting to be seduced, of the art of manipulation, of guilt and innocence, of a highly unusual friendship between two deeply talented people and a relationship that develops into a fateful bond. A dramatic tale of a dangerous pact and of the unmanageable consequences of an inevitable dependency relationship. A thrilling connection between two of Denmark's greatest personalities”, says director Bille August.
“We are extremely proud to have Birthe Neumann starring as Blixen - a strong, composed and deeply fascinating woman. The audience will get a glimpse of Karen Blixen’s character, never exposed before. It is a portrait of a strong woman – a generous and loving woman, who is also powerful, intriguing, and jealous. A woman who placed Thorkild Bjørnvig in an intense drama between herself, his wife Grete and his mistress Benedicte. We have secured a strong cast with Birthe Neumann in the front and three young great talents in supporting roles in a thrilling and fascinating story that has never been told on film”, says producer Jesper Morthorst.
Birthe Neumann has starred in some of the most critically acclaimed Danish films and TV series since her breakthrough in the early 1970s such as Thomas Vinterberg’s The Celebration (1998), Lars von Trier’s The Kingdom (1994-1997), Open Hearts (2002), Move Me (2003) and The Sun King (2005) and The Seaside Hotel (2013-), one of the most watched Danish TV series of all time. Neumann will play against the young talent Simon Bennebjerg. Bennebjerg who previously starred in the TV series The Legacy (2016) and When the Dust Settles (2020) and made feature film debut with a minor role in Charlotte Sieling’s The Man (2017).
The Pact is produced by SF Studios in Denmark and MOTOR with producers Jesper Morthorst and Karin Trolle and support from the Danish Film Institute in collaboration with FilmFyn and TV2 Denmark. Bille August is directing based on a script by Christian Torpe (Silent Heart, The Mist, The Exception).
Nordic distribution is handled by SF Studios with a planned theatrical release in early 2021.
For more information, please contact:
Camilla Baggesen, Publicity Manager Denmark, SF Studios, +45 20 74 06 50
About SF Studios
SF Studios is one of the world’s oldest film companies and celebrated 100 years in 2019. Today SF Studios is the leading film studio in the Nordic region with its headquarters in Stockholm, Sweden and offices in Oslo, Copenhagen, Helsinki and London. The company is producing and distributing feature films and TV series as well as providing the digital services SF Anytime and SF Kids. SF Studios is part of the leading Nordic media company Bonnier.
About Motor
Motor is founded by producer Jesper Morthorst and writer Christian Torpe, who previously directed the popular TV series Rita, Hjørdis and the critically acclaimed thriller series Peace to the Land as well as Bille August's award-winning and acclaimed Silent Heart.
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