SF Studios and REinvent International Sales release trailer for anticipated Brightly Shining
Today, SF Studios and REinvent International Sales release the trailer for the Norwegian Christmas feature film Brightly Shining, based on Ingvild Rishøi's critically acclaimed and bestselling novel of the same name. The film is directed by Ida Sagmo Tvedte who has also written the script together with the author Ingvild H. Rishøi. The film had its world premiere at the prestigious children’s film festival Giffoni International Film Festival on July and will have its theatrical premiere on October 17 in Norway.
The novel, which went straight onto the bestseller lists upon its release, has been published in 30 countries and been praised by both Oprah Winfrey and international pop star Dua Lipa.
Brightly Shining is a heartwarming Christmas adventure about a father and his two daughters Melissa (16 years old) and Ronja (10 years old) and takes place at Tøyen in Oslo. Christmas is approaching, and when their father loses his job as a Christmas tree seller, Ronja and Melissa take over the responsibility. While their father drowns his sorrows in the Stargate pub, the two girls are forced to fend for themselves and dream of a different reality. It is a film about a father who does his best, but is not enough; about an older sister who has far too big shoes to fill; and about a little sister who never stops hoping.
The sisters Melissa and Ronja are played by Anna Drakopoulou Sverrirdottir (age 15) and Luiza Idrizi (age 9) and their father is played by Bartek Kaminski (The Ambassador, Norsemen). The cast also includes Staffan Göthe (A Royal Secret, A Serious Game), Tevje Espeland (Hybris, Elevrådet), Damir Babovic (In Order of Disappearance, Home Ground), Suheib Ahmed (10 years), Ingvild Holthe Bygdnes (Luka and the Magical Theater, Monster), Hamza Kader (22 July, Tilt) and Shana Mathai and Jan Gunnar Røise, both currently in Power Play.
Brightly Shining is produced by Hege Hauff Hvattum at Motlys with support from the Norwegian Film Institute and co-financing from Nordic Film & TV Fond and Oslo Film Fond. SF Studios distributes the film in the Nordics and REinvent handles international sales.
Watch the trailer here: https://youtu.be/wWUVnj4Olk0
For more information, please contact:
Jesper Larsson, SF Studios, jesper.larsson@sfstudios.se
Ida Storm, REinvent International Sales, ida.storm@reinvent.dk
About SF Studios
SF Studios, established in 1919, is one of the world’s oldest film companies. Today SF Studios is the leading film studio in the Nordic region with its headquarters in Stockholm, Sweden and offices in Oslo, Copenhagen and Helsinki. The company is producing and distributing feature films and TV series as well as providing the streaming service SF Anytime and Blockbuster. SF Studios is part of the leading Nordic media company Bonnier.
About REinvent International Sales
REinvent is a packaging, sales and financing studio all in one. REinvent has extensive knowledge of original trends and sales opportunities in both the Scandinavian and international markets and works with high profile European production companies.
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Tarik Saleh’s Eagles of the Republic selected for Toronto International Film Festival
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He reluctantly accepts the role and finds himself thrown into the inner circle of power. Like a moth drawn to the flame he begins an affair with the mysterious wife of the general overseeing the film. The music of the film is composed by Academy Award winner Alexandre Desplat (Asteroid City, 2023, Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio, 2022, Little Women, 2019, The Shape of Water, 2017, The Imitation Game, 2014). International sales are handled by Playtime, French distribution by Memento and SF Studios is distributing Pan-Nordic. The previous films in the Cairo trilogy were both huge international successes. Tarik Saleh won the Best Screenplay award at the Cannes Film Festival 2022 for Cairo Conspiracy aka Boy from Heaven. The film was Sweden's Oscar entry 2023 and received a César nomination for ’Best Foreign Film’ 2023. The Nile Hilton Incident received the Grand Jury Award at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival, the Swedish Academy Award for ’Best Film’ in 2018, and a César nomination for ’Best Foreign Language Film, to name a few awards. Eagles of the Republic aka Les Aigles de la République is a Swedish (Unlimited Stories & Apparaten), French (Memento Production), Danish (Ström Pictures), Finnish (Bufo Oy) and German (Films Boutique) co-production with a budget of 9 M€, making it one of the biggest productions for an Arabic language film to date. Starring in the leading role as George Fahmy is award-winning Fares Fares who also starred in the two previous films in the Cairo trilogy, Cairo Conspiracy aka Boy from Heaven (2022) and The Nile Hilton Incident (2017), the latter for which Fares received a Guldbagge Award for ’Best actor in a leading role’. Fares and Tarik have a long-standing working relationship, Fares has participated in Saleh’s Hollywood movie The Contractor, 2022, the animated dystopia Metropia, 2009 and in the futuristic HBO-series Westworld, 2018. The role of Donya, George’s girlfriend is portrayed by French star Lyna Khoudri (The French Dispatch, 2021), who won a César in 2020 for ’Most Promising Actress’ for Papicha and the Orizzonti (Horizon) Award for 'Best Actress’ for Les Bienheureux aka the Blessed at the Venice Film Festival in 2017. 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Eagles of the Republic is produced by Unlimited Stories, Apparaten, and Memento Production, in co-production with Ström Pictures, Bufo, Films Boutique, SVT, Film i Väst, ARTE France Cinéma, SF Studios, Mikael Ahlström Films and Playtime. With the support of the Swedish Film Institute, Playtime, Canal +, Ciné +, Eurimages, Nordisk Film & TV Fund, Memento, Bayerisher Rundfunk, ARTE France, Danish Film Institute, Centre National du Cinéma et de l'image animée, Paris Region Fund, Finnish Film Foundation, YLE and DR. Produced by Linus Stöhr Torell (Unlimited Stories), Linda Mutawi, Johan Lindström (Apparaten) and Alexandre Mallet-Guy (Memento Production). Nordic distribution: SF StudiosFrench distribution: MementoInternational sales: Playtime Behind the cameraDirector – Tarik SalehWriter – Tarik SalehProducers – Linda Mutawi, Linus Stöhr Torell, Johan Lindström and Alexandre Mallet-GuyPhotographer – Pierre AïmProduction Designer – Roger RosenbergCostume Designer – Virginie Montel Make up & Hair Designer – Saara RäisänenEditor – Theis SchmidtMusic composer - Alexandre Desplatamong others Tarik Saleh – Director and ScriptwriterTarik Saleh has a background as one of the most influential graffiti artists in Europe in the 80’s. His dramatic feature film debut came with Metropia, 2009, a dystopic animation with Stellan and Alexander Skarsgård, Juliette Lewis, Vincent Gallo and Udo Kier. The film premiered at Venice Film Festival as opening film for Critics’ Week. 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