Odin’s Eye to take Forbidden Ground, One Mile Above to Berlin

One Mile Above, which was in competition at the Tokyo International Film Festival last year under the name of Kora, tells the true story of a young man cycling to the highest point in Tibet to fulfil his brother’s final wish.

“In our new cut, which will screen at Berlin, there will be a bigger pay off at the end and a greater sense of the triumph of the human spirit,” said Favelle, who was introduced to the project by the producers of Inseparable, the Chinese film starring Kevin Spacey that he also represents internationally.

“One Mile Above has more of a classic Western sensibility than is typical of a Chinese film … perhaps why its takings in China were modest,” he said when asked why he picked up director Du Jiayi’s film.

The film is in Mandarin and Tibetan and stars Bryan Chang, Li Xiaochuan, Li Tao and Michael Chang. Chen Kuo-fu is the producer under the Taihe Universal Film Investment and Millimetre Film banners.

Forbidden Ground, directed by Adrian Powers and Johan Earl, is being made under the radar without government financing and won’t be completed until mid-year.

It is billed as “a poignant and explosive tale of two soldiers stranded in no-man’s land after a failed charge on the Western Front in World War I”.

Earl also produced the film (alongside Denai Gracie) and wrote the script. Both producers also have key billing in front of the camera.

“It has been unashamedly made for international audiences and when I saw some initial footage from the shoot I felt compelled to represent the film,” said Odin’s Eye principal Michael Favelle.

“I have known the filmmakers for many years and believe in them. Literally no-one has seen a trailer or read a script. It is very fresh.”

Odin’s Eye will have a three-minute promo of Forbidden Ground ready for the European Film Market at Berlin. After Berlin he will also start showing it to local distributors.