Danish veteran producer Per Holst, who won the Palme d'Or, Golden Globe and Academy Award for Pelle The Conqueror, has once again set up his own production company after working under major Nordisk Film for some 10 years.

The 63 year-old Holst (pictured) has established Asta Film with two newcomers, producers Emilie Brandt Luke and Thomas Radoor, who have yet to graduate from the National Film School of Denmark.

The new outfit which has Radoor as managing director will, however, not move from Nordisk Film's 96-year-old studio lot in Copenhagen, and Holst will continue to work closely with the company, where he has worked as creative director since merging Per Holst Film with the Egmont-owned major.

"It is not an actors' prerogative to change parts, but I have been missing active filmmaking for quite some time," said Holst, who has produced some 39 features in 30 years as well as directing one of the biggest box-office hits in Danish film history, Op Paa Fars Hat (Up on Daddy's Hat) in 1985. "I look forward to getting closer to the film stock and stories again. I think that my generation-spanning collaboration with Emilie [Brandt Luke] and Tomas [Radoor] looks very exiting."

Among the projects which Asta Film will develop for Nordisk Film are the late Henning Bahs' The Smuggler's Daughter, the animated Jungle Jack 3 and the adaptation of Jane Aamund's novel Colorado Dreams. However, Asta Film will also develop their own projects. Per Holst has shown a knack for finding new talents, and has through the years helped launch the careers of some of the most influential Danish filmmakers including Bille August, Lars von Trier and Nils Malmros.

He produced Swedish director Bo Widerberg's last film All Things Fair, and most recently the most expensive Scandinavian feature ever, Ole Bornedal's I Am Dina (pictured)/