Need to know: Denmark’s Profile Pictures has a strong track record with bold new voices, including director Ali Abbasi, working on his debut feature Shelley in 2016. Profile is now bringing his ambitious Iran-set serial-killer drama Holy Spider to Cannes’ Competition. Jacob Jarek, Ditte Milsted and Thor Sigurjonsson founded Profile in 2011; Jarek and Milsted co-own the company now and have kept it independent, turning down first-look deals to have the freedom to pursue their choice of partners on each project. Milsted and Jarek have both worked on Cannes titles individually (When Animals Dream and Only God Forgives, respectively) but as a new company, Profile first came to Cannes in 2015 as co-producers of Un Certain Regard winner Rams. Other film credits include Rasmus Heisterberg’s In The Blood (Toronto 2016), Fenar Ahmad’s Darkland, which was a box-office hit in Denmark, and 2022 Sundance shocker Speak No Evil by Christian Tafdrup. Profile has also moved into TV with Kamikaze, the first Danish HBO Max Original, as well as the miniseries Sex (Berlinale 2020).
Key personnel: Jacob Jarek and Ditte Milsted, CEOs and producers; Marta Mleczek, producer; Simone Lund-Jensen, controller.
Incoming: A Darkland sequel by Ahmad is in development and again stars Dar Salim, picking up the story seven years later. Meanwhile, Tafdrup’s next feature is in development, and two new series are set to shoot in 2023.
Jacob Jarek says: “We focus on what we call visionary works with high impact. We love films that use genres or conceptual ideas, that rise above the traditional drama or arthouse, but without ever compromising on the talent behind.”
Contact: jacob@profilepictures.dk
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