Norwegian actress Pia Tjelta will lead the cast of Nina Knag’s feature debut Don’t Call Me Mama, which is in pre-production ahead of a June 2024 shoot.
REinvent International Sales is handling international sales and launching the film at Cannes, with Scanbox Entertainment holding Nordic distribution rights.
Don’t Call Me Mama follows a high school teacher who falls in love with a young asylum seeker, sparking a forbidden relationship with consequences for them both.
Kristoffer Joner, Tarek Zayat, Kathrine Thorborg Johansen also star alongside Tjelta.
Knag and Kathrine Valen Zeiner wrote the script, with Eleonore Anselme and Ingrid Skagestad producing for Nordic production brand The Global Ensemble Drama. Tjelta is an executive producer.
Backers include the Norwegian Film Institute, Zefyr Media Fund and Oslo Film Fund.
Tjelta won the Silver Shell for best actress at San Sebastian in 2018 for her role in Tuva Novotny’s Blind Spot.
Rikke Ennis, CEO at REinvent, described Don’t Call Me Mama as “a thought provoking and brilliant script about surpassing forbidden boundaries leading to fatal consequences for everyone involved.”
“My ambition is to make a controversial, intimate, and impactful film about power and desire, seen through the eyes of a boundary-pushing protagonist,” said Knag.
“This story casts a critical eye on how Western countries treat people fleeing from war and poverty,” added Tjelta. “The story strips us bare, exposing our prejudices and revealing our true nature when faced with others’ vulnerability - especially when we ourselves have something at stake.”
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