EXCLUSIVE: Producer Lars Bredo Rahbek of Copenhagen’s Nimbus Film, whose Itsi Bitsi screened premiered at TIFF last night, is now developing a big-screen adaptation of In Search of a Distant Voice by author Taichi Yamada.

The film’s setting will be transplanted from Tokyo to Copenhagen and director Samanou Acheche Sahlstrøm is attached to direct and working on the first draft of the script now.

The novel, first published in 1986, is well known in Japan and was translated into English in 2006.

Rahbek told Screen: “It’s a mixture of a drama with a ghost story. It also suits the talents of Samanou very well.”

“Sometimes I get envious that you can see certain genres of film like horror or ghost stories that are hard to envision in a small, modern country such as Denmark,” the producer, who is a fluent Japanese speaker, tells Screen. “I was scouting to see how we could bring elements of that to Denmark.”

The film is likely to shoot in 2015.

Rahbek, whose credits include Flame & Citron, is also working on the next feature film from Charlotte Sieling, who has recently found success with TV projects such as The Bridge and The Killing. Mesteren (loose translation: The Master) is in development now and could also shoot in 2015. The story is about a world famous artist who reunites with his estranged son, a graffiti artist.

Before either of those films, he produces Henrik Ruben Genz’s Vice Admiral Tordenskiold…And Dog.

Topics