Award-winning Swedish actress Pernilla August is making her directorial debut with an adaptation of Susanna Alakoski’s bestselling novel, Svinalängorna

Noomi Rapace, the star of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and the forthcoming second and third instalments of the Millennum trilogy, will take the lead role.

Svinalängorn, which is Alakoski’s first novel, is a semi-autobiographical story about growing up in a home riddled with abuse and alcoholism during the 1970s.

Scripted by August and Lolita Ray, the film has gone into production for Hepp Film and Drakfilm (Helena Danielsson, Ralf Karlsson), with a $1.1m (SEK 7.5m) of support from the Swedish Film Institute.

The institute has also backed Swedish director Görel Crona’s first feature, Dolores’ Silence (Dolores Tystnad) with $400,000 (SEK 3m) The film, written by Crona, follows three women – previously unknown to each other – who inherit a house from a fourth women they have never heard of. It will be produced by Klara Björk for Filmkreatörerne Prah and Björk AB. The cast includes Maria Lundqvist, Carina Lidbom and Malin Arvidsson.

Meanwhile, Memfis Film International received $100,000 (SEK 1m) for the co-production of Danish director Susanne Bier’s The Revenge (Hævnen), her first Danish film since her Hollywood production, Things We Lost In The Fire. Produced by Denmark’s Zentropa, The Revenge is set in a Sudanese refugee camp and a provincial Danish town. It stars Trine Dyrholm, Ulrich Thomsen and Mikael Persbrandt.

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