Lisa Ohlin’s Walk with Me walked all the way to France with KMBO

26/05/2015 – CANNES 2015: Lisa Ohlin’s Danish feature kicked off its sales at Cannes’ Film Market from a three-minute promo reel

Walk with Me by Lisa Ohlin (© Rolf Konow)

Danish international sales agency TrustNordisk concluded this year’s Cannes Film Marketby licensing Swedish director Lisa Ohlin’s Danish feature Walk with Me to French distributor KMBO from a three-minute promo reel.

Ohlin, who most recently directed Wallander: The Sad Bird (2013), the 32nd and last episode in Sweden’s Yellow Bird and TV4’s thriller series based on Henning Mankell’s novels, starring Krister Henriksson, was awarded two Guldbagges – Sweden’s national film prize – and the City of Gothenburg Award for her coming-of-age feature Simon and the Oaks [+] (2011).

Scripted by Danish screenwriter Karina Dam, Walk with Me is the story of Danish soldier Thomas, deployed on a mission in Helmand, Afghanistan, who steps on a landmine and loses both his legs. At the local rehabilitation centre he meets Sofie, an aspiring ballerina from the Royal Danish Ballet, who is helping a relative to regain strength after a long-term illness.

Thomas desperately wants to get back in the field and becomes impatient, as progress is not as quick as he would like it to be. When Sofie offers to help him with a more intensive rehabilitation plan, he accepts. Despite their differences, they develop a special bond and a mutual affection. Danish actors Cecilie Lassen and Mikkel Boe Følsgaard play the leads.

The DoP is the award-winning Lars Skree Armadillo

The cast of the drama also includes Karen-Lise Mynster and Morten Holst. It was staged by Denmark’s Asta Film (by Danish veteran producer Per Holst, whose Bille August filmPelle the Conqueror won, among other accolades, an Oscar, a Golden Globe and the Palme d’Or at Cannes); Denmark’s Nordisk Film Production and Sweden’s Illusion (Peter Hiltunen) co-produced the film, which Filmcompagniet–SF Film will release domestically on 20 August.