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Presents A film by Jonas Alexander Arnby (84 min., Denmark, 2015) Language: Danish Official Selection 2014 CANNES INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL Distribution Publicity Bonne Smith Star PR 1352 Dundas St. West Tel: 416-488-4436 Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M6J 1Y2 Fax: 416-488-8438 Tel: 416-516-9775 Fax: 416-516-0651 E-mail: [email protected] E-mail: [email protected] www.mongrelmedia.com @MongrelMedia MongrelMedia 1 Introduction By Christoffer Boe Nordic Horror - sounds nice but wtf is it? All the things we have trouble facing and For us it´s a sensibility, a tone of voice - an dealing with. Like love, compassion, fear, anger interest in the character and the milieu from - basically LIFE. which the devil within has to emerge. Nordic Horror is Scandinavian melancholy, the All genres are roads - express highways to beauty of our nature and the emptiness of our human existence going through the wonderful soul looking for Answers. landscape of moviemaking. But we need to find our own routes. Take our own detours - That makes sense right? and thereby define who we are. For Horror is more than just the superunnatural, bizarre or So welcome to When Animal Dreams - and the occult showing its disturbing face in strangely strange and wonderful world of Jonas Arnby. lit night shots. For us Horror is another word for human emotions turned physical. Another way of - Boe / Alphaville getting to talk about what really interest us the most - You! Me. Us. when animals dream SYNOPSIS An outsider in a small coastal community, Her father tries to keep her safe from the 19-year-old Marie lives alone with her parents. watchful and fearful gaze of the townspeople, She has no one to confide in except Daniel, but something rebellious within Marie cannot a young man mesmerised by her wild nature. be tamed. Soon her search for the truth will When Marie discovers her body undergoing send her on a collision course with everyone a transformation, she begins searching for around her – with the exception of Daniel, answers linked to her family’s hidden past. who will follow her to the end of the night. JONAs alexander arnby BIOgraphy Jonas Arnby has worked in the film industry SELECTED FILMOGRAPHY since 1993. He graduated as a director from the alternative film school, Super16. His When Animals Dream career began with various assistant roles (Feature film, 2014) in film production. He is also co-founder of Circus Alphaville, the commercial subsidiary of The man who was a shoe – among other things Alphaville Pictures Copenhagen. (short, 2004) Jonas Arnby has directed music videos, shorts Dynamite Surfing and TV commercials and has won numerous (Quicksilver TV commercial, 2007). awards at international film festivals. When Animals Dream is Jonas Arnby’s first feature film. Interview with the director You have directed TV commercials and music inner story. We have focused on the personal stretching to infinity. She mustn’t feel intimidated by the prospect videos over a period of ten years. Why are you drama and the psychological interaction Northern Jutland is a region of Denmark of gutting fish, which is why I didn’t want to making your debut as a feature film director between the key people in the film. We wanted where religion plays an important role in the cast a girl from the city with café latte habits. now? to see where our female protagonist, Marie, identity of the local inhabitants, but piety We held a casting session on the island of This time the stars were perfectly aligned. It would end after the pressure and experiences isn’t the overriding characteristic. When you Mors, and from the moment I met Sonia wasn’t because I didn’t want to work with she is subjected to along the way. talk to the locals, they are all able to recount Suhl, I knew she was extraordinary. Sonia has feature films in the past. I’ve developed It was never in our minds to create horror gritty real-life stories. One burned down his amazing charisma and a look that none of the concepts for several other projects before for horror’s sake. The story demanded that house to collect the insurance money, another other girls we test-filmed could match. She is When Animals Dream, but they didn’t the plot take a scary turn. There’s more fable slaughtered the stag he ran over with his car Marie. Sonia’s forte is her ability to express materialise for one reason or another. Patience or magical realism over the film than actual that same morning down by the harbour. A emotions without words. She epitomises the is a virtue, especially in the film business where horror. That being said, I have a personal soft third talked about his grandparents who more taciturn environment. You only have to look an incredible number of elements have to fall spot for the horror genre and have drawn or less lived the lives of pirates. at her face to know what’s going on. into place before an interesting idea actually inspiration from visually scary movies such as They don’t hide anything – they’re completely There is something mystical, ambiguous and becomes a film. In my case that project was Brian de Palma’s version of Carrie and Debra open and frank about the things they’ve extremely seductive about her manner and When Animals Dream. Granik’s Winter’s Bone. experienced. I found myself totally captivated appearance. One minute she looks like an by this universe and ended up choosing nearly ordinary Danish teenager – the next, she is Why did you choose to direct a Nordic horror Why does the story take place in a village in all the locations from that one recce trip. feminine, fragile and dream-like, and the next film as your first feature film? northernmost Jutland? again she is almost androgynous or animal-like It was never my intention to make a traditional For me, it was crucial that the film took place What made you choose a total newcomer in the in appearance. horror film. More often than not, the horror in a closed environment. Rasmus Birch and I main role? Once we had spotted Sonia, we had to find genre is one-dimensional, focusing on the went on a location recce to northern Jutland, Once we’d decided on a remote fishing out whether she could carry such a big role. outer story. What you see is what you get. and when we first saw the countryside around community as the main location, it was vital Marie is in just about every scene of the film. Above all, screenwriter Rasmus Birch and Agger and Thyborøn, we knew we’d found that we found someone in the lead role who Even an experienced actress would find the I wanted to make a classic coming-of-age the ideal setting. The landscape is indescribably could match the contrasted, wind-blown, task daunting. So during pre-production we film - a realistic portrait of a young person beautiful and the sea possesses a raw, natural closed environment. We wanted to cast a girl decided to film a scene from the script with living under unique conditions in an isolated power – on the one hand providing a living who was both strong and independent, but Sonia, and I thought it was a good idea to test community whom we meet as she transitions for the region’s inhabitants – and on the other who would also be credible as being a natural her boundaries. We had to know whether she into womanhood. Her dark sides take hold posing the greatest threat to their existence. part of the surroundings. We therefore sought had any hang-ups that would detract from the and she loses her innocence. Thy National Park is almost a Danish prairie someone who knew the environment from role. The real premise of When Animals Dream is the landscape with long, barren expanses the inside and who felt at home in it. We placed her naked in a room and covered (continued) her in litres of fake blood while she was told that they were as dedicated as I was. That’s captured my ideas about music reminiscent the fairy tale and the environment, and be to scream at the top of her lungs. There was the mark of great actors. As a director, you of the wind. He added a pedal organ, for moved by the story about this young girl so much blood around her that she ended up gain an ally and collaborator who can really example, so you really sense the draught that who is in a place in her life where she has hyperventilating, but we gave her a banana - help you move the film in the right direction. is a perennial phenomenon in these parts. no alternative but to unleash her inner beast. and after that she was fine. It sounds brutal, For me, it was important that the music didn’t Amidst all the violence, it’s actually a beautiful but Sonia was only 18 and if we were to rest What effects did you use to create the right dictate how the audience should feel. The and breathtaking story and I hope the younger an entire film on her shoulders, we had to atmosphere? difficult thing about choosing film music is audience will connect with it. Of course, I be sure she could go the distance. If she had It was crucial that the environment appear finding the right tones to support the images want people to feel entertained, but the most chosen to view the prospect of a bloody, nude ultra-realistic.