Scandinavia’s Snowglobe Shows Knack for Auteurs

By Elsa Keslassy

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – One of the hippest, most international Scandinavian companies, the Copenhagen-based Snowglobe, is the 5-year-old banner behind “Wildland,” the female-powered crime film set to world premiere at the Berlinale.

Starring Sidse Babett Knudsen (“Borgen”) as a mafia ringleader and introducing Sandra Guldberg Kampp, “” was written by Ingeborg Topsoe (“The Charmer”) and directed by Jeanette Nordahl. It explores the themes of family, loyalty and the cycle of violence, addiction and corruption. “It’s a female take on a mafia story, a genre that has traditionally been male-driven,” says Katrin Pors, ’s co-founder.

The company was founded in 2015 by three plugged-in Scandinavian film executives with complementary backgrounds: Eva Jakobsen, a former producer at Nimbus Film and Zentropa, who produced hit “Antboy”; Mikkel Jersin, a former producer at Nimbus who worked with Joachim Trier, Runar Runarsson and Lisa Langseth; and Pors, who spent years in Latin America, and co-produced films by the likes of Amat Escalante and Annemarie Jacir.

Among Snowglobe’s 20 film credits, about two-thirds represent co-productions by some of the world’s most critically acclaimed auteurs.

“Co-production is in our DNA; it gives us the opportunity to work with filmmakers from around the world,” Pors says. The outfit previously co-produced Trier’s Cannes pic “Thelma”; Cristina Gallego and Ciro Guerra’s Directors’ Fortnight title “Birds of Passage”; Alejandro Landes’ Sundance-premiering “Monos”; and Carlos Reygadas’ Venice title “Out Time.” They’re now co-producing films by Trier, Lav Diaz, Jonas Carpignano, Pablo Fendrik and Eskil Vogt, among others.

Besides “Wildland,” Snowglobe also produced Ralitza Petrova’s feature debut “Godless” and Jonas Arnby’s sophomore outing “The Suicide Tourist.” The company will be producing the next projects of Nordahl, Petrova, Ask Hasselbalch (“Antboy”) and Topsoe.

“If you look at the films we’ve done so far, there are huge variations, in terms of filmmakers’ profile, nationalities as well as genre,” says Pors.

Jersen says Snowglobe aims to stand out by “working with distinct creative voices and strong storytelling — combined with profound collaborations with filmmakers across borders.”

“They are very director-friendly, and while they have an international profile, they also have strong ties with ’s top filmmakers and talent, along with distributors, film institutes and TV channels,” says Yohann Comte, co-founder at Charades, selling “The Suicide Tourist.”

The company is now developing several TV series. “We see the series format as a natural progression in exploring ideas and working with bigger narratives … and a natural platform to work with our international network of filmmakers and partners,” says Jakobsen.