UK-French sales agent, distribution and production company Alief has picked up worldwide sales for Icelandic haunting mystery title Quake.
“I am thrilled to be screening Quake at this last big film festival of the year in Tallinn. I am very fond of The Black Nights Festival, how it is lively, professional and audience based and I am truly excited to attend the event and see the film spreading its wings in their beautiful cinema.” – Writer/Director Tinna Hrafnsdóttir
The movie will have its World Premiere (November 20th) at Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival (PÖFF). Based on the best-selling novel, Grand Mal/ Quake: A Novel, by Audur Jonsdóttir, which was nominated for the Icelandic Literary Prize and picked out by Toronto International Film Festival as one of their 2021 Industry Selects, Quake stars Anita Briem and Edda Björgvinsdóttir.
“I truly feel that the Black Nights Festival has become quite an attraction point and I believe that this is a good start for our beautiful and engaging film. I am looking very much forward to attending and enjoying the wonderful hospitality and the magical city of Tallinn.” – Producer Hlín Jóhannesdóttir
Quake follows Saga (Briem), a single mother in her late thirties, who gets hit by a fierce epileptic attack walking in a public park with her six-year-old son resulting in a total memory loss. Afraid of being considered unable to take care of her son, Saga attempts to hide her state from others and occupies herself digging for the answers she needs. As she struggles to gather bits and pieces from her forgotten life, repressed memories that Saga unconsciously blocked as a child suddenly start to come back, revealing a painful truth about herself and the past.
The story is a shocking and revelatory exploration of the blurred lines between fact and fiction, reality and imagination, and where mother ends and a child begins. It has been written for screen, and directed, by Tinna Hrafnsdóttir and produced by Hlín Jóhannesdóttir of Ursus Parvus.
“We are thrilled to continue our Nordic new wave journey with Tinna’s mesmerizing debut. A sublime book to screen adaptation of the page turner, with outstanding harrowing performances by lead actress Anita Briem, and the director herself.” – Miguel Angel Govea, head of distribution and production at Alief
Quake will have its World Premiere at Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival on November 20th and be released in Iceland in January 2022.
