NEWS

A fresh young group af talent is now confirmed to star in Danish director Lone Scherfig’s upcoming modern-day fairy tale SECRETS FROM THE RUSSIAN TEA ROOM. Production starts in New York, Toronto and Copenhagen in spring

Zoe Kazan (The Deuce, The Big Sick), Andrea Riseborough (Death of Stalin, Battle of the Sexes, Birdman: The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) and Tahar Rahim (A Prophet, The Past, The Eagle) have taken on the lead roles in Danish BAFTA award-nominated writer and director Lone Scherfig’s new film SECRETS FROM THE RUSSIAN ROOM.

Scherfig, whose film AN EDUCATION was nominated for three Academy Awards, also wrote the warm, beautiful and brave screenplay SRCRETS FROM THE RUSSIAN TEA ROOM that tells the story of four people in New York City through the worst crises of their lives, the year they gradually become each other’s closest allies and forever change one another’s lives through compassion, kindness and love. Further casting will be announced soon.

Danish skills and creative visions
Copenhagen Film Fund is together with Denmark’s Radio and The Danish Film Institute behind the Danish financing. It’s second time the Copenhagen-based regional fund supports one of the Danish production company Creative Alliance’s productions.

"It is important for Copenhagen Film Fund to back major Danish projects that aim internationally, as it enhances Danish skills and creative visions. That's why it's ideal to invest in Lone Sherfig’s new film that combines Danish creatives and international locations and financing. It is in every way an interesting project especially because of the talented and exciting young actors and the international outreach," says Thomas Gammeltoft, CEO at Copenhagen Film Fund.

The film plans seven weeks of shooting - mainly in Canada. With the help of an investment from among others Copenhagen Film Fund, they are now also scheduled for shooting interior in Copenhagen.

HanWay Films has acquired worldwide sales and distribution rights backed by Ingenious Media and Apollo Media. Continuing their successful partnership that started with AN EDUCATION, SCRETS FROM THE RUSSIAN TEA ROOM will be the fourth collaboration between HanWay Films and Lone Scherfig. They are representing the project at this week’s European Film Market (EFM) in Berlin.

The Russian Tea Room
SECRETS FROM THE RUSSIAN TEA ROOM starts production this spring out of New York, Toronto and Copenhagen and will shoot at the iconic and spectacular The Russian Tea Room, located in the heart of Manhattan. Since being founded by members of the Russian Imperial Ballet in 1927, The Russian Tea Room has been a second home for boldfaced names and the intellectual elite - an exclusive enclave where actors, writers, politicians, and executives meet.

Developed by Creative Alliance, the film is produced by Malene Blenkov (Bridgend, Backstabbing For Beginners) for Creative Alliance and Canada’s Strada Films, in co-production with France’s D’Artagnan, Germany’s Nadcon and Sweden’s Unlimited Stories. It is financed with the support of the Danish Film Institute and Telefilm Canada, DR, Copenhagen Film Fund, the Swedish Film Institute, Film Väst, SF Studio, Nordisk Film & TV Fond, ARTE Grand Accord/WDR, Entertainment One and Ingenious Senior Film Fund.

Malene Blenkov said: “It’s a huge privilege to produce this self-penned, genuine Lone Scherfig film. The subject matter is potent and very relevant about the world we live in today, while at the same time sprinkled with Scherfig’s signature generosity, wit and optimism.”

Heads of department will include regular Scherfig collaborator cinematographer Sebastian Blenkov (Miss Sloane, Their Finest), production designer Carol Spier (Pacific Rim, Eastern Promises), and costume designer Louize Nissen (A War, Kon-Tiki).

About Copenhagen Film Fund
By offering investment, the Copenhagen Film Fund attracts foreign film and TV productions to Greater Copenhagen in order to create growth, employment and raise the profile of the region. Over the past four years the Fund has invested 8.75 million euros in project such as THE DANISH GIRL, THE BRIDGE (Seasons III and IIII), WALLANDER with Kenneth Branagh and most recently Lars von Trier’s new film THE HOUSE THAT JACK BUILT.

About Creative Alliance
Creative Alliance is an independent production company based in Copenhagen, founded in recent years on an innovative artist-led business model.

The company was born out of a desire to develop original, upscale stories in a creative community, one in which filmmakers can share and discuss each other’s projects, gain individual strength and create artistically strong features and television for both Scandinavian and international audiences.

The company is co-owned by four experienced directors from across the Nordic region: Ole Christian Madsen, Lone Scherfig, Per Fly and Dagur Kári, together with head of business affairs Nikolaj Vibe Michelsen and producer / CEO Malene Blenkov. Between them they have created a varied body of cinematic and televised work that has been enjoyed by large audiences worldwide and garlanded with internationally recognized awards.

With a vast shared experience spanning several decades of success with both the domestic and international film markets, press and audiences, Creative Alliance is uniquely placed to build on the extraordinary export success of the Nordic dramatic storytelling tradition, in a new way that focuses on fostering innovation led by mutual critical support of projects, and ultimately, the freedom to develop ideas to fruition in a supportive environment of accomplished filmmakers.

The company has several national and international feature films and television series in the development pipeline with prominent directors, both among the Creative Alliance group and among independent directors.