Icelandic Coming-of-Age Film 'Just a Kid' Lands Alief for Sales Ahead of Haugesund Pitch
Icelandic producer Hlín Jóhannsdóttir has signed French-U.K. sales outfit Alief to handle the coming-of-age film Just a Kid (Bara barn), writer-director Vala Ómarsdóttir's debut feature, according to Variety.
The film will be pitched to buyers and festival programmers at New Nordic Films' Works in Progress session in Haugesund, Norway, on 27 August. It is a co-production between Jóhannsdóttir's Ursus Parvus in Iceland and Marianne Ostrat's Alexandra Film in Estonia, with Alief partner Miguel Govea having boarded the project at development stage.
Just a Kid follows 16-year-old Julia, played by Birgitta Marín Thorsdottir, who has moved from Norway to Iceland and must juggle caring for her younger sister with the social minefield of a new school. She is drawn to the charismatic Salka, played by Hafrún Arna Levy — who appeared in When the Light Breaks In — and to the school newspaper. The film runs 90 minutes in Icelandic and is listed in post-production by the Icelandic Film Centre.
Ómarsdóttir said the idea developed while she was pregnant with her second daughter. She is interested in the mother-daughter bond, particularly during the teenage years, and drew on rehearsal-driven sessions with her young cast to shape the story from the teenagers' point of view. The Icelandic Film Centre catalogue confirms Ómarsdóttir as writer and director, and Ursus Parvus announced on its Facebook page that filming has wrapped, calling the project her first feature-length film.
The producer roster carries weight. Jóhannsdóttir's Ursus Parvus has built a track record with debut features by female directors, including Quake by Tinna Hrafnsdóttir, which Alief sold to more than 20 territories, with Juno Films taking the U.S. Ostrat, the Estonian producer on Just a Kid, produced Smoke Sauna Sisterhood, a Sundance winner and Estonia's Oscar entry, which Ursus Parvus co-produced.
Funding for the film draws on a broad Nordic and Baltic base: the Icelandic Film Centre, Icelandic tax rebates, the broadcaster RÚV, Saga Film, Studio Syrland, the Nordisk Film & TV Fond, and Estonian tax rebates. Max will handle the theatrical release in Iceland — meaning the film has a domestic distribution commitment in place before its international sales agent begins presenting it to foreign buyers.
In Haugesund, Jóhannsdóttir will also pitch At The End of the Road at the Nordic Co-Production Market, reuniting the core team behind Driving Mum, which won the Tallinn Grand Prix, with writer-director Hilmar Oddsson.
For buyers attending the Works in Progress showcase, Just a Kid arrives with several signals already in place: a sales company with a proven record on Icelandic festival titles, a producer whose previous films have reached more than 20 international territories, and an Estonian partner whose last feature broke through at Sundance. Whether that combination translates into broad international distribution will be decided in the months after Haugesund, as sales agents and acquisition executives weigh the film's festival and commercial potential.
