Variety is debuting the trailer, poster and a fresh still for “Armand,” which has been shortlisted for the international feature film Oscar. IFC Films launches the Norwegian film in U.S. theaters on Feb. 7, for a limited release, and wide on Feb 14. The poster, shown below, is designed by esteemed artist Akiko Stehrenberger.
Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel’s claustrophobic drama premiered at Cannes Film Festival in Un Certain Regard, where it won the Caméra d’Or for best first feature. The film stars Renate Reinsve, who won Cannes’ best actress award for “The Worst Person in the World,” and Ellen Dorrit Petersen.
“Armand” centers on well-known actress Elisabeth, who is abruptly called into a parent-teacher meeting at her 6-year-old son’s school after hours. Here she is presented with allegations that trigger a tangled web of accusations between parents and faculty. “As Elisabeth struggles to uncover the truth amid the empty school rooms and dark corridors, a chaotic fight for redemption arises where desire, madness and obsession prevail,” according to the film’s production notes.
Ullmann Tøndel comments in an interview: “Nearly all the scenes in the movie concern situations with diffuse boundaries and difficult gray areas: Truth or lie? Victim or abuser? Guilty or innocent? Play or violence? Have we ever had such unclear boundaries between what’s right and wrong – when such conflicting notions have been so close to each other?”
The film’s drama is ignited by an incident between two boys, Jon and Armand, that “could be completely innocent, or very serious depending on how you look at it, and how you choose to contextualise it,” the director explains. “With that in mind I saw that the film could be more about how we, as adults, construct our own realities to fit with the perception of our identity and lives, rather than a story about two small boys having a conflict, which I was less interested in.”
The film is produced by Andrea Berentsen Ottmar for Eye Eye Pictures. Berentsen Ottmar’s credits include “The Worst Person in the World” and “Sick of Myself.”
Kepler Film, One Two Films, Prolaps and Film i Väst are the co-production companies. The co-producers are Koji Nelissen, Derk-Jan Warrink, Fred Burle, Sol Bondy, Alicia Hansen, Stina Eriksson, Kristina Börjeson and Magnus Thomassen.
World sales are being handled by Charades.
Territories sold include Germany (Pandora Film), Spain (Avalon), Italy (Movies Inspired), Greece (Cinobo), Portugal (Alambique), Hungary (Vertigo Média), CIS (A-One Films), Bulgaria (MCF Megacom Film), Poland (Best Film), Czech Rep. and Slovakia (Film Europe), Ex-Yugoslavia (MCF Megacom Film), Romania (Bad Unicorn), Baltics (Kino Pavasaris), Turkey (Fabula), Israel (Lev Cinema), Latin America (Cine Canibal), South Korea (Jinjin Pictures), Taiwan (Hooray Films) and Indonesia (Falcon).
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