Copenhagen-based sales and aggregation outlet LevelK has boarded the Norwegian psycho-thriller “Anathema” by promising directing duo Ea Johanne Sandberg and Alpha Nord.

One of 21 projects in development to be pitched today at the Nordic Co-Production Market in Haugesund, “Anathema” is being shepherded by the seasoned Janne Hjeltnes (Netflix’s “Royalteen,” “Midsummer Night”) and Anne Borgaard Sørensen (“Camino”, “Bullshit”), also credited respectively as producer and executive producer of the Venice-bound “No Paradise If You Are Killed by a Woman.”

Penned by Sandberg and Nord, “Anathema” is billed as a “visceral, unsettling exploration of repression, denial and collective madness.” The central character Dafne, lives in a valley with her mother and Bror. When he vanishes, she begins to question if she or her community is falling apart. His eventual return, drowned and dead, pushes the town into full‑scale delusion: no one admits his zombie-like state and everyone insists on celebrating his wedding, even if it means sacrificing his fiancée.

“Dafne combines the truth-telling clarity of the boy in “The Emperor’s New Clothes” with the reluctant awakening of Neo in “The Matrix,” said the co-directors whose graduation short “Liminal Space” was selected for the New York City Independent Film Festival in 2025.

“What excited us about the project was the fresh take on a known genre and the guts of the two young female directors to approach taboo subjects in an unconventional manner and thereby mark their debut with a clear ‘what the f***’ film which will have people do a double take,” commented Natascha Degnova, LevelK’s head of PR and marketing. She added: “This is the kind of project that fits very well into our strategy of including more genre titles to our slate, as well as of getting involved in projects before production, having a full journey and collaboration with the filmmakers from script to worldwide release.”

“Anathema” is also the first feature under Hjeltnes and Sørensen’s banner Empathitude Pictures, set up in 2025 between Oslo and Copenhagen. “It’s exactly the kind of film we want to champion: character-driven, boundary-pushing and emotionally resonant, with a strong creative vision at its core,” said the producers, adding: “What makes the project particularly exciting to us is that it represents an extraordinary Gen Z approach to storytelling and filmmaking: instinctive, genre-fluid and unafraid of breaking with convention. It is the kind of filmmaking that does not simply work within an existing cinematic language but actively pushes it forward and expands what contemporary cinema can be.”

The project’s film financing is being structured so far as a three-way co-production between Empathitude Pictures in Norway and Denmark and Junafilm in Germany, with funding from the Norwegian Film Institute. “It’s a low budget film [around $1.7 million] but it needs the right partners as we want those trailblazing Gen Z filmmakers to fulfil their vision,” the former Viaplay and The Global Ensemble Drama top executive Sørensen told Variety.

At the Norwegian Film Festival’s industry sidebar New Nordic Films, currently underway, the Empathitude Pictures co-heads are looking for further co-financiers and distributors for “Anathema” and for their overall film and series slate.

“With Anne, since launching Empathitude Pictures, we’ve been working relentlessly on our development slate, which was awarded Creative Media support this summer, so it feels like we have taken some good choices. Starting a new company these days is not easy, but we’re optimistic,” offered Hjeltnes who’s also thrilled to attend the Venice Film Festival with the world premiere – out of competition – of Halkawt Mustafa’s “No Paradise if You Are Killed by a Woman,” produced by Hene Films.  

“I have been a producer alongside Halkawt for a decade, having produced as well his previous film “Hiding Saddam Hussein” [an IDFA world premiere in 2023]. “This is a dream come true,” she said.
New Nordic Films closes Aug. 27 and the Norwegian Intl. Film Festival in Haugesund on Aug. 28.