A Denmark-based company is looking at making a film about Scandinavian settlements in New Zealand to be filmed here using some local actors.
New Zealand journalist and documentary maker Wayne Brittenden has been hired by Zentropa Entertainments to write a feature film script, in English, dramatising the life of Nordic settlers who came here during the 1870s.
Brittenden said the settlers' story was "extraordinary" as they were dumped in the wilderness to fend for themselves rather than given farmland as promised.
"It's not commonly known history in Scandinavia or New Zealand but those early settlers were greatly let down by the New Zealand authorities at that time."
Brittenden, based in London, said the idea for the film grew from features he had done about Nordic settlement here. He wants to hear from people (via Wayne@pacenews.freeserve.co.uk) who have anecdotes, diaries or other records of settlements at Dannevirke and nearby Norsewood, northeast of Palmerston North.
Zentropa, Scandinavia's largest film studio, was founded by Breaking the Waves director Lars von Trier, who established a style of film-making using largely hand-held cameras.
Brittenden said: "They [Zentropa] see this as a major production, and it would probably be shot almost entirely in New Zealand - certainly with some New Zealand actors, as well as a strong Scandinavian cast."
- NZPA
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