"The Contest" is the first Danish film to be selected for the Berlin International Film Festival 2014 kicking off in February. Martin Miehe-Renard's film is invited to take part in the competition programme for children's films, Generation Kplus. The festival will continue to reveal more films in their lineup over the next month.
"The Contest", based on a book by Gitte Løkkegaard, tells the story of 12 -year-old Karl who moves from the Danish west coast to the capital city with his mother. Nothing could have prepared Karl for his new surroundings, a rough and ethnically mixed area of Copenhagen, and soon Karl starts to plan his escape back to his grandparents. Sawsan, a young Turkish girl in Karl’s class, takes him under her wings and tries to integrate him into big city life with all its slang and hipness. When one of Sawsan's homemade songs is chosen for a big national song contest, she faces opposition from her family to follow her dream and sing at the contest. But Karl has other plans, and against all odds he and Sawsan embark on a common mission westward.
Director Martin Miehe-Renard has a background in theatre as actor and director. He has signed several television series and feature films for children, including three contributions to the popular Danish film series "My Sister's Kids" about Uncle Erik, a professor of child psychology, and his sister's five kids who are quite a handful.
"The Contest" opened in national theatres in March and is produced by Marcella L. Dichmann and Henrik Møller-Sørensen for ASA Film Production. LevelK handles international sales.
Also in Berlin
Danish actress Danica Curcic is selected as one of ten European Shooting Stars to be promoted at the Berlin film festival 2014. Read more
Berlin International Film Festival 6-16 February 2014
The Contest - to the Stars and back
Being a stranger doesn't necessarily mean to be coming from the farthest away. Karl and his mother are about to learn this when they move from the west coast of Denmark to the ethnically, and religiously, mixed area of Nørrebro in Copenhagen. Sawsan, a young Muslim girl in Karl's new class, takes him under her wings and tries to integrate him into the big city, with all its slang and hipness.