Hanna Bergholm: Last News

EXCLUSIVE:  Finnish filmmaker Hanna Bergholm, whose latest body-horror coming of age movie, Hatching, made its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival, has inked with CAA.

Christopher Vourlias Finnish director Marika Harjusaari makes her feature debut with the female-centered, 19th-century-set horror “The Mire,” which follows a woman who must use her mysterious powers to save a Finnish village from a malevolent spirit. The film will be presented this week as part of a showcase of upcoming Finnish titles at the Finnish Film Affair.

EXCLUSIVE: In a world where the space for specialist and non English-language cinema is shrinking in cinemas, it’s encouraging to see that Tokyo-based Gaga Corporation is committed to bringing a diverse range of theatrical releases to Japanese audiences. 

Naman Ramachandran The U.K. premiere of “Good Luck To You, Leo Grande,” directed by Sophie Hyde, will open this year’s Sundance London (June 9-12), with lead actors Emma Thompson and Daryl McCormack in attendance.

Jamie Lang After a banner 2021 for high-end genre films, industry vets are hopeful that the fantastic can resurrect the corpse of pre-COVID theatrical distribution.As bolts of lightning reanimated the body of Frankenstein’s monster, Julia Ducournau’s “Titane,” which turned heads when it took the Palme d’Or at Cannes, and Sundance Grand Jury prize-winner “Nanny,” a supernatural tale from director Nikyatu Jusu, have revitalized the festival scene.While “Nanny” may have been the jewel in the genre crown at Sundance, the influence that genre cinema held over 2022’s first major festival was wide-ranging and undeniable. Chloe Okuno’s psychological thriller “Watcher” impressed — segueing into several sales deals — as did Hanna Bergholm’s psycho-horror feature “Hatching,” sold by Wild Bunch and Charades-sold Spanish standout “Piggy,” the follow-up to Carlota Pereda’s 2019 Spanish Academy Award-winner “Cerdita.” Among genre titles at Berlin this year are Dario Argento’s serial killer thriller “Dark Glasses” in the Berlinale Special section, while Bertrand Bonello’s subconscious voyage “Coma” and Peter Strickland’s gory “Flux Gourmet” (pictured above) feature in Encounters.

Tomris Laffly Motherhood is scary stuff. From “Rosemary’s Baby” through to “The Babadook” and “Hereditary,” a certain breed of horror film has taught us as much.

The family at the center of Finnish director Hanna Bergholm’s unnerving, instantly memorable horror flick “Hatching,” on first blush, are their own kind of perfect. This quartet of influencers, who sell their idyllic homelife to their legion of followers, are led by a ruthlessly ambitious mother (Sophia Heikkilä), while her husband (Jani Volanen), an amiable oaf, chooses to ignore her worst tendencies.

Jordan Moreau “Hatching,” a Finnish horror movie premiering at Sundance, has two monsters at the center of its story: a grotesque bird creature and a pushy gymnastics mom.Helmed by Hanna Bergholm in her feature directorial debut, “Hatching” follows 12-year-old gymnast Tinja (Siiri Solalinna) as she struggles to live up to the high expectations of her mother (Sophia Heikkilä) — oh, and she discovers a mysterious bird egg and secretly cares for it in her room. Over time, the egg grows larger until it hatches a disturbing, bird-like monster whom Tinja affectionately names Alli.

As horror fans already know, body horror is a niche yet versatile sub-genre, with David Cronenberg as its patron saint.

EXCLUSIVE: Just in time for Sundance, IFC Films has hired Scott Shooman to be Senior Vice President of Acquisitions, reporting directly to IFC Films president Arianna Bocco.