EXCLUSIVE: Picture marks Danish Bo Mikkelsen’s feature debut after critically acclaimed short Tabu.

Paris-based Indie Sales has acquired international rights to Danish director Bo Mikkelsen’s upcoming horror thriller What We Become ahead of the AFM.

The feature, shot in Mikkelsen’s hometown of Sorgenfri in the suburbs of Copenhagen, revolves around a family’s fight to survive after a virulent strain of flu breaks out prompting panic amid the population.

The Johanssons are forced into quarantine in their home but when they come under attack from a riotous, bloodthirsty mob they are forced to take extreme measures to escape alive.

The film, which has just wrapped, marks Mikkelsen’s feature debut after a number of shorts including the well-travelled Tabu, which was produced by Nicolas Winding Refn and Lene Børglum at Space Rocket Nation.

The cast features Mille Dinesen and Mikael Birkkjær, who both appeared in hit Danish TV series Borgen, as well as Troels Lyby and Marie Boda, who was in Tabu, and newcomer Benjamin Engell.

Mikkelsen [pictured] describes What We Become as “”is a horror film focusing on close relations - family, neighbours and friends - in a small residential street. It is about what happens when everything we take for granted is suddenly taken away from us, and we are being pushed to the limit.”

Indie Sales will launch international sales at the AFM. Danish distributor SF Film is planning an autumn 2015 local release for the picture which is in post-production,

“I saw Mikkelsen’s short film Tabu and was really blown away by his talent. What We Become should appeal to fans of elevated genre, even more so combined with what the Danes do so well in terms of relationship thrillers,” said Indie Sales CEO Nicolas Eschbach.

Antichrist and A Royal Affair producer Meta Louise Foldager of Meta Film is producing with Sara Namer as lead producer. Foldager and Louis Tisné are executive producers.