New films on Screenbase this week include teen surf story Bluer Than The Sky, an adaptation of bestselling novel How To Build A Girl and Danish drama The Commune.

With plans to shoot in late-2015, John Duigan (Sirens, Head In The Clouds) has been tapped to direct teen surf story Bluer Than The Sky.

Adapted from Lisa Glass’ young-adult novel Blue, the story follows a Cornish teenager who has a whirlwind romance with a famous pro surfer from Hawaii.

London-based producer Leighton Lloyd (Outcast, Dead Simple) will be joined by Steve Cookson and Glass as co-producers, with Michael Favelle executive producing. Australia’s Odins Eye Entertainment will handle sales world-wide.

How to Build A Girl adaptation

Newly formed Monumental Pictures has signed on for the big-screen adaptation of Caitlin Moran’s bestseller How To Build A Girl.

Moran tells a somewhat-autobiographical story of Wolverhampton-born teenager Johanna Morrigan, who moves to London and reinvents herself as a fast-talking, sexually adventurous music critic.

The film’s development is backed by Film4, and has been championed by head of development Rose Garnett. Moran and Niven will adapt the book together.

Danish drama The Commune

Recently picked up by French distributor Le Pacte, shooting has just begun on Thomas Vinterberg’s The Commune.

LePacte’s CEO Jean Labadie described the film as a “unique, highly distinctive and deeply emotional film” that contains an “overwhelming and powerful one-two punch to the heart.”

The film, which explores the clash between personal desires, solidarity and tolerance in a 1970s commune, will shoot for a total of eight weeks on location in Denmark and in Trollhättan, Sweden. The ensemble cast is led by Ulrich Thomsen, Trine Dyrholm, Fares Fares and Lars Ranthe.

The Commune is Vinterberg’s follow-up to Oscar-nominated The Hunt and is being made by Zentropa in co-operation with Toolbox Film.

Producers are Sisse Graum Jørgensen and Morten Kaufmann for Zentropa, with co-production by Film I Väst, Zentropa International Sweden, Topkapi Films and Zentropa International Netherlands.

Nordic distribution is through Nordisk Film Distribution with TrustNordisk handling international sales.

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