Noomi Rapace to star in Arctic thriller ‘In Alaska’; WTFilms boards for sales

EXCLUSIVE: The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo star Noomi Rapace has signed up for Dutch-Canadian co-production In Alaska, which is currently shooting in Vancouver and British Columbia.

The film is directed by Jaap van Heusden and co-director Vinnie Karetak, and produced by Marc Bary for Dutch outfit IJswater Films and Tyler Hagan of Vancouver-based Experimental Forest Films.

It tells the story of Woody, a depressed 17-year-old Inuit boy from a small village in Alaska. After he does something grotesquely stupid, shooting the trans-Alaska oil pipeline, Woody becomes a most wanted terrorist, hunted by seasoned FBI agent Susan Tarheel. 

Paris-based WTFilms is handling international sales outside of Benelux and Canada. Elevation Pictures is releasing the film in Canada, and Gusto Entertainment is distributing in Benelux.

Toronto-based Rhombus Media is executive producer.

Rapace plays the FBI agent. The Swedish actress, who starred as Lisbeth Salander in the original Millennium trilogy, has been winning plaudits recently for her performance as Mother Theresa in Teona Strugar Mitevska’s Venice Horizons title Mother. 

Appearing alongside Rapace as Woody is newcomer Leo Matthew Tamela, a young rapper from the Arctic community of Kimmirut in Nunavut. 

“For Vinnie and me, it’s a great adventure to allow the raw and infectious energy of our first-timer Leo to merge with the generosity and laser focus that Noomi brings, and together discover moments of truth on screen,” Dutch director van Heusden commented.  

Canadian co-director Karetak added: “It’s a coming-of-age story with everything in it: dark humour, drama, comedy, thriller. It’s a young man’s journey, trying to make his life better. We Inuit tend to have different humour, sometimes dark. We have to use this a lot to get through things. What I love about this film is that it’s not an ancient romanticised story of Inuit folklore. It’s a story relatable to many of the youth up here who are feeling lost and lonely.”

The film is financed by the Netherlands Film Fund, Telefilm Canada, Eurimages, Creative Europe MEDIA, Public Broadcaster EO, CoBO Fund, Creative BC and Nunavut Film Development Corp. 

WTFilms co-chief Gregory Chambet will begin discussions about the project with buyers at AFM in November, and plans to show first footage at the European Film Market in Berlin next February.

Rapace is represented by Gersh Agency, Stella Härnström at Luz Eterna, Kurt Selling, Tapestry and Narrative. 

The project is being presented this week as a work-in-progress at NLWave25, the new Dutch showcase event in Utrecht.

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