Mads Hedegaard

Source: Donal Michael Chambers courtesy of MOTOR

Mads Hedegaard

REinvent International Sales has boarded action drama Stranger, the fiction feature directorial debut of Mads Hedegaard which is produced by Motor.

The film is set around 4,000 BC, during the transition from Hunter Stone Age to Peasant Stone Age.

The story follows a 19-year-old girl, Aathi, whose family are the first farmers to arrive in what is now Denmark; when her family is killed by a local tribe of hunter-gatherers, she and her brother are forced to live with the tribe in the vast and eerie forest and learn new traditions in order to survive. As the culture crash becomes more ruthless, Aathi must decide if she will take her revenge. 

Angela Bundalovic (Copenhagen Cowboy) stars as Aathi, with Danica Curcic (The Chestnut Man) playing the leader of the hunter-gatherer tribe. 

A Pre-Indo-European language has been developed especially for the film to ensure authenticity; Stranger is the first Danish feature film to be set in the Stone Age.

The project has been stirring up strong buzz since it was first pitched at script stage at Goteborg’s Nordic Film Market in January 2021.

The team plans to start shooting in July 2023.

Scanbox Entertainment will release in Denmark in the autumn 2024.

Rikke Ennis, CEO at REinvent said: “Stranger is one of the most spectacular projects I have read for a very long time. An action drama set in the Stone Age is definitely an impressive ambition and one I am sure Motor will execute to perfection.”

“The script has a fantastic balance between action and dramatic elements - and I look very much forward to speaking to buyers in Cannes about the film,” added Helene Aurø, Sales and Marketing Director at REinvent.

Director Mads Hedegaard previously made the acclaimed documentary Cannon Arm and the Arcade Quest. Hedegaard co-writes the script with Jesper Fink (Margrete-Queen of The North).

Andreas Hjortdal produces for Copenhagen-based Motor (As In Heaven, The Pact) in cooperation with REinvent Studios and in co-production with Maria Ekerhovd for Norway’s Mer Film, with support from Danish Film Institute, The Norwegian Film Institute, Nordisk Film and TV Fond, Creative Europe MEDIA, DR, NRK, SVT and YLE.