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PRODUCTION / FUNDING Iceland / UK

Baltasar Kormákur’s romantic drama Touch in the works

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- The new project, set in the UK, Iceland and Japan, spans several decades and follows a widower’s emotional journey to find his first love, who disappeared 50 years ago

Baltasar Kormákur’s romantic drama Touch in the works
Director Baltasar Kormákur

Icelandic filmmaker Baltasar Kormákur (Beast, Adrift, The Oath [+see also:
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) is now working on a new project, a romantic drama titled Touch. Set in the UK, Japan and Iceland, the project entered production in London last Sunday and is based on a novel by Ólafur Jóhann Ólafsson, who also co-wrote the script with the director. Deadline and nordiskfilmogtvfond.com were among the first outlets to report the news.

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The story spans several decades and continents as it follows a widower’s emotional journey to find his first love, who disappeared 50 years ago – before his time runs out. The romantic drama is set both during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic and in the 1960s. It focuses on Kristofer, a retired chef who spontaneously sets off on a journey to get to the bottom of a mystery that has been haunting him ever since his Japanese lover Miko mysteriously vanished from London 50 years earlier.

The cast attached to the picture includes Icelandic and international actors, such as Egill Olafsson, Kōki, Masahiro Motoki, Palmi Kormakur, Sigurdur Ingvarsson, Yoko Narahashi, Masatoshi Nakamura, Meg Kubota, Maria Ellingsen, Eiji Mihara, Theodor Juliusson, Starkadur Petursson, Ruth Sheen and Benedikt Erlingsson.

Touch is being produced by Kormákur himself and Agnes Johansen for Iceland’s RVK Studios along with Mike Goodridge, of British outfit Good Chaos. Carlen Johnson is tasked with overseeing production on behalf of Focus Features, which will handle the US release. Universal Pictures is in charge of the rest of the world outside Iceland, which will be handled by local distributor Sena. The feature is slated for release in autumn 2023. Budgeted at 1.1 billion Icelandic crowns (circa €7.85 million), it has received backing from the Icelandic Film Centre and the Nordisk Film & TV Fond, and co-financing through Iceland’s 35% filming refund incentive.

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