01/02/2024 - Helmed by Karlovy Vary winner Bård Breien, the picture promises to tell the “gripping story of two brothers and their enthralling boxing careers”

Danish sales outfit TrustNordisk has boarded world sales on a brand-new Norwegian boxing drama, titled Team Havnaa and directed by Bård Breien, winner of the Best Director Award at Karlovy Vary with The Art of Negative Thinking [+see also:
trailer
film profile] in 2006. The news was first reported by Variety.

Drawing inspiration from the trials and tribulations of the Havnaa brothers, the film promises to tell the “gripping story of two brothers and their enthralling boxing careers, as respectively manager and boxer”, which “unfolds from the pinnacle of world-championship glory to involvement in the largest robbery in Norwegian history”.

“In various ways, we will follow their endeavours to make the youngest of them reach the very top of professional boxing, becoming Norway’s first world champion, a milestone for the history books. But for the older brother, it doesn’t stop there, and the fire within keeps raging. Uncontrolled, he ends up making one more entry in the history books when he takes part in the biggest bank heist in Norwegian history,” reads the official press release issued by TrustNordisk.

The main cast includes actors Tobias Santelmann (The Last Kingdom, the upcoming The Arctic Convoy) alongside up-and-coming talent Odin Waage (Rod Knock). The script was penned by Breien himself together with Eske Troelstrup and Ravn Lanesskog. The feature, now in post-production, is budgeted at €4 million. Key crew members include editor Vidar Flataukan and DoP Askild Vik Edvardsen.

Team Havnaa is being produced by Synnøve Hørsdal for Norwegian outfit Maipo Film, with funding from Film Kolektiv, PubRes and the Norwegian Film Institute. Co-producing are Parvel Bercik and Silvie Michajlova. The picture’s Nordic distribution has been entrusted to Nordisk Film Distribution.

Speaking about the project, Hørsdal said: “For me, this is a fascinating story of two brothers who were very closely intertwined with each other all their life but ended up in very different history books. And with Bård Breien as the storyteller, I knew it would have a very unique approach with a great love for the characters.”

TrustNordisk will present the project – including a teaser – to potential buyers at the upcoming European Film Market (15-21 February) in Berlin. The domestic release is slated for 1 December 2024.