Top 100 Most Anticipated Foreign Films of 2016: #67. Erik Skjoldbjaerg’s Pyromaniac

Pyromaniac

Director: Erik Skjoldbjaerg
Writer: Bjorn Olaf Johannssen

Norwegian director Erik Skjoldbjaerg is still best known for his 1997 thriller Insomnia, which was later remade by Christopher Nolan in 2002. The title arrived well before the modern movement (or craze) for Nordic Noir, which explains why he never quite benefitted from the success (as say, Morten Tyldum did). Following a maligned English language debut with 2001’s Prozac Nation, Skjoldbjaerg has been regularly turning out dramatic features, including 2013’s Pioneer. He’s ready with his sixth feature, Pyromaniac, which deals with an arsonist terrorizing a small community and the policeman who discovers the culprit is one of the town’s firemen. Among the cast members is the excellent Agnes Kittelsen from Anne Sewitsky’s Happy, Happy (2010).

Cast: Agnes Kittelsen, Henrik Rafaelson, Trond Nilssen

Production Co.: Pravda Film, Bleck Film & TV, Glor Film AS

U.S. Distributor: Rights available TBD (domestic/international)

Release Date: Pioneer benefitted from a fair amount of festival play following an international premiere at TIFF, eventually distributed by Magnolia Pictures. His latest thriller may follow a similar route if we don’t see it pop up somewhere in the first half of the year.