^{Photo: Josef Persson}

The Commune, a Danish film scripted by Tobias Lindholm, is a story about the clash between personal desires, solidarity and tolerance in a commune in the 1970s. It is understood to have an autobiographical undertow – director Thomas Vinterberg himself grew up in a commune in the 1970s – and the cast is led by some of Scandinavian cinema’s most familiar faces, among them Ulrich Thomsen, Trine Dyrholm, Fares Fares and Lars Ranthe. Now in post-production, The Commune was shot in Sweden and Denmark.

Delve beneath the surface, though, and you will find several Dutch elements in the project. For a start, the film marks yet another collaboration between Danish production powerhouse Zentropa and Frans van Gestel of Topkapi Films. Van Gestel’s working relationship with Zentropa extends back to Urszula Antoniak’s Code Blue (2011) and he has worked several times with Zentropa co-founder Peter Aalbæk Jensen.

In order to qualify The Commune for Eurimages support, Zentropa needed an extra European co-production partner alongside their Swedish collaborators, The Danes therefore turned to Topkapi to minority co-produce, who were also able to bring financial support to the film through the Netherlands Film Fund’s co-production fund.

This is the first film on which van Gestel has worked with Thomas Vinterberg and Topkapi brought key creative input to the project from the Netherlands, including Ellen Lens (costume design), Marly van de Wardt (make-up) and Daniël Bouquet (2nd camera operator). Additionally, there is also a Dutch composer, the highly regarded Fons Merkies. “We were in contact of course with the producer (Sisse Graum Jørgensen) about what kind of people they needed,” van Gestel reflects.

The Commune has some of the same hallmarks as Lukas Moodysson’s comedy Together (2000) but van Gestel suggests it is far darker in tone. “It is getting a bit more nasty!” The film was pre-bought for the Netherlands by Pim Hermeling’s September Films. Hermeling, like van Gestel, has a long association with the Danes and has acquired many films from Zentropa’s sales agents, TrustNordisk. While the film wasn’t ready for Cannes (where Vinterberg enjoyed past success with Festen and The Hunt) it is bound to turn up a major festival later in the year.

In future, it is more conceivable that Danish films like The Commune could shoot (in part) in Holland. After all, the country has much more to offer foreign producers with its new 30% cash rebate and its emerging regional film funds. However, van Gestel urges a note of caution about expecting the cash incentive to revolutionise the Dutch film industry. “It takes some time,” he says of the Incentive’s bedding-in period, “before people find out what are the do’s and don’ts for shooting in a certain region. Always, when you use rebates, there should be a connection with the content. If you have a natural way to spend your money, then it is easy.”

The reverse, he adds, is also true. It can be a struggle for producers to shoot in a territory when access to soft money is their only reason to be there. “If you need a giant studio, we don’t have one but if you have to do something with water or with exceptional technical crew, and it’s a story that could take place here in the Netherlands, then you can benefit... That’s the job of the producer - to find the right stories for the right territories. Then you can benefit in the best possible way from a tax rebate.”

^{Thomas Vinterberg}

Script: Thomas Vinterberg, Tobias Lindholm Production: Zentropa Entertainment 19 Aps (DK), Zentropa International Sweden (Sweden), Topkapi Films (NL) Sales: TrustNordisk.