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English Titles I

Island of Lost Souls

Original title: De fortabte sjæles ø
German title: Insel der verlorenen Seelen, Die
Denmark, 2007

Director: Arcel, Nikolaj
Production company: Zentropa Entertainments, Pain Unlimited GmbH, Nimbus Film Productions ApS, Memfis International AB
Co-producers: Nimbus Film Productions ApS
Age recommendation: 10 years and up

Synopsis:
If you are a fourteen-year-old girl like Lulu and have just moved to a sleepy seaside village, you might feel doomed to a life of complete boredom. With her single mother working nightshifts, and only her bratty younger brother Sylvester for company, Lulu longs for excitement.

The opportunity for adventure arrives, however, and in a big way. One night, Sylvester is struck by a beam of white light. Soon, his odd behaviour reveals that he has become possessed by the spirit of Herman Hartmann, a nineteenth-century resident of the same small town and a member of a secret lodge that fought against evil and corruption more than a century before. Soon, the voices of lost souls trapped on nearby Monk’s Island begin calling to him for help and Lulu, who believes in spirits and ghosts, is eager to investigate. However, she cannot do so alone, so she turns to the only other people who will believe her claims: Oliver, a phobic, painfully insecure child of privilege, and Richard, a disillusioned (for now) scientist and researcher of the paranormal. Arriving on the island, they discover a destructive modern-day force that is using the spirits of the past for nefarious purposes. It is up to these unlikely adventurers to battle against the ultimate evil, rescue the spirits of the past and save the peace and harmony of the present.

Comments:
Sprockets Toronto 2007:
Boasting fantastic special effects and a gripping story that spans three centuries, Island of Lost Souls has dominated the Danish box office for the early part of 2007. Director Nikolaj Arcel – best known to Sprockets audiences as the screenwriter of the family adventure film Catch That Girl – draws great performances from his cast and utilizes the full power of computer-generated imagery to create nail-biting suspense.

London Int. Film Festival 2007:
Capably directed by Nikolaj Arcel (Kings Game, LFF 2005), Island of Lost Souls is a scary action adventure film which successfully combines state of the art effects with the enduring Danish tradition of storytelling. (Justin Johnson)

Marketing strategies:
194500 admissions in Denmark.

Festivals:
Sprockets Toronto 2007, Kristiansand 2007, Chicago 2007 (awarded), London Int. FF 2007, Gijon 2007, Danish Film Academy Robert Awards 2008 (5 awards), Danish Bodil Awards 2008: Special Bodil for special effects, Leeds 2008 (awarded)

Website: www.fortabtesjaele.dk

World sales address/es:
TrustNordisk Int. Sales (DK)

Sold to:
Nordisk Film Biografdistr. (DK)
Studiocanal (DE)