The Yellow Affair to commence sales on POWER OF LOVE directed by Jonas Rothlaender.
Source: Variety
Annika Pham - Jan 29, 2023
Global sales shingle The Yellow Affair has acquired world rights to the modern love story “Power of Love” by German helmer Jonas Rothlaender, whose breakthrough movie “Fado” nabbed a Silver Hugo at Chicago and a German Film Critics’ for best feature debut.
Julia M. Müller and Luisa Leopold are producing for Germany’s StickUp Filmproduktion, in co-production with Misha Jaari and Mark Lwoff of Finland’s BUFO (“The Gravedigger’s Wife”).
The director’s sophomore feature film turns on power dynamics in a couple and the social norms expected of a male/female relationship.
Toplining the feature are Saara Kotkaniemi (“Deadwind,” “Bordertown”) and Nicola Perot (“Marie-Antoinette,” “Der Hamster”) as Saara and Robert, both in their 30s, who set off on an extensive summer holiday in the Finnish archipelago.
Their love is a constant play with gender role clichés, yet behind the unconventional façade, they struggle with their own insecurities. Stuck on the island and influenced by its rough nature, the pair starts to fall back into the very same archaic relationship patterns that they so desperately try to avoid.
Rounding out the cast are Outi Mäenpää (“Hit Big”), Timo Torikka (“Syke”) Elmer Bäck (“Next of Kin”) and Cecilia Paul (“Helsinki Syndrome”).
The Yellow Affair’s New-York-based CEO Karoliina Dwyer and London-office rep and head of sales Steven Bestwick said they had been tracking the project since its inception and were eager to team up with Rothlaender: “His ability to create engaging and intelligent stories make him a talent to watch. We were also excited by the intensity of this story and the chemistry between Saara and Robert who each struggle to maintain an emotional balance in a relationship story that is raw, passionate and contemporary.”
The movie is co-financeed from Yle, Arte and Rundfunk Berlin-Branderburg (RBB) and has received support from the Finnish Film Foundation, Medienboard Berlin Brandenburg, Deutscher Filmförderfonds, Eurimages and the West Finland Film Commission. BUFO’s own distribution arm B-Plan will handle the theatrical bow in Finland this fall, and Missing Films German distribution.
Per Dwyer and Bestwick, “Power of Love” is “a great fit with The Yellow Affair’s slate as a” high quality film with a provocative and thought-provoking edge that brings it into a commercial space.”
The feature will debut at the upcoming Berlinale European Film Market (Feb. 15-22).
Prior to Berlin, Dwyer is attending this week’s Göteborg industry confab TV Drama Vision (Feb. 1-2) with Yellow Affair’s upcoming Swedish drama comedy “Keep it Together” (“Hålla samman”), produced by Anagram Sweden for Swedish public broadcaster SVT.
The eight-part family drama is head-written by rated scribe Erik Ahrnbom (“The Bridge,” “Thin Blue Line”), with Maria Blom (“Dalecarlians”) serving as concept director. The series charters two adult sisters’ altered relationships as they are faced with their father’s Alzheimer disease.
The Yellow Affair has started negotiations on the series, due to bow this fall on SVT.
The sales outfit’s current slate also includes Season 2 of the Intl. Emmy-winning transgender drama ‘Rūrangi,” picked up by Hulu for the U.S., Latvia’s Oscar contender “January” by Viesturs Kairiss, and the Finnish coming-of-age “Bubble,” by Aleksi Salmenperä.