Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel's feature debut, Armand, invited to Cannes
Director and screenwriter Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel's first feature film, Armand, has been invited to the Un Certain Regard program at the Cannes Film Festival.
- Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel is one of our new, major talents. The invitation from Cannes is a significant acknowledgment of his unique voice as a director. The world premiere in Cannes will be an excellent start to the international careers of both Tøndel and the feature film Armand, says Kjersti Mo, CEO of the Norwegian Film Institute.
Parent Meeting at School
The film Armand takes place over one afternoon at an elementary school. Elisabeth is called into a parent meeting on short notice. Her son is accused of something, but this «something» is unclear. Soon the school principal, school nurse, and two other parents join the meeting, which gradually spins out of control.
The leading role as Elisabeth in Armand is played by Renate Reinsve, who was awarded best actress at the Cannes Film Festival 2021 for her role in Joachim Trier's Oscar-nominated The Worst Person in the World. Other actors in the film include Ellen Dorrit Petersen (Blind, The Innocents), Endre Hellestveit, Thea Lambrechts Vaulen, Øystein Røger, and Vera Veljovic. After her role in The Worst Person in the World, Renate Reinsve has appeared in Norwegian director Thea Hvistendahl’s feature Handling the Undead in addition to the feature films Another End and A Different Man, which both were in the main competition at the 2024 Berlinale.
Returning to Cannes
Producer Andrea Berentsen Ottmar is also getting familiar with Cannes as one of the producers of Joachim Trier's The Worst Person in the World, from the main competition at Cannes in 2021 and later received two Oscar nominations and two BAFTA nominations. She was also the producer of Kristoffer Borgli’s Sick of Myself, which was shown in the Un Certain Regard program at Cannes in 2022. Ottmar runs the production company Eye Eye Pictures with Dyveke Bjørkly Graver, who is the executive producer on Armand, along with Joachim Trier.
About the Director and Screenwriter
Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel is a trained film director from Westerdals Oslo School of Arts, Communication and Technology. He debuted with the short film Bird Hearts (2015), which won the Golden Chair in Grimstad and was nominated for the national film award Amanda among other honors. In 2017, he made the short film Fanny, which was also nominated for an Amanda. Tøndel was in 2015 one of ten European filmmakers in the Future Frame program at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival, organized by European Film Promotion in cooperation with Variety.
About the Film
Armand has received NOK 8,111,625 in development and production grants from the Norwegian Film Institute through the talent program Neo. In addition, the film has received support from Talent Norway, Zefyr, SFI, NL Film Fund, and Film I Väst. The film is co-produced with Prolaps Produktion (Sweden), Keplerfilm (Netherlands), and One Two Films (Germany). The Norwegian distributor is Norsk Filmdistribusjon, and Charades is the international sales agent.
Moroccan-Norwegian Everybody Loves Touda in Cannes Premiere
The Moroccan-Norwegian Co-production Everbybody Loves Touda, financed in part by the Norwegian fund Sørfond, is invited to the Cannes Premiere program. Directed by Nabil Ayouch and produced by Amine Benjelloun, the film takes place in the small town of Sidi Bennour, where Touda, a 35-year-old mother, raises her deaf-and-mute son Yassine, on her own. Touda is a sheikha (traditional singer) who performs in dingy bars to make ends meet. But Touda has a passion. She struggles for her art to be recognized and to ensure a better future for her son. The film is co-produced with Norway through production company Stær and producer Elisa Fernanda Pirir.