Samuel Goldwyn Films has acquired from New Europe Film Sales the Norwegian animated feature “Christmas at Cattle Hill,“ which is produced by the leading animation studio Qvisten Animation (“In the Forest of Huckybucky,” “Louis & Lucas the Big Cheese Race”).
The pick-up is the latest Nordic buy from the high-profile U.S. indie distributor, which is representing the Golden Globe-nominated Danish movie “Another Round,” by Thomas Vinterberg.
Helmed by Will Ashurst, the CGI “Christmas at Cattle Hill” marks the second installment in the adventures of Klara the young city cow and her friends at Cattle Hill.
“’Christmas at Cattle Hill’ was a 2020 Christmas hit in Norway posting over 100,000 admissions despite cinemas’ limited capacity,” said Jan Naszewski, CEO at New Europe Film Sales. “We are happy that it will now travel the world. Samuel Goldwyn Films is our trusted partner who did a great job on the first part of ‘Cattle Hill’ and we’re very glad to continue the collaboration.”
Samuel Goldwyn Films’ Ryan Boring, director of marketing & PR added: “‘Christmas at Cattle Hill’ is a splendid follow-up to the first “Cattle Hill” and is a charming holiday movie that the entire family will love.”
The animated film was produced by Qvisten Animation’s Heidi Palm Sandberg and Ove Heiborg.
The deal with Samuel Goldwyn Films for North America comes on top of recent sales to Neo Films for Greece and New Horizons for Poland, with France in advanced negotiation.
Samuel Goldwyn Films has been on a buying spree of Nordic titles in recent months, from the WW2 set-drama “The Good Traitor” to the terrorist drama “Power Keg” -both toplining “Game of Thrones”’ Nikolaj Coster-Waldau – to Thomas Vinterberg’s festival darling and Danish Oscar candidate “Another Round.” The life-embracing drama starring Mads Mikkelsen premiered last December in the U.S.
An active sales agent of Scandinavian titles, New Europe Film Sales is attending this week’s Göteborg Film Festival in Sweden with the Polish/Swedish movie “Sweat” by Magnus von Horn, which competes for the top Dragon Award-Best Nordic Film. The festival closes Feb. 8.