(2023, Danimarca, Germania, Svezia, 127')
In the mid-1700s, Jutlandic heath was a God-forgotten wasteland, home to wolves and outlaws. Nature itself knew how to be brutal and ruthless. For this reasons, when Danish King Frederic V ordered the territory be settled, few dared venture into these remote lands, until a lone soldier named Ludvig von Kahler (Mads Mikkelsen, Bryan Fuller’s Hannibal) rides his horse there one late summer. Ludvig sets out to turn Jutland into his promised land. Will he find the wealth and honor that he has been dreaming of, or will the wilderness get the best of him?
An adaptation of the Danish author Ida Jessen’s best-selling novel of 2020 Kaptajnen og Ann Barbara (lit. ‘The Captain and Ann Barbara’), Bastarden is an epic drama on land conquest, untamed natured, dreams, sacrifice, revenge, love, and loss.
Danish screenwriter and director Nikolaj Arcel’s first feature film was award-winning 2004 political thriller Kongekabale. In 2012, Royal Affair, starring Alicia Vikander and Mads Mikkelsen, gave Arcel international fame. The film received nominations at the Oscars, the Golden Globes, and the Césars. In 2017, Nikolaj Arcel directed The Dark Tower, based on Stephen King’s horror fantasy novel of the same name.
