The Canadian minority copro Soma has started production in Estonia and the Netherlands.
The Belgium/Canada/Netherlands/Estonia copro is the debut feature from Belgian-Hungarian director Miklós Keleti. Production is now underway and will wrap in mid-September.
The film is produced by Amber Ripley of Vancouver-based Goodbye Productions with Sebastian Schelenz of Brussels-based Velvet Films, Elina Litvinova of Tallinn, Estonia’s Three Brothers and Denis Vaslin of Rotterdam-based Volya Films.
The psychological sci-fi drama stars Canadian actor Mark O’Brien (Ready or Not) and Dutch star Anneke Sluiters (Heresay) as a scientist couple who try to develop an experimental drug to treat their son’s rare language disorder. Other cast members include newcomer Leonhard Kõuhkna and Belgian actor Lucie Debay (Omen).
Game Theory Films is on board as the Canadian distributor. Belgian broadcasters RTBF, Be TV and Proximus are also attached.
The financiers for Soma include Telefilm Canada, the Centre du Cinéma et de l’Audiovisuel de la Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles, the Netherlands Film Fund and Film Estonia.
In a statement, Ripley said the film “brings together a gripping science-fiction story with a deeply emotional family drama,” adding that director Keleti offers “a unique and compelling vision.”
“Taking a sci-fi story and making it deeply personal has been at the heart of Soma,” added Keleti. “The film is about a father who wants to help his son, but in becoming obsessed with finding a cure, he loses sight of what really matters.”
O’Brien is represented by The Characters Talent Agency, UTA, Lichter, Grossman, Nichols and Thruline Entertainment; Sluiters is repped by Copper en Co; and Debay is repped by Agence Adéquat.
Pictures (L-R): Mark O’Brien and Anneke Sluiters; images courtesy of Goodbye Productions