The rugged Faroe Islands in the North Atlantic and their population of 53,000, featured in part in the James Bond film No Time to Die, were the setting and main inspiration for Trom, the first-ever television series in the Faroe Islands, mostly produced Danish REinvent Studios.
Crime show creator Torvenor Jakobson and now co-producer John Hammer have tapped into the international success of “Trum”, commissioned by Viaplay and co-produced by Arte/ZDF, to develop their game.
The duo launched Torshavn-based GRÓ Studios, the first film and television studio of its kind in the Faroe Islands, covering development through production and sales.
Jákupsson, who is CEO and chief development officer, said his joint venture with Hammer focuses on “local talent and local stories with a strong sense of genre and setting, written and produced for a global audience.”
“Our goal is to help develop the Faroe Islands film and series industry to a world-class level, while working closely with the Scandinavian and international industry,” added Hammer, head of production at GRÓ Studios, who cuts his teeth for the first time at Danish company Zentropa and also manages his KyK boards.
Hammer said the audiovisual sector in the Faroe Islands is “only still developing” but he is very optimistic about the future. The producer noted that “great positive changes have occurred in the past few years,” noting the establishment of the Faroese Film Institute in 2018 and the introduction of a 25% payment plan to attract foreign buds.
For his part, Jakobson noted “many greats [Faroese] talent, behind and in front of the camera, many great local stories you haven’t yet told”, as well as the proven success of “Trum”. The show was sold by REinvent to a slew of territories including the UK BBC and won Best Actor and Commission Award Special Judging at the Monte-Carlo Television Festival in June.
GRÓ Studios’ first project will be the geopolitical thriller series “Tinganes”, which is currently in development.
The replayable four-hour show will premiere October 5 at the Industry Show of the Reykjavik International Film Festival, which runs through October 9.
Tinganes is based on the 2019 political crime book Vit, Føroya fólk, the first novel by Faroese Bjork Attorney General Maria Conwy. Author and author Jákupsson said, “The title of the series refers to the corridors of power of the Faroese government and one of the oldest parliaments in the world.”
“The story is partly inspired by real events,” he explained. “In the Faroe Islands’ independence in 1946, the people of the Faroes went to the voting booths to decide whether the Faroe Islands should be part of the Danish kingdom, and it was the only time this happened. Although a small majority chose independence, this outcome was not recognized democracy, in which the Danish king eventually dissolved the Faroese parliament in favor of new elections. This series questions whether history may soon repeat itself,” Jakobson noted.
The project has already received interest from local and international partners, and Hammer is betting on a broadcast and co-stream funding model, although “nothing has been signed yet”.
“Because our company is based in the Faroe Islands, it leaves us outside the Nordic and EU public financing systems as a majority partner, so we have to work differently,” Hammer explains. “Trum was a mixture of domestic funding from the Faroe Islands and the majority of foreign funding through Denmark, and a similar setup is possible, although we hope to encourage more domestic funding in this project, as well as direct funding from international players,” he said.
Production of “Tinganes” is expected to begin in 2023. Among GRÓ Studios’ other projects is the feature film “Lý”, penned by Jákupsson as a New Northwest.
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