“My Father’s Daughter,” set to be the first Semitic-language film to have its world premiere in Toronto, has released the first image of “Game of Thrones” actor Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, who will make a cameo appearance in the family comedy drama.
Egil Pedersen's My Father's Daughter follows Elvira, a confident teenage girl who is convinced that she was conceived at a Danish fertility clinic. Believing this, she often dreams about her father, imagining him as a famous movie star, in this case Coster-Waldau. However, these dreams are shattered when her real biological father unexpectedly reappears.
Although “My Father’s Daughter” is Pedersen’s first feature film, he is an accomplished director who has directed 18 music videos, 15 short films and numerous films and commercials. His most recent short film, a satirical comedy called “Koftepolitiet” (“Native Police”), was very successful in the Sámi community.
Written and directed by Pedersen, “My Father’s Daughter” is a Norwegian-Swedish-Finnish co-production between Rein Film, Paasan, Oktober, Bautafilm and Filmpool Nord. Pluto Film handles international sales of the film.
The film also received support from Neo, the Norwegian Film Institute’s program that funds debut films by talented directors. “Without Neo, the film would not have been made,” Pedersen explains. “After many years of rejection by the Norwegian Film Institute, we were accepted into Neo. Also important was the Publikum audience survey program, which uses artificial intelligence, and is analyzed by people, along with interviews with potential audiences. All of this is intended to expand the story’s potential. For me, I’ve become more daring in how I use political and other real-world references.”
Narratively, My Father's Daughter was a way for Pedersen to address themes that had affected his life over the years. “I always knew I was Sámi, but as a child, I never felt I was good enough to be a real Sámi among other Sámi people. Later, as a teenager, I was subjected to racially motivated violence because I looked like a Sámi.”
The director says that after graduating from the Norwegian Film School, he did not think he would be accepted as a Sámi director, but eventually the International Sámi Film Institute embraced him as part of its community. “During the 2000s, I slowly, with doubt and hesitation, became a Sámi director.”
“My Father’s Daughter” is scheduled to premiere on September 8 in the Discovery section of this year’s Toronto International Film Festival.
