19/05/2021 - The project, produced by Nordisk Film, promises to be a horror-romance about love at first sight, steeped in Jewish folklore

The cast and director of Attachment (l-r): David Dencik, Sofie Gråbøl, Gabriel Bier Gislason, Josephine Park and Ellie Kendrick (© Søren Kirkegaard)

Danish writer-director Gabriel Bier Gislason is now working on his debut feature, Attachment [+see also:
trailer
film profile]. The project, currently being filmed in Copenhagen and London, will be shot in Danish and English. Previously, Bier Gislason directed four short films in Denmark and the USA, and is now developing two Danish series.

Attachment promises to be a horror-romance about love at first sight, steeped in Jewish folklore. Maja, a Danish has-been actress, falls in love with Leah, a young, Jewish academic from London. But when Leah suffers a mysterious seizure, leading to a debilitating injury, Maja fears their whirlwind romance might be cut short – and decides to follow Leah back to her home in the Hasidic area of Stamford Hill, London. There, she meets her new downstairs neighbour: Leah’s mother, Chana. An overbearing and secretive woman, Chana seems to be able to resist all of Maja’s attempts to win her over. And as Maja begins to notice strange occurrences in the building, she starts to suspect that Chana’s secrets could be much darker than first anticipated – and that the woman she loves might be harbouring the biggest secret of all…

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The confirmed main cast members are Josephine Park (the TV series The Rain, Shorta [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Anders Ølholm and Frederik …
film profile]), Ellie Kendrick (known as Meera Reed in the Game of Thrones saga), Sofie Gråbøl (the TV series The Undoing, The House that Jack Built [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Lars von Trier
film profile]) and David Dencik (the TV series Chernobyl and McMafia). Meanwhile, the technical crew includes DoP Waldemar Winge Leisner and editor Nikoline Løgstrup.

Bier Gislason disclosed to Cineuropa how the idea for his film came about: “Attachment grew out of my desire to make a horror film that drew on Jewish folklore mythology, similarly to how many horror films I grew up watching drew on Christian imagery and dogma. I also wanted it to be true to the cheeky and playful spirit of the works that inspired it – particularly the fiction of Isaac Bashevis Singer – and, most importantly, I wanted the tools of the horror genre to be deployed in service of what the film, above all, is: a love story.”

Attachment is being produced by Thomas Heinesen for Nordisk Film, with support from the Danish Film Institute via New Danish Screen. Henrik Zein is serving as the executive producer. The project's international sales have been entrusted to TrustNordisk. Nordisk Film is also in charge of its Scandinavian distribution. It will be ready for release in spring 2022.