The Match Factory Snaps Up ‘Sweat’ Director Magnus von Horn’s First Genre Pic, Period Abortion Chiller ‘The Girl With the Needle,’ Eyeing Cannes (EXCLUSIVE)

Annika Pham Cologne-based The Match Factory has acquired rights to Swedish-Polish helmer Magnus von Horn’s Danish pic “The Girl With the Needle,” billed as a “fairy-tale about a horrible truth.” In the starring roles are Trine Dyrholm (“In a Better World”, “Queen of Hearts”), Vic Carmen Sonne (“Godland”, “Holiday”) and Besir Zeciri (“Wildland”). First clips of the stylised black-and-white chiller will be unveiled at the Works in Progress at Göteborg’s Nordic Film Market.

“Magnus von Horn is a talent to follow,” said The Match Factory’s head of sales Thania Dimitrakopoulou. “His story of “The Girl with the Needle” hooked us and his choice of cast and narrative style promises a great outcome.

We are certain the audiences will relate to this.” Von Horn’s dark drama is his first foray into period genre, following his 2015 Cannes Directors’ Fortnight calling card “The Here After”, and his 2020 Cannes-selected and international festival hit “Sweat”, a “poised, impressive drama” according to Variety. Penned by Von Horn and Line Langebek (“I’ll Come Running”), the story is very loosely based on the true crime story of Danish angel maker Dagmar Overbye, who helped poor women get rid of their unwanted babies and was sentenced to death in 1921.

In Von Horn’s pic, set in post WW1 Copenhagen, the focal point is Karoline (Sonne), a young pregnant factory worker, who takes on the job of a wet-nurse for the charismatic Dagmar (Dyrholm) in order to escape poverty. Under the fake storefront of a candy shop, Dagmar runs a hidden adoption agency, helping poor mothers find foster homes for their unwanted infants.