​Then I went home. To Hong Kong. I can feel it in my bones that I was born there.

​​I fell in love with Stanley. I had never been there before. It’s like a seaside colonial village amidst all the high rises of the bustling city. I wouldn’t mind living there, if I ever had the chance to relocate to Hong Kong.

​Back in wintry Denmark, I started a brief stint at a renowned production company in Copenhagen. I spent 6 months with M&M Productions, during three of which I worked there intensely on a daily basis. Then I got busy with the making of my first Danish short “Dronning for en dag” (aka “Queen For A Day”) which was overall probably one of the funnest, nicest shoots I’ve been on. I had so many wonderful people helping me make this little film a reality.

​“Dronning for en dag” (affectionately known as Dfed), aka “Queen For A Day” (Qfad) premiered at the Cinematheque theatre of the Danish Film Institute on September 6th.

I was also accepted into Torino Film Lab’s “Adaptlab” which is in its 2nd year. I am adapting a novel called “Buster’s Ears” by Swedish writer Maria Ernestam into a feature-length screenplay, although we will only submit treatments in November, when we pitch at the Meeting Event in Torino which will be the third and final workshop. The first one was in June in Lyon, France.

I ate a lot of good food, especially desserts. In fact, I think I garnered a reputation for being the girl who always eats. I think I gained about 5 pounds in a week.

Then in August the second workshop was held right in my backyard. We stayed for a week at Schæffergården in Gentofte, which is just on the outskirts of Copenhagen. More divine food. This time of the organic, Nordic gourmet kind. I’m starting to think these writing workshop are more about food than actual work. Although I did get a lot of work done. I am actually quite proud of the adaptation I’m writing.

On September 2nd I started my MA in Film and Media Studies at Copenhagen University. Which so far is great. However, I am not good at keeping up with all the readings which leaves me feeling chronically guilty. I have no trouble understanding what’s being taught, though, a lot of it is second nature. But I still have to write about it all academically - and I have blissfully forgotten how to do that. I’m a practical sort of girl these days. I don’t write about other people’s ideas and endeavours. I indulge in my own.

Which leads me to the amazing and spectacular news that I am in prep with a new short film. Well, actually it’s “Fragments of Me” re-envisioned as a trilogy of short films with the titles “Kærester?” (“Sweethearts?”), “Et Gensyn” (“Second Encounters”) and “Da Vi Mødtes” (“The Day We Met”). The Danish Film Workshop is funding part II, “Et Gensyn”, so we will shoot that in January or February 2014. Hopefully “Kærester?” and “Da Vi Mødtes” will follow, but I have to get them financed first.

Moreover, I am also in advanced development with a new feature film which is also a transmedia project, and experimental in its visual style. However, narratively it is a very commercial rom-com that should be a crowd-pleaser. I’ve got a great producer attached and am really looking forward working on this project with him. It’s gonna be huge!

I also started as a volunteer teacher at a local film lab where I teach kids and teenagers how to be filmmakers. Next week I am teaching them how to direct actors, and the two weeks after that, I’m in charge of their midterm films.

That’s it. You’re all updated on 2013 thus far. Torino and the last Adaptlab workshop is coming up in November. Then exams in December. And then it’s merry christmas and happy new year, followed by more filmmaking. Yay!

A brilliant and shiny kiss to you all!

​- Marianne

The Four Corners workshop has just ended, and it was a blast. I’m sad it’s over and I miss everyone. I wonder when I will see them again. The final workshop took place in Spain, at Sitges Film Festival, where we pitched to an invited audience. It went quite well, I think. It was my second time pitching to a large group of people, so I’m slowly getting used to it :)
My short film “Queen For A Day” got funded by the Film Workshop @ The Danish Film Institute, so I am in prep with that. Currently casting, I plan to shoot in January. It is very exciting!

​I finished the rewrite of “Jomana” for producer Gabriela Uweis in late June, and it came out really well! We both like the script a lot now. She submitted it for funding from the DOHA Film Institute and she is supposed to find out in mid November whether they want to support the project or not. Fingers crossed x

The Four Corners workshop in late May/early June was good fun! The weather was amazing, and we spent most of our days sitting in the gardens of Regent’s College. I got some good feedback, and even managed to steal a session with tutor Miguel Machalski on top of my sessions with Ana Magallon, and that was extremely helpful! Unfortunately I didn’t have much time to immerse myself in the 2nd draft over the summer, and I basically rewrote it the week before I had to submit it. Needless to say, it wasn’t as good as it could’ve have been!

The next workshop took place in Sofia, Bulgaria, in early September - and the weather was beyond good. It was sweltering! I got heat stroke, and was ‘out of order’ for 2 days with fever, nausea, no appetite, rapid pulse and a head that felt like mush. But I got some awesome feedback on the script - mostly thanks to fellow participant Ibai Siso - which now forms the basis for the 3rd draft that I am writing. We ended the workshop on a high: We all jumped into the pool, fully dressed! We should all do more things like that in life - it’s liberating :)

​Then we only had a month to prep for the 4th and final workshop in Sitges. We finished up the teaser, had a new poster designed and we were good to go. I only got halfway through the 3rd draft - I had intended to finish - but that was just way too ambitious of me. We arrived two days early and I finally got to see Barcelona! It was amazing. Barcelona rocks! In Sitges we enlisted the help of pitching guru, David Matamoros, and he really whipped us all into shape :)

I am currently in the process of switching producers on both “Fragments of Me” and “Queen For A Day”, so everything is a bit up in the air. When I know more, I’ll let you know! By the way, I also turned 35 on August 15th! I was in the middle of editing the teaser, but my editor, Birger, was so kind as to make me a birthday cake! And the weather was amazing that day! It’s usually not that nice, so I guess I’ve either been a good girl, or I have a good year ahead of me. I hope it’s the latter!

​Ta for now... xo

Hallo! New updated website up and running! Yay!