Swedish Porn Drama 'Jessica' Opens for Bids at Nordic Film Market

HAUSEGUND, Norway—Swedish director Ninja Thyberg's forthcoming drama Jessica, which follows a young Swede on her journey to Porn Valley seeking triple-X fame and glory, is currently courting buyers at the Nordic Film Market, taking place in Hausegund through Friday. Variety reports that the movie, which it calls "one of the most anticipated projects to be pitched" at the shopping fair, is one of six making the rounds there up for the Eurimages Lab Project Award, which carries a cash prize of €50,000 (or $55,500). The winner is to be announced Thursday. Produced by Platfform Produktion, Jessica is an expanded version of Thyberg's short film Pleasure, which won the Canal Plus Critics' Week Award in 2013 and was a foreign short film entry at the Sundance Film Festival. It stars Sofia Kappel in the title role, with virtually all others filled by actual adult performers and other personalities—most notably agent Mark Spiegler as himself (one of Jessica's primary goals is to get signed as a Spiegler Girl), Zelda Morrison as the first performer Jessica befriends, and Dana DeArmond, Kendra Spade and Evelyn Claire as three more fictional performers. Others who appear include Tee Reel, Axel Braun and Casey Calvert, the latter having also served as one of the main consultants on the project. (Full disclosure: This writer has a nominal role in the picture as well.) Thyberg described the movie to Variety as "a human and behind-the-scenes look at the porn industry from a female POV, as well as a study of the power structures in the sector. ... There has been movies—like Boogie Nights—about the porn business, but this is the very first fiction film that looks at the industry from a female perspective." AVN reached Thyberg in Hausegund, and while she stressed that Jessica is "far from finished," she relayed that she and her sales agent Pape Boye screened several clips for buyers this morning, "and got great feedback! I am so happy that the film is being acknowledged even before it is finished. I feel that the audience is ready for this story and that they seem excited to get to know the real people in the porn industry." So far, Variety noted, Jessica has been pre-sold to distributors Weltkino for the Germany/Austria territory, Xenix for Switzerland, MK2/Mile End for Canada, KTH for South Korea and Movie Could for Taiwan. The Nordic territory is being handled by SF Studios. Other producers include Markus Waltå, Eliza Jones, Lemming Film in the Netherlands, Logical Pictures in France and Film i Väst and SVT in Sweden, with support from the Swedish Film Institute, the Netherlands Film Fund and Nordisk Film & TV Fond. Thyberg, who made a number of trips to Los Angeles before writing and shooting Jessica to immerse herself in the adult industry for research, said she plans to return once more this fall to shoot some final pickups needed to complete the movie. Jessica is due to premiere in Spring 2020. Pictured: Sofia Kappel as Jessica.