SFI hands coin to August's 'Passion'

LONDON -- Danish director Bille August's first Scandinavian film for a decade, "The Passion of Marie," has been awarded $226,000 in production funding by the Swedish Film Institute. The project is a Danish-Swedish co-production based on the life of Danish painter Marie Kroyer. August's last Scandi project was Swedish pic "A Song for Martin" in 2001. His most recent movie was "Goodbye Bafana," starring Denzel Washington in 2007. The SFI has also invested $256,000 into "Kon-Tiki," the ambitious U.K.-Scandinavian co-production about the legendary Norwegian explorer Thor Heyerdahl, who sailed a balsawood raft across the Pacific in 1947. The family adventure, which stars Pal Sverre Valheim Hagen as Heyerdahl, is directed by Joachim Ronning and Espen Sandberg, and shot largely in Malta. It's produced by Jeremy Thomas of the U.K.'s Recorded Picture Co. with Norway's Aage Aaberge. Pic is in post-production after finishing filming in September and is expected to launch at the Berlin Film Festival next February. Contact the Variety newsroom at news@variety.com