Producer Per Hoist of Nordisk Film - whose previous credits include Oscar and Paime d'Or winner, Pelle the Conqueror - was inspired by the epic story of a 19th century girl growing from a traumatic childhood incident into fiery womanhood, and purchased the rights to film Herbjorg Wassmo's bestseller ' Dina's Book', competing successfully against Canadian, French and Dutch bids.

the author
Herbjorg Wassmo was born in Vesteraolen, Northern Norway, in 1942. Her first work, a collection of poems entitled Vingeslag (Wingbeats), was published in 1976. In 1981 she made her literary breakthrough with the novel Huset med den blinde glassveranda (The House With The Blind Glass Porch), the first volume of her "Tora" trilogy. She was awarded the 1997 Nordic Council Prize for Literature for Hudlos himmel (Raw Heaven), the third volume of the trilogy. Wassrno's three novels about Dina constitute her other major work, a trilogy that
began with Dinas bok (Dina's Book) in 1989 and concluded with Karnas arv (Karna's Legacy) in 1997. Her most recent work, Det sjuende mote (The Seventh Meeting) is a contemporary novel. Wassmo has also written a number of short stories and plays. Dinas bok was a runaway bestseller throughout Scandinavia, having attracted a million readers to date.

the screenwriter
A well-known voice in his native Sweden, writer and director Jonas Cornell's many scripts for film and television include the feature films "The Magnetist's Fifth Winter" and "Hamilton". Since "Hugs & Kisses" in 1974, he has written and/or directed many plays, telefilms and mini- series in addition to making occasional appearances as an actor.

commentary from the director
Bornedal made his international breakthrough as the writer and director of the gripping thriller, "Nattevagten" (Nightwatch). He went on to direct Miramax's Hollywood remake of "Nightwatch" starring Nick Nolte and Ewan McGregor. Again for Miramax, he produced director Guillermo del Toro's "Mimic", featuring Mira Sorvino and Jeremy Northam. In addition to his feature film work, Bornedal directed the mini-series "Chariot og Charlotte", winner of the Prix d'Italia for Best Television Drama. "Dybt vand" (Deep Water), which he both wrote and directed, won the German TV award for Best Teleplay. Ole Bornedal is also one of the leading lights of the Danish theatre as both a writer and a director.

"This is the story of an 8 year old girl who accidentally kills her mother and from then on, becomes a rejected child - her father doesn't take care of her, nobody does. In order to stay alive, she makes a sort of alliance with nature, with demons and ghosts. To keep her mother alive, she creates a ghost and calls on the ghost whenever she needs it. Dina grows up to become this very, very strong woman who is very tightly connected with nature and her demons. Seen in the perspective of the time, the 1860's, she's a very strong and provocative woman who abuses men. She is very violent, very hard-headed with a very intimate relationship to her senses. It develops into a story about a woman caught in the twilight zone between life and death; in Dina's case, it doesn't really matter if you are alive or dead because both worlds are just as real for her. But finally she meets Leo Zukowskif, a very strong-hearted anarchist who brings Dina back to life and makes her realise that life is better than death.

I always wanted to do a period drama, mainly because there are so many really boring period films... It's as if we've decided that they were not really related to their senses, their inner feelings, their eroticism, their temper. Especially in Scandinavian films, it's as if people back in history were all introverts who never screamed or shouted. That's why told myself that if I were ever to do a period film., I would make it like a modern movie with modem people in it. I don't think that just because we live in the year 2001 we are more modem or up-to-speed than they were many centuries ago. As a matter of fact, I believe that we are perhaps more old- fashioned and more puritanical than they ever were. I hope it's a very shocking and fast- moving, gothic picture that will move and perhaps even provoke the viewer.

I also hope to satisfy the fans of the novel but not because the film looks like the novel. I hope I will satisfy the readers because they suddenly see a new story, in a new medium. Film and literature have nothing whatsoever to do with each other, They're two completely different media and if you believe you can add pictures to a book then you are making a huge mistake.

A lot of people have disagreed with my choice of Maria Bonnevie because in the book, Dina is about 7 feet tall, a big, muscular woman with wild black hair - not very erotic in my perception. Maria Bonnevie is a much smaller woman but extremely erotic in my eyes. I saw a fire in Maria's eyes - she has a rare quality that you very seldom meet where you really want to seduce a woman but you are a little bit scared of her also. You really don't know what would happen if you succeeded. That's the Dina quality - she's the woman that you want and she's the woman that you fear.

It was very easy to direct Gerard Depardieu in this film because I basically told him that Jacob is a child, he's a boy. When he meets Dina, he's absolutely seduced by her and turns fourteen years old. Gerard had absolutely no difficulties playing a fourteen year old, As a matter of fact, this is going to be one of his most interesting performances.

The casting of all the actors was a question of chemistry. I share the same energy with Kate and Chris and Hans from Britain. We have actors from Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Britain, France ... this is probably one of the best casts I've worked with. They are all terrific actors; they like each other and they challenge each other.

There's nothing wrong with Hollywood, but Hollywood has its own terms and either you deal with them or you don't. If I want to do a film project where I do not have the same creative power, but I just want to make the film work and execute a good script, I would certainly go to Hollywood and earn the big buck. But if I want to do a film like 'Dina' or my next film project, which is a British film, I would never have the same freedom to do what I wanted and they would never turn out to be the same movies. My luck was that I got to Hollywood very early in my career so it's not some big mystery to me, it's very much down to earth. There are a lot of possibilities for financing in Europe so there's no reason for me to go there. If you're a film- maker with ambition there's no reason whatsoever to go to Hollywood unless you want to make 'Mission Impossible'and stuff like that. The world also needs those kinds of movies. But I AM DINA is a European movie and could never be anything else.

To people who ask why we didn't shoot in Norwegian, I say 'why didn't they shoot "Doctor Zhivago" in Russian'? If they had, perhaps 200,000 people would have seen that movie. English is a good film language and it's a necessary language for big, ambitious and qqqexpensive projects. Not that a good project needs to be expensive - I hate to make expensive movies. I would love it if this film had cost only $5 million but that's not the case. So, if you want to make a big movie you need to do it in English because that's the market. You can't argue with that.

commentary from the producers
Two of Scandinavia's most experienced film producers shared duties on 1 AM DINA: Danish producer Per Hoist of Nordisk Film, and Norwegian producer Axel Heigeland of Northern Lights. Heigeland's credits include Berit Nesheirn's "Eva's Eye" and "Beyond the Sky", Henning Carisen's "Two Green Feathers" and Alexander R6sier's "Mendel". Per Hoist's extensive producing credits includes Bo Widerberg's "All Things Fair", Bille August's Oscar winning "Pelle the Conqueror", Nils Maimros' "Barbara" and "Beauty and the Beast", Helle Ryslinge's "Hearts Flambee", Lars von Trier's "Element of Crime" and the animated "Jungle Jack" films.

Axel Helgeland: "Dina's bok was written in 1988 and was an instant success in Scandinavia. Many people wanted the film rights but Per Holst picked them up very quickly and it's been his project ever since. People were surprised when Ole Bornedal signed up for a costume drama because his previous films, notably "Nightwatch" are very contemporary. He is a modern type of director and he's approached "Din a" with the same feeling that he puts in to his contemporary films.

commentary from the principal cast

Norwegian/Swedish actress Maria Bonnevie impressed critics and audiences alike as the star of Bille August's "Jerusalem". She made her English-language feature film debut opposite Antonio Banderas in "The 13 th Warrior". As one of the most popular performers at Dramaten (the Royal Drama Theatre) in Stockholm, she has made numerous stage appearances, among them a number of productions directed by Ingmar Bergman. Her feature film credits include "The Telegraphist", "Insomnia" "The White Viking", "The Polar Bear King" and most recently, Marius Hoist's "Oyenstikker" ("Dragonfly") and Daniel Alfredsson's "Kirlek mellan krigen" (Love Between Wars).

"As a character, Dina is huge - she's very strong and she goes all the way in everything she does. I think I have a lot to learn from her. I've read the book several times and each time, I see a new woman. That's because Dina is so human. I was very surprised when they asked me to read for the part but after a while, I recognised that I have something of Dina in me - probably every woman will have something of Dina in her.

Especially in Norway, many people have a picture of Dina in their heads - what she looks like and what kind of person she is - it's very individual. I tried not to think about that because if I had, it would have driven me crazy ... I suppose I felt we were making a movie, our movie and not a book. I think it's interesting to try to reach out with the story. The book will always be there.

I've come away from the experience of playing Dina thinking 'Life is short. I have to live my life in the present and do all those things I don't dare to do and stop moralising!

One of France's best-loved and most versatile actors, Gerard Depardieu has appeared in over 125 films, working with some of the cinema's most celebrated international directors. He has twice won France's Cesar for best actor and received an Oscar nomination in the title role of "Cyrano de Bergerac". His countless memorable performances, tragic, comic and in-between, include tours de-force in "Cyrano", "Camille Claudel, "Tous les Matins du Monde", "Green Card", "Colonel Chabert", "The Last Metro", "Get Out Your Handkerchiefs" "The Return of Martin Guerre" and "Going Places". In addition, Depardieu is remembered for his performances in Bernardo Bertolucci's "1900", Claude Berri's "lean de Florette" and "GerminaV, Kenneth Branagh's "Hamlet" and Giuseppe Tornatore's "A Simple Formality". Children around the world recognise the actor as Jean-Pierre Le Pelt from '102 Dalmatians" and Obelix from "Asterix and Obeiix".

Herborg Wassmo wrote a very beautiful story, it reminds me of something Emily Bronte might have written. At the same time it tells the story of a country, of a culture, of the hardships of living in such a climate; it tells us about fishing and fisherman and about Northern Norway, a place of which we know very little. Depardieu has recently completed Eduardo Ponti's "Between Strangers", Yves Simoneau's series for French television, "Napoldon" (co-starring John Malkovich and Christian Clavier), a second outing as 0belix opposite Monica Belucci in "Mission Cleopatra" and Matt Dillon's, "Beneath the Banyan Trees".

I don't think of this as a period film because the characters are extremely real and nature here is so raw, so powerful, no one could master it. The elements, the fjords, the sea, fishing and the lives of those who live by the sea - these things have no period. They are eternal - it's the same battles, the same struggle against the rain and the cold, against the elements. It's a bit like Marcel Pagnol in Manon des Sources and Jean de Florette.

There are also elements in human nature which, like the sun, like water, are equally strong and when they come in contact with one another, they can make sparks fly ... it's called passion. There's genuine power in this story and also great delicacy - a real respect for nature and for life.