Paprika Steen Returns To Directing For Christmas

Danish actress Paprika Steen, who recently starred as news anchor Naja Toft in terrorist drama Below The Surface (Gidselstagningen), will return to the director’s chair for the first time in ten years with her third feature film, That Time of Year (Med hensyn til Julen).

Paprika Steen made her directorial debut in 2004 with the powerful emotional drama Aftermath (Lad de små børn), starring Sofie Gråbøl, followed by romantic comedy With Your Permission (Til døden os skiller) in 2007.

That Time of Year, written by Jakob Weis (Toves værelse), is billed as a drama with comic overtones which depicts Christmas in a reconstituted family with three siblings, spouses, children, grandmothers and dogs.

Steen said: “Perhaps it is best described as a dramatic family comedy. It is the story of the great failure in the small failures – a depiction of the double standards that prevail at Christmas. Everything has to look like something from the old days and be eco-friendly, but inside the brown paper tied with twine is an iPhone.”

Filming for That Time of Year begins in November on the island of Funen, and is slated for release at the end of 2018.