IFC Films has acquired North American rights to Harald Zwart´s The 12th Man from TrustNordisk.
The $8.1m (€7m) war survival tale, based on the true story of a Norwegian resistance fighter who escaped the Nazis, has also sold to Italy (Videa CDE), Korea (AtNine), China (HGC), Turkey (Sinema), Estonia/Baltics (Estin), Former Yugoslavia (Cinemania) and Czech and Slovak Republics (Cinemart).
As previously reported, Constantin Film has acquired rights to German-speaking Europe.
The cast features Thomas Gullestad, Jonathan Rhys-Meyers, Marie Blokhus and Mads Sjøgård Pettersen
The film will be released in Norway on Christmas Day.
Aage Aaberge produces for Nordisk Film Production Norway in cooperation with Zwart Arbeid, Motion Blur and FilmCamp, with support from The Norwegian Film Institute and Kulturnæringsstiftelsen SpareBank 1 Nord-Norge.
Dutch-Norwegian director Zwart, whose credits include The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones and The Karate Kid, returns to European filmmaking after wanting to tell this story for more than 15 years.
The 12th Man is inspired by the true story of Jan Baalsrud, who was on a resistance fighting mission in March 1943 when his 11 Norwegian comrades were captured and killed. He managed to escape and then travelled across Norway´s frozen wilderness for nine grueling weeks.