Exactly one year after the Dogma 25 movement was announced at Cannes Film Festival last year, we are proud to announce that the first Dogma 25 film, MR. NAWASHI by Isabella Eklöf is now filming.
Danish actor Esben Smed has been cast in the male lead as Mr. Nawashi. Esben Smed recently appeared in Maria Sødahl’s THE LAST RESORT, which took home the Dragon Award for Best Nordic Film at this year’s Göteborg Film Festival in January. He will be joined by co-star Tanya Holm Andersen. Tanya Holm Andersen graduated from the Danish National School of Performing Arts in 2014 and has performed in a wide repertoire of roles at local theatres. Her role as Katarina in Mr. Nawashi marks her feature film debut.
In addition, Netflix has stepped in as financial partner in the Nordics on all five upcoming Dogma-films.
TrustNordisk is handling international sales outside the Nordic region and will be presenting a short sneak peek of the initiative to international distributors in Cannes this week.
Written and directed by Isabella Eklöf, MR. NAWASHI is an intense love story about ambition and longing where sexual submission borders religion, and love becomes a tool for achieving power and control.
Eklöf is known for her uncompromising approach to storytelling with a strong ability to portray complex characters with psychological depth. Her debut feature HOLIDAY premiered at Sundance Film Festival 2018 in the World Cinema Dramatic Competition. This was followed by the drama KALAK, based on the bestselling book by Kim Leine. For KALAK, Eklöf took home two awards at the San Sebastian Film Festival including the Special Prize of the Jury in 2023. Eklöf has also directed several episodes of the HBO series INDUSTRY, as well as episodes of THE DEATH OF BUNNY MONROE, and SERVANT, and she was also co-writer on Ali Abbasi’s internationally acclaimed feature film BORDER.
Mr. NAWASHI will be her 3rd feature film with expected release sometime in 2027.
Synopsis:
MR. NAWASHI is a love story following Katarina, an ambitious and talented singer with an appetite for life but little self-discipline. When she meets the mysterious Mr. Nawashi online, her eyes are opened to a new world — a BDSM relationship in which unwavering submission and devotion are met with attention, care, strict coaching, and a tantalising play with physical pain. Katarina blossoms stimulated both physically and mentally. But what begins as flirtation and attraction soon tips into obsession and dependence.
Dogma 25 was initiated last year in May by directors May el-Toukhy, Milad Alami, Annika Berg, Isabella Eklöf and Jesper Just. The five filmmakers unite in an artistic collective based on a shared manifesto and a new vow of chastity comprising ten new dogmas to protect the artistic integrity of feature film and create space for uncompromising cinematic storytelling.
The projects are financed in a collaboration between Zentropa, DR, and Nordisk Film Distribution who are now joined by Netflix in the Nordics to secure the core financing necessary to realize all five projects.
Additionally, Isabella Eklöf’s MR. NAWASHI is co-financed by the Danish Film Institute and the Swedish Film Institute.
The Dogma 25 films are distributed by Nordisk Film Distribution and subsequently on Netflix in the Nordics and DR. TrustNordisk handles international sales.
MR. NAWASHI is expected to have its theatrical release in 2027.