Sweet Land
Encyclopedia
Sweet Land is a 2005 American independent
period drama film written and directed by Ali Selim
. It is an adaptation of the 1989 short story "A Gravestone Made of Wheat" by Will Weaver
. The film stars Elizabeth Reaser
, Tim Guinee
, Lois Smith
, Ned Beatty
, John Heard, Alex Kingston
and Alan Cumming
.
, Inge Altenberg (Elizabeth Reaser
), an orphan from Snåsa
, Norway
, arrives in America to a very cold reception. The parents of immigrant farmer Olaf Torvik (Tim Guinee
) remain in Norway, where they met her. Dialogue reveals that the four of them have worked out an agreement that allowed her to emigrate to America for the purpose of marrying Olaf
. The Minnesota
farming village of Audubon
, in which her intended husband lives, is horrified to learn that she is a German immigrant with no papers. To make matters worse, she has accidentally obtained membership papers for the American Socialist Party. Scandalized, both the town's Lutheran minister and the county clerk refuse to marry them.
When events lead them to openly cohabit with each other, they find themselves ostracized by the entire town. They are then forced to harvest their crop completely by hand and alone. This particular harvest season brings not only work, but love as well.
first read Will Weaver
's short story "A Gravestone Made of Wheat" in 1989 in the Sunday magazine of the Star Tribune
, a Minneapolis newspaper
. After purchasing the film rights, he spent much of the 1990s working on a script in his spare time as he worked as a director of television commercials.
Two early supporters of the project were actors Alan Cumming
, who played Frandsen, and Gil Bellows
, who signed on as a co-producer. Selim met Cumming while screening a short film in Los Angeles; he knew Bellows from directing him in a steak-sauce commercial. Bellows helped Selim get the script into workshops in Los Angeles, where the reaction was positive. But no Hollywood studios were interested in making the film. http://www.studiodaily.com/filmandvideo/searchlist/7233.html
In 2004, Selim raised about $1 million to produce the film himself, mostly from private investors in Minnesota, and pre-production began in July, with shooting planned for that fall. http://www.minnesotamonthly.com/media/Minnesota-Monthly/February-2006/Home-Grown-Hollywood/
, whom Selim also had directed in commercials, was originally cast as Olaf but had to drop out when his film Capote
went into production. http://www.wzzm13.com/printfullstory.aspx?storyid=69364 Futterman suggested Tim Guinee
as his replacement.
The role of Frandsen, a character that does not appear in the short story, was written for Alan Cumming
. Alex Kingston
was a friend of Cumming's from their early days in London.
Elizabeth Reaser
signed on after another actress dropped out because of a scheduling conflict. http://www.wzzm13.com/printfullstory.aspx?storyid=69364 Reaser initially balked at having to master her multilingual dialogue on such short notice, and she tried to back out of the audition. Her agent talked her out of it, and she got the part.
Selim said on the film's DVD commentary that Ned Beatty
, who has a summer home in his wife's hometown in northern Minnesota, said he took a role in the film to impress his in-laws—although he later confessed that he also liked the script.
, a city in Chippewa County, Minnesota
. http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2006/04/28/sweetland/ Local residents served as extras in the film as well as contributed antique cars and farm implements to the filmmaking effort. http://www.wctrib.com/articles/index.cfm?id=14998§ion=collections
Reaser does not speak German and had to learn her lines phonetically despite only four sessions with a dialogue coach. http://www.wzzm13.com/printfullstory.aspx?storyid=69364
The film uses some computer-generated graphics: The northern lights in the scene where Inge walks through the fields to Olaf's house to take a bath (the scene was actually filmed in the daytime), and, later in the film, the geese flying over Olaf's house.
The film was one of a handful of carbon neutral films made in the last few years.
, formerly of October Films
, agreed to distribute it, and Sweet Land opened in limited release on December 1, 2006. Initially released only in Minneapolis-St. Paul and New York, the film was rolled out gradually to other markets over the next several months. http://www.studiodaily.com/filmandvideo/searchlist/7233.html
, somewhat ironic since Fox Searchlight had been among the studios that earlier had passed on distributing the film. Sweet Land was released on DVD July 10, 2007.
and the Los Angeles Times
named the film one of the 10 best of 2006.
http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,1547550,00.html http://www.calendarlive.com/movies/reviews/cl-et-sweetland15nov15,0,4150851.story
Independent film
An independent film, or indie film, is a professional film production resulting in a feature film that is produced mostly or completely outside of the major film studio system. In addition to being produced and distributed by independent entertainment companies, independent films are also produced...
period drama film written and directed by Ali Selim
Ali Selim
Ali Selim is an Arab-American advertising and independent film director. Over the past fifteen years he has directed over 850 television commercials, five half-hour documentaries and several music videos.-Early life:...
. It is an adaptation of the 1989 short story "A Gravestone Made of Wheat" by Will Weaver
Will Weaver
Will Weaver, , is an American author.-Background:Weaver was raised on a dairy farm near Park Rapids, Minnesota, where his parents, who were of Scandinavian descent, farmed 150 acres. In Weaver's youth, he enjoyed fishing and participating in sports...
. The film stars Elizabeth Reaser
Elizabeth Reaser
Elizabeth Ann Reaser is an American film, television, and stage actress. Her work includes the films Stay, The Family Stone, and The Twilight Saga and the TV series Saved, Grey's Anatomy and The Ex-List....
, Tim Guinee
Tim Guinee
Timothy S. "Tim" Guinee is an American stage, television, and feature film actor.-Life and career:Guinee, who has two brothers and two sisters, was born in Los Angeles, California and raised in Illinois and Texas....
, Lois Smith
Lois Smith
Lois Smith is an American actress whose career in theater, film, and television has spanned five decades.Smith was born Lois Arlene Humbert in Topeka, Kansas, the daughter of Carrie Davis and William Oren Humbert, who was a telephone company employee...
, Ned Beatty
Ned Beatty
Ned Thomas Beatty is an American actor who has appeared in more than 100 films and has been nominated for an Academy Award, two Emmy Awards, an MTV Movie Award for Best Villain and a Golden Globe Award; won a Drama Desk Award....
, John Heard, Alex Kingston
Alex Kingston
Alexandra Elizabeth "Alex" Kingston is an English actress. She is most widely known for her roles as Dr. Elizabeth Corday on the NBC medical drama ER and as River Song in Doctor Who.-Early life and education:...
and Alan Cumming
Alan Cumming
Alan Cumming, OBE is a Scottish stage, television and film actor, singer, writer, director, producer and author. His roles have included the Emcee in Cabaret, Boris Grishenko in GoldenEye, Kurt Wagner/Nightcrawler in X2: X-Men United, Mr. Elton in Emma, and Fegan Floop in the Spy Kids trilogy...
.
Plot
In the aftermath of World War IWorld War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, Inge Altenberg (Elizabeth Reaser
Elizabeth Reaser
Elizabeth Ann Reaser is an American film, television, and stage actress. Her work includes the films Stay, The Family Stone, and The Twilight Saga and the TV series Saved, Grey's Anatomy and The Ex-List....
), an orphan from Snåsa
Snåsa
Snåsa is a municipality in Nord-Trøndelag county, Norway. It is part of the Innherred region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Snåsa. Other villages include Agle and Jørstad....
, Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
, arrives in America to a very cold reception. The parents of immigrant farmer Olaf Torvik (Tim Guinee
Tim Guinee
Timothy S. "Tim" Guinee is an American stage, television, and feature film actor.-Life and career:Guinee, who has two brothers and two sisters, was born in Los Angeles, California and raised in Illinois and Texas....
) remain in Norway, where they met her. Dialogue reveals that the four of them have worked out an agreement that allowed her to emigrate to America for the purpose of marrying Olaf
Arranged marriage
An arranged marriage is a practice in which someone other than the couple getting married makes the selection of the persons to be wed, meanwhile curtailing or avoiding the process of courtship. Such marriages had deep roots in royal and aristocratic families around the world...
. The Minnesota
Minnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
farming village of Audubon
Audubon, Minnesota
Audubon is a city in Becker County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 519 at the 2010 census.-Geography:According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which is land and 1.69% is water.-Demographics:...
, in which her intended husband lives, is horrified to learn that she is a German immigrant with no papers. To make matters worse, she has accidentally obtained membership papers for the American Socialist Party. Scandalized, both the town's Lutheran minister and the county clerk refuse to marry them.
When events lead them to openly cohabit with each other, they find themselves ostracized by the entire town. They are then forced to harvest their crop completely by hand and alone. This particular harvest season brings not only work, but love as well.
Early development
Director Ali SelimAli Selim
Ali Selim is an Arab-American advertising and independent film director. Over the past fifteen years he has directed over 850 television commercials, five half-hour documentaries and several music videos.-Early life:...
first read Will Weaver
Will Weaver
Will Weaver, , is an American author.-Background:Weaver was raised on a dairy farm near Park Rapids, Minnesota, where his parents, who were of Scandinavian descent, farmed 150 acres. In Weaver's youth, he enjoyed fishing and participating in sports...
's short story "A Gravestone Made of Wheat" in 1989 in the Sunday magazine of the Star Tribune
Star Tribune
The Star Tribune is the largest newspaper in the U.S. state of Minnesota and is published seven days each week in an edition for the Minneapolis-Saint Paul metropolitan area. A statewide version is also available across Minnesota and parts of Wisconsin, Iowa, South Dakota, and North Dakota. The...
, a Minneapolis newspaper
Newspaper
A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...
. After purchasing the film rights, he spent much of the 1990s working on a script in his spare time as he worked as a director of television commercials.
Two early supporters of the project were actors Alan Cumming
Alan Cumming
Alan Cumming, OBE is a Scottish stage, television and film actor, singer, writer, director, producer and author. His roles have included the Emcee in Cabaret, Boris Grishenko in GoldenEye, Kurt Wagner/Nightcrawler in X2: X-Men United, Mr. Elton in Emma, and Fegan Floop in the Spy Kids trilogy...
, who played Frandsen, and Gil Bellows
Gil Bellows
Gil Bellows is a Canadian film and television actor. He is best known for the roles of Tommy Williams in The Shawshank Redemption, Billy Thomas in the television series Ally McBeal and as CIA agent Matt Callan in the television series The Agency.-Early life:Bellows was born in Vancouver, British...
, who signed on as a co-producer. Selim met Cumming while screening a short film in Los Angeles; he knew Bellows from directing him in a steak-sauce commercial. Bellows helped Selim get the script into workshops in Los Angeles, where the reaction was positive. But no Hollywood studios were interested in making the film. http://www.studiodaily.com/filmandvideo/searchlist/7233.html
In 2004, Selim raised about $1 million to produce the film himself, mostly from private investors in Minnesota, and pre-production began in July, with shooting planned for that fall. http://www.minnesotamonthly.com/media/Minnesota-Monthly/February-2006/Home-Grown-Hollywood/
Casting
Dan FuttermanDan Futterman
Daniel Futterman is an American actor and screenwriter. Although he is known for several high-profile acting roles, including Val Goldman in the film The Birdcage, and Vincent Gray on the CBS television series Judging Amy, he is also a screenwriter...
, whom Selim also had directed in commercials, was originally cast as Olaf but had to drop out when his film Capote
Capote (film)
Capote is a 2005 biographical film about Truman Capote, following the events during the writing of Capote's non-fiction book In Cold Blood. Philip Seymour Hoffman won several awards, including the Academy Award for Best Actor, for his critically acclaimed portrayal of the title role. The movie was...
went into production. http://www.wzzm13.com/printfullstory.aspx?storyid=69364 Futterman suggested Tim Guinee
Tim Guinee
Timothy S. "Tim" Guinee is an American stage, television, and feature film actor.-Life and career:Guinee, who has two brothers and two sisters, was born in Los Angeles, California and raised in Illinois and Texas....
as his replacement.
The role of Frandsen, a character that does not appear in the short story, was written for Alan Cumming
Alan Cumming
Alan Cumming, OBE is a Scottish stage, television and film actor, singer, writer, director, producer and author. His roles have included the Emcee in Cabaret, Boris Grishenko in GoldenEye, Kurt Wagner/Nightcrawler in X2: X-Men United, Mr. Elton in Emma, and Fegan Floop in the Spy Kids trilogy...
. Alex Kingston
Alex Kingston
Alexandra Elizabeth "Alex" Kingston is an English actress. She is most widely known for her roles as Dr. Elizabeth Corday on the NBC medical drama ER and as River Song in Doctor Who.-Early life and education:...
was a friend of Cumming's from their early days in London.
Elizabeth Reaser
Elizabeth Reaser
Elizabeth Ann Reaser is an American film, television, and stage actress. Her work includes the films Stay, The Family Stone, and The Twilight Saga and the TV series Saved, Grey's Anatomy and The Ex-List....
signed on after another actress dropped out because of a scheduling conflict. http://www.wzzm13.com/printfullstory.aspx?storyid=69364 Reaser initially balked at having to master her multilingual dialogue on such short notice, and she tried to back out of the audition. Her agent talked her out of it, and she got the part.
Selim said on the film's DVD commentary that Ned Beatty
Ned Beatty
Ned Thomas Beatty is an American actor who has appeared in more than 100 films and has been nominated for an Academy Award, two Emmy Awards, an MTV Movie Award for Best Villain and a Golden Globe Award; won a Drama Desk Award....
, who has a summer home in his wife's hometown in northern Minnesota, said he took a role in the film to impress his in-laws—although he later confessed that he also liked the script.
Filming
Sweet Land was filmed in 24 days in October 2004 in and around MontevideoMontevideo, Minnesota
As of the census of 2000, there were 5,346 people, 2,353 households, and 1,444 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,190.5 people per square mile . There were 2,551 housing units at an average density of 568.1 per square mile...
, a city in Chippewa County, Minnesota
Chippewa County, Minnesota
As of the census of 2000, there were 13,088 people, 5,361 households, and 3,597 families residing in the county. The population density was 22 people per square mile . There were 5,855 housing units at an average density of 10 per square mile...
. http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2006/04/28/sweetland/ Local residents served as extras in the film as well as contributed antique cars and farm implements to the filmmaking effort. http://www.wctrib.com/articles/index.cfm?id=14998§ion=collections
Reaser does not speak German and had to learn her lines phonetically despite only four sessions with a dialogue coach. http://www.wzzm13.com/printfullstory.aspx?storyid=69364
The film uses some computer-generated graphics: The northern lights in the scene where Inge walks through the fields to Olaf's house to take a bath (the scene was actually filmed in the daytime), and, later in the film, the geese flying over Olaf's house.
The film was one of a handful of carbon neutral films made in the last few years.
Theatrical
Selim entered Sweet Land in several film festivals, and despite a positive reception and some awards, no Hollywood distributor would take it on. Eventually, Jeff LipskyJeff Lipsky
Jeff Lipsky is an American photographer specializing in celebrity and lifestyle photography. Lipsky has photographed many well-known actors and actresses for high-profile magazines, including Ellen Page for the Los Angeles Times Magazine, Mark Wahlberg for Men’s Journal, Dustin Hoffman for AARP...
, formerly of October Films
October Films
October Films was an American independent film production company and distributor founded in 1991 by Bingham Ray and Jeff Lipsky as a means of distributing the 1990 film Life Is Sweet...
, agreed to distribute it, and Sweet Land opened in limited release on December 1, 2006. Initially released only in Minneapolis-St. Paul and New York, the film was rolled out gradually to other markets over the next several months. http://www.studiodaily.com/filmandvideo/searchlist/7233.html
Home media
Sweet Land got a national DVD distribution deal with 20th Century Fox20th Century Fox
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation — also known as 20th Century Fox, or simply 20th or Fox — is one of the six major American film studios...
, somewhat ironic since Fox Searchlight had been among the studios that earlier had passed on distributing the film. Sweet Land was released on DVD July 10, 2007.
Box office
Although Sweet Land never achieved a wide national release, by the end of December 2006 it approached $1 million in receipts. http://movies.msn.com/movies/article.aspx?news=248423 The film remained in theaters for 37 weeks, often in limited engagements at independent theaters, primarily in the Midwest. http://www.startribune.com/459/story/1292937.html The film's final gross was $1.7 million.Critics, awards
Sweet Land received mostly good reviews, which focused on the simplicity of its story, the beauty of its cinematography and its strong sense of place. Entertainment WeeklyEntertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
and the Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
named the film one of the 10 best of 2006.
http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,1547550,00.html http://www.calendarlive.com/movies/reviews/cl-et-sweetland15nov15,0,4150851.story
- 2005 Hamptons International Film FestivalHamptons International Film FestivalHamptons International Film Festival was founded to provide a forum for independent filmmakers from around the world to express their vision. The Festival is traditionally held for five days in mid-October in theatre venues from Montauk to Southampton and attracts roughly 15,000 visitors annually...
: Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature http://www.sweetlandmovie.com/about.htm - 2006 Florida Film FestivalFlorida Film FestivalThe Florida Film Festival, produced by Enzian Theater in Maitland, Florida, is an annual international film festival. Showcasing the best American independent and foreign films, the festival has become one of the most respected regional film events in the United States.-Overview:The Festival...
: Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature http://www.floridafilmfestival.com/archive2006/ - 2007 Independent Spirit AwardsIndependent Spirit AwardsThe Independent Spirit Awards , founded in 1984, are awards dedicated to independent filmmakers. Winners were typically presented with acrylic glass pyramids containing suspended shoestrings representing the paltry budgets of independent films. In 1986, the event was renamed the Independent Spirit...
: Best First Feature http://www.filmindependent.org/spiritawards/sa_2007_winners.php