A tragic love story is at the center of Ole Christian Madsen's next film "Itsi Bitsi", about Denmark's first real beat poet Eik Skaløe, lead singer for Danish rock group Steppeulvene, and the great love of his life Iben Nagel Rasmussen. The director, who contributed to the Dogme movement with "Kira's reason – A Love Story" in 2001, was also behind 2008's local blockbuster "Flame & Citron" and Denmark's 2012 Oscar entry "Superclásico".
Itsi Bitsi was Skaløe's nickname for Iben as well as the title of a legendary song on the rock group's trailblazing record from 1967, "Hip", considered today a milestone in Danish music history.
The story of "Itsi Bitsi" begins in 1962, when Eik Skaløe meets Iben and falls head over heels in love. Unfolding over the next six years in Denmark, France, Spain, North Africa, Greece, Iraq, Nepal, Pakistan and India, the film follows Eik and his beatnik friends exploring and challenging the world so insistently that he becomes an icon for the emerging hippie movement in Denmark.
Starting principal photography on 2 October, "Itsi Bitsi" features two newcomers, Joachim Fjelstrup and Marie Tourell Søderberg, as Skaløe and Rasmussen. Søderberg is also to play a lead character in Ole Bornedal's upcoming historical TV series "1864" (out in fall 2014).
Ole Christian Madsen wrote the script with Bo Hr. Hansen, and Lars Bredo Rahbek is producing for Nimbus Film. The film will be released domestically in 2015.
"Itsi Bitsi" is supported by the Danish Film Institute.
Read more
Rock band Steppeulvene on Wikipedia.
