THE ASH LAD: Norwegian Folk Tale Comes To Life In Big Budget Family Fantasy

Director Mikkel Brænne Sandemose brings Norwegian folk tale The Ash Lad to life with his upcoming live action feature adaptation, bringing audiences a classic tale of a poor young man pitted against overwhelming supernatural forces.

Espen “Ash Lad”, a poor farmer’s son, embarks on a dangerous quest with his brothers to save the princess from a vile troll known as the Mountain King – in order to collect a reward and save his family’s farm from ruin.

The Nordic countries have a strong history of high end, family oriented films and while the first teaser for this one avoids any direct shots of the villainous troll - we do see signs and consequences of his actions, however - the production value is obvious. Family oriented material tends to struggle on the festival circuit so its hard to say how widely this will ever be seen by international audiences but it certainly appears worth keeping an eye on.