Production underway on ‘Cycling For Love’ from ‘Virunga’ filmmaker Orlando von Einsiedel (exclusive).
https://www.screendaily.com/news/production-underway-on-cycling-for-love-from-virunga-filmmaker-orlando-von-einsiedel-exclusive/5185107.article?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=UK%20%20Europe%20PM%202208&utm_content=UK%20%20Europe%20PM%202208+CID_cb174ad726aa1f8958d2b0d5c589ea77&utm_source=Newsletter&utm_term=Production%20underway%20on%20Cycling%20For%20Love%20from%20Virunga%20filmmaker%20Orlando%20von%20Einsiedel%20exclusive
Production is underway in Sweden on Cycling For Love (working title), the new documentary from Virunga and The White Helmets director Orlando von Einsiedel.
The latest film from UK director von Einsiedel tells the story of Indian street artist PK Mahanandia and Swedish tourist Lotta von Schedvin. The pair met in Delhi in 1975 when von Schedvin asked Mahanandia to draw her portrait; with Mahanandia ultimately making a journey from India to Sweden by bicycle for love. It will use verite documentary, interview and archive techniques, blending dramatic re-enactments with animation.
The film is produced by von Einsiedel’s UK company Grain Media and Sweden’s Kalabati Pictures; filming will take place along the route that Mahanandia took between India and Sweden.
Grain Media’s Chloe Leland and Harri Grace will produce, alongside Emelie and Karl Mahanandia von Schedvin, and Chris Silvestri for Kalabati Pictures.
Cycling For Love is inspired by Per J Andersson’s book The Amazing Story of the Man Who Cycled from India to Europe for Love.
“Ever since my co-producers, Emelie and Karl Mahanandia von Schedvin, tracked me down at an event I was speaking at in Sweden and handed me a copy of their parents’ book, I’ve been enthralled with this beautiful story,” said von Einsiedel. “This enchantment has only become stronger the more I have come to understand the depths of the narrative and spent time getting to know PK and Lotta themselves.”
von Einsiedel’s Syrian war documentary The White Helmets won the Oscar for best documentary short in 2017; while 2014’s Virunga, about the individuals protecting the last wild mountain gorillas, scored Oscar and Bafta nominations.