Sweet Land

Director Ali Selim 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.[2] 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,[3] 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; however, no Hollywood studios were interested in making the film.[4][5]

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.[6]

Dan Futterman, whom Selim also had directed in commercials, was originally cast as Olaf but had to drop out when his film Capote went into production. Futterman suggested Tim Guinee as his replacement.[5]

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.[2]

Elizabeth Reaser signed on after another actress dropped out because of a scheduling conflict. 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.[7]

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.[8]

Sweet Land was filmed in 24 days in October 2004 in and around Montevideo, a city in Chippewa County, Minnesota.[2] Reaser does not speak German and had to learn her lines phonetically despite only four sessions with a dialogue coach.[5]

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.

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 Lipsky, 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.[9]

Sweet Land secured a national DVD distribution deal with 20th Century Fox, who released the film on DVD on July 10, 2007.[10]

Although Sweet Land did not get a wide national release, by the end of December 2006 it approached $1 million in receipts.[15] The film remained in theaters for 37 weeks, often in limited engagements at independent theaters, primarily in the Midwest. The film's final gross was $1.8 million.[15]

• 2005 Hamptons International Film Festival: Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature[16]
• 2006 Florida Film Festival: Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature[17]
• 2007 Independent Spirit Awards: Best First Feature[18][19]