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Synopsis: Arn Magnussson is born in 1150 on Arnas farm in West Gothia in the western part of Sweden. He grows up to become an educated young man and a skilled swordsman. He meets Cecilia, the love of his life, but a cruel and jealous world forces them apart. Cecilia is imprisoned in a monastery and Arn is sent away as a Knight Templar to the Holy Land, where war is raging between Christians and Muslims. They both have to fight to survive, they have to learn how to confront evil and overcome physical hardship. Their painful separation causes their faith in God and his goodness to waver – though not their faith in each other and their confidence that they will one day be reunited. When Arn returns home, he has to fight for his love and what has become his life’s mission: to unite Sweden into one kingdom. ***** Production Notes: The film production was headed by Svensk Filmindustri in conjunction with Film i Väst, TV4 (Sweden), Danmarks Radio (Denmark), YLE (Finland), TV 2 (Norway) and Telepool (Germany). With a total budget of around $30,000,000 for the whole production, it's the most expensive production in Scandinavian film history. SVT originally was one of the biggest sponsors of the project, but they pulled out and their role as a major sponsor was taken over by TV4. The Swedish parts of the film are filmed mostly in the province of Västergötland, while the foreign scenes are filmed in Morocco and Scotland. According to the UK's Herald today, most of the film was actually shot in Scotland because there are so few surviving medieval buildings in Sweden. That's where Vincent's scenes were done. The filmmakers made use of the Lothians' medieval locations: Craigmillar Castle, Seton Collegiate, Torphichen Perceptory, in addition to exterior locations near Penicuik and on the Hopetoun estate.
Vincent plays Brother Guilbert who belongs to the order
of Cistercians (also called White Monks). He is a former Knights Templar who
is doing penance as a monk for a past sin and is called upon to train Arn in
archery, swordsmanship and horsemanship.
The film is in Swedish, English and Arabic with English subtitles. This first feature called "The Knight Templar", which premiered on Christmas Day 2007, was followed up with the sequel, "Kingdom at Road's End, which premiered in August 2008. An international version at 130 minutes was eventually released as a compilation of the two feature films as well as a TV-series. ***** Cast members Joakim Natterqvist, Stellan Skarsgård, Sofia Helin and Vincent attended the Cannes Film Festival as part of a press-junket to promote the film to international buyers and the press. These photos were taken on May 22, 2007.
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