The cargo ship MV Rozen is heading for harbor when it is hijacked by Somali pirates in the Indian Ocean. Amongst the men on board are the ship’s cook Mikkel (Pilou Asbæk) and the engineer Jan (Roland Møller), who along with the rest of the seamen are taken hostage in a cynical game of life and death. With the demand for a ransom of millions of dollars a psychological drama unfolds between the CEO of the shipping company (Søren Malling) and the Somali pirates.
A Hijacking (Danish: Kapringen) is a Danish thriller film written and directed by Tobias Lindholm about a ship hijacking. Johan Philip Asbæk and Søren Malling star as a cook taken hostage and the CEO that attempts to negotiate for his release, respectively. It premiered at the 69th Venice International Film Festival.
Director’s Statement
Before I was born my father was a seaman, but he never spoke to me about it. Maybe that is why the sea has always been on my mind. With the hijackings of the Danish-owned freighters DANICA WHITE and CEC FUTURE in 2007 and 2008, I became aware of a reality that I did not know existed. A reality where shipping companies are forced to negotiate directly with pirates. A reality where pirates earn millions of dollars and a reality where seamen are held hostage for months without any influence on their own fate.
I couldn’t make a film about the truth of the hijackings in the Indian Ocean, because I don’t believe that truth exists. But I could make a film about seamen, pirates, CEOs and relatives. Because they do exist. And if A HIJACKING feels like it is about them, then I am very close to my goal. – Tobias Lindholm, Copenhagen 2012
A Hijacking
Directed by: Tobias Lindholm
Starring: Pilou Asbæk, Søren Malling, Dar Salim, Linda Laursen, Pilou Asb, Amelie Ihle Alstrup
Screenplay by: Tobias Lindholm
Production Design by: Thomas Greve
Cinematography by: Magnus Nordenhof Jønck
Film Editing by: Adam Nielsen
Music by: Hildur Guðnadóttir
MPAA Rating: R for language.
Studio: Magnolia Pictures
Release Date: June 14, 2014
Visits: 95
