Only in Tanken | My Site

ONLY IN TANKEN feature film (in development)

Only in Tanken is an intimate and offbeat story set in small-town Denmark. Lottie has returned to her hometown after a failed attempt at “making it” in the city. Now, in her late 30s, she finds herself living in her father’s basement working a less than interesting waitressing job. Lottie’s uneventful existence begins to change when she finds an abandoned handbag. Relieved to have been offered a break from her monotonous life, Lottie begins an investigation into the life of the town’s recently deceased matriarch and into the history of the place she has spent most of her life distancing herself from.

Only in Tanken is a love story between two lonely people who didn’t know how much they both longed for companionship and purpose, and a love story between a woman and a seemingly dull place inhabited by strange characters that doesn’t fit in anywhere else.

What is Tanken?

Tanken is a place. A small, confined and remote place that both loves you unconditionally and restricts you. A universal small town community where everyone knows everyone's business. Tanken is a Danish word that has two meanings: a) the tank and b) the thought. Tanken is a fictional place and so, it can exist anywhere.

Note on process

This project was written as my graduation project from film school. Since 2018 I have collaborated with London-based production company Bird Flight Films on developing the project.

The project was challenged by the fact that the original script was set in Denmark but written in English, and the script has explored various paths and has existed in various stages at the intersection between a Danish and an English sphere. Currently, I’m in the process of adapting the story to an English setting - more specifically on an island in the Channel Island Archipelago.