LES ARCS 2015
NORWEGIAN FILMS How do you shoot a tsunami no one has seen? Cinematographer John Christian Rosenlund takes us behind the scenes of Scandinavias first diaster movie.
Premiering in 2016, The Last King is a historical epic about the two men who saved the life of later king Haakon Haakonsson, thus changing the history of Norway.
Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel participates at the School with his first feature LESFilm ARCS 2015 | Village NORWEGIAN FILMS 1 project High, in which he continues to focus on interhuman relations.
NORWEGIAN FILM INSTITUTE IN LES ARCS
SINDRE GULDVOG
CEO sindre.guldvog@nfi.no
STINE HELGELAND
Executive Director Promotion and International Relations +47 957 44 173 stine.helgeland@nfi.no
STINE OPPEGAARD
Head of International Relations Feature films +47 908 59 638 stine.oppegaard@nfi.no
ASTRI BLINDHEIM
Head of Cultural Events +47 930 44 687 astri.blindheim@nfi.no
SVEINUNG GOLIMO
Executive Director Development & Production +47 906 06 165 sveinung.golimo@nfi.no
3. Broader Horizons 4. The Incentive Subsidy 6. Three For Film School Village 9. New Nordic Films 10. The Wave 14. Norwegian Films in Les Arcs 16. Les Arcs Coproduction Village 2015 20. Norwegian Work-in-Progress 22. Upcoming Titles 25. Industry News
ANNE FRILSETH
Senior Advisor Co-production, feature films +47 920 38 673 anne.frilseth@nfi.no
NORWEGIAN FILMS LES ARCS 2015 PUBLISHED BY Norwegian Film Institute EDITORS: Tommy Gjerald & Vibeke Rydland CONTRIBUTORS: Stine Oppegaard, Jørn Rossing Jensen, Jon Christian Rosenlund, Mia Lindrup, Jakob Berg & Live Nermoen TRANSLATION: Bjørn Gjertsen COVER: Trollhunter (2010). Directed by André Øvredal DESIGN: Lise Kihle Designstudio AS PRINT: Oslo Digitaltrykk CEO NORWEGIAN FILM INSTITUTE: Sindre Guldvog ISBN: 978-82-8025-040-7
BROADER HORIZONS
Broader Horizons Norwegian film and Norwegian film workers are attracting international attention. Hollywood has discovered Norwegian directors, and the last few years Norway has been among the nominees for the Oscars, the Golden Bear, Golden Globe and the Palme d’Or. The films which made this possible can be seen here in Les Arcs.
T
he last ten years, we have seen a substantial increase in the number of international co-productions with Norway. In 2008, the total co-production budget amounted to approximately NOK 20 million. In 2015 this sum has doubled, and constitutes nearly one tenth of the total budgets for development, production and promotion of Norwegian feature films. These results were brought about by the long-term support of the Norwegian state, which on average contributes more than NOK 300 million annually to the production of feature films. Another important explanation is a strategic international support, with an increased focus on international cooperation and co-productions. Altogether, this has provided the Norwegian film industry with inspiration, competence, and experience. High international VFX and special effects level International cooperation provides Norwegian productions with competence,
and enables the Norwegian film industry to contribute internationally. We have one of the world’s most professional special effects and VFX environments, and these services are competitive outside Norway as well. Foreign production companies have found the Norwegian cost level quite high, but this has improved substantially due to a low Norwegian krone rate. Norwegian stories Here in the Nordic countries we are proficient storytellers, and the last few years, Hollywood has recognized several Norwegian directors. Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg, Tommy Wirkola, Morten Tyldum, and Roar Uthaug have all been picked up by Hollywood, and the films which got them there may be seen here in Les Arcs. This year, a Norwegian film appeared in the main competition in Cannes for the first time in 36 years; Joachim Trier’s Louder than Bombs. The film was co-produced with Denmark and France, and is currently being screened in French cinema theatres.
Incentive scheme From 2016 on, Norway will introduce an incentive scheme. The scheme provides for grants of up to 25% of the approved costs of films and series entirely or partly produced in Norway. We hope that international productions see the possibility of carrying out all of the shooting or parts of it in Norway. Norwegian focus in Les Arcs I would like to thank the Les Arcs Film Festival for choosing a Norwegian focus this year. This gives us the opportunity to showcase new talents and screen Norwegian classic films to a French audience. I am also happy to see that one of this year’s jury members is the Norwegian actor Anders Danielsen Lie, who played the main character in Oslo, August 31st. A film appreciated by French audiences, and which was also nominated for a César Award. Sindre Guldvog CEO Norwegian Film Institute LES ARCS 2015 | NORWEGIAN FILMS 3
THE INCENTIVE SUBSIDY
Stine Helgeland. Photo: Ida Meyn
Receive up to 25% of your production costs in Norway While waiting for Parliament approval, the new €6.1 million incentive scheme to attract major international film and television productions to Norway is already working
W
hile still pending on the Norwegian Parliament’s final approval, Norway’s new €6.1 million incentive scheme to attract major international film and television productions will be operative from 1 January, 2016; already now guidelines for applications 4 NORWEGIAN FILMS | LES ARCS 2015
(first deadline is 21 January) are available on www.nfi.no. Film Commission Norway and the Norwegian regional film centres will still be active in promoting Norway as a film location, while the administration of the new legislation has been left with the Norwegian Film Institute and ex-
ecutive director-promotion & international relations Stine Helgeland. “We obviously hope to see more international productions in Norway, which will further market the country as a film location, and increase the competence of the Norwegian film workers - there has already been a strong international interest for the financial scheme,” Helgeland explained. One of the first major projects could be Swedish director Tomas Alfredsen’s adaption of Norwegian author Jo Nesbø’s 2007 novel, The Snowman (Snømannen), which has started pre-production in Oslo before a January shoot. The City of Oslo has already contributed to the project to secure its placement in the Norwegian capital. In October executives from Hollywood’s Universal Pictures and UK’s Working Title, including new Universal production president Jeff LaPlante met with Norwegian culture minister Thorhild Widvey and Oslo’s culture councillor Hallstein Bjercke to discuss the new possibilities for international productions in Norway. Scripted by Matthew Michael Carnahan, probably with US-German actor Michael Fassbender in the lead, The Snowman follows anti-authoritarian, anti-sobriety Oslo detective Harry Hole’s search for a missing woman – the only trace left of her is her pink scarf, now worn by a snowman in the yard. The investigation deepens, when he finds out that over the last decade 11 women have vanished – all on the day of the first snow: a serial killer is apparently on the loose. When the novel was published in the US, it went straight to No 10 on the New York Times’ bestseller list. Nesbø –has so far written six books about Hole’s investigations. “Norway has rich qualities for filming locations – in addition to a professional and competent film industry, we have a rich cultural history, and a unique natural and cultural landscape. With the incentive scheme, we want to
THE INCENTIVE SUBSIDY strengthen Norway's competitive advantage,” said Widvey, when presenting the new promotional initiative. The value of the Norwegian currency is not a bad argument, either; in Norway the US dollar is currently worth 45% more than three years ago, the UK pound and the euro have increased in the same way. The culture ministry has set up the rules for applications, which will (until further) be considered by the institute’s production advisors: To qualify for the scheme, productions must have total budgets of • €3.4 million (NOK 25 million) for feature films • €1.3 million (NOK 10 million) for documentaries • €1.3 million (NOK 10 million) per episode for drama series • €0.7 million (NOK 5 million) per episode for documentary series All productions must have a minimum of €0.3 (NOK 2 million) approved costs
in Norway. At least 30% of the total financing must be international an international distribution must be in place. The lead producer must have produced at least one feature, drama or documentary series within the last five years,
While Helgeland and her staff will promote the incentive scheme at the Norwegian Film Institute’s participation in the upcoming international film festivals, it will also be a theme at the ACE-Ateliers du Cinéma Européen’s
– We are happy to finally announce that Norway is introducing an incentive of 25 % as of 2016. This will make it more exciting than ever to use Norway as a location for international film productions. Truls Kontny, Head of Film Commission Norway
which has been widely distributed. Incentive backing cannot be combined with production funding or the automatic post-production support from the institute. It can, though, be combined with grants from the regional film centres and development/marketing-release support from the institute. The incentive subsidy can reach up to 25% of the accepted production costs in Norway.
annual conference, which will take place in Bergen next April. Last year the organisation’s 250 leading independent producers from 44 countries delivered 89 of the entries at the festivals in Cannes, Berlin, Venice and Toronto. “A perfect timing,” said film commissioner Sigmund Elias Holm, of Bergen’s West Norwegian Film Commission.
NORWAY STRONGER THAN EVER INTRODUCING 25 % INCENTIVE FROM 2016
POST@NORWEGIANFILM.COM | WWW.NORWEGIANFILM.COM
PHOTO: FANTEFILM
LES ARCS 2015 | NORWEGIAN FILMS 5
THREE FOR FILM SCHOOL VILLAGE
Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel. Photo: European Film Promotion
Three for Film School Village Norway participates with three talents at the Les Arcs Film School Village. Director Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel, whose graduation project gave his filmmaking career a kick-start, participates with a new project. Two film composition students with a strong affiliation with film through their personal as well as their professional backgrounds, will participate in a development workshop with the the international industry.
U
p and coming talent Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel participates at the Film School Village with his first feature film project, High, at this year’s Les Arcs. He made a name for himself through the well-received short film Bird Hearts. Tøndel is a newly graduated director, and Bird Hearts was his graduation production from the educational institution Westerdals Oslo School of Arts, Communications and Technology. The film got an amazing kick-start earlier this year when the film was selected for participation at the Future Frames: Ten new filmmakers to follow at the Karlovy Vary 6 NORWEGIAN FILMS | LES ARCS 2015
International Film Festival in July. – This feels like a great recognition of both me and everyone else who has worked extremely hard at making Bird Hearts the best film possible, was Tøndel’s comment to the Future Frames news. As an additional recognition of the director’s talent, the film was selected for the Short Cuts programme in Toronto in September – a selection that made everyone behind the film even more proud. – It was simply fantastic! I felt incredibly well taken care of by both the TIFF bunch and the Norwegian Film Institute. I’m also very happy that the members of
the Bird Hearts delegation were so well attended to during the festival. – It meant extremely much to me, of course, and to everyone involved in the film. We were all bursting with pride, and the film has by far surpassed all the ambitions and expectations we imagined would be possible for a graduation film from Westerdals Oslo ACT. Like they say in Seinfeld: ”I’m speechless. I have no speech.” I’m kind of dumbfounded, and all I can hope for now is that the film will stay alive, while I turn to new projects, and make use of the momentum I have gained. To make films is of major impor-
THREE FOR FILM SCHOOL VILLAGE tance to Tøndel. He relates that the film creation process makes him relax, and brings out his most honest and personal character traits. – Gradually I have realized that making films is what makes me feel most like myself. Like many other people, I’m a shapeshifter. I adjust my behaviour according to my surroundings. But when I make films, I don’t adjust. At those times, my collaborators face the entire Halfdan package, for better or worse. For my part it’s both liberating and rewarding. It has taken time to get this far, of course, and I think I will always have to - with every film I make - search for the exact spot where I’m most in touch with myself, for the project to succeed. Tøndel participates at the Film School Village with his first feature project High, in which he continues to focus on interhuman relations. – This is an exciting and ambitious project about two young boys testing their own, each other’s and society’s limits. High tells the story of two 17 year old boys. Patrick, the main character Frikk’s best friend, declares that he wants to commit suicide. At first they might just laugh it away, and they are not that serious about it. But with his growing determination, Patrick’s destructive lifestyle increasingly affects Frikk negatively. Frikk doesn’t know what to do. An important factor here is that they are both 17. In this phase of life, it’s common to be so confused and irresolute that nothing whatsoever is taken seriously, and when you finally realize the seriousness, it may be too late. There is an incredible range of possibilities in the characters, and this is an important reason why the story appeals to me, Tøndel relates. Tøndel is eagerly anticipating the encounter with the Film School Village, with a project he admits is still at an early stage of development. – Most of all I hope to gather some good advice along the way. This seems
Written and directed by
Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel
BIRD HEARTS with André Sørum & Stine Sørensen and Steinar Klouman Hallert & Eline Grødal
Producer Martine Solberg Editor Jonas Ekroll Bakkelund Composer Bendik Hovik Kjeldsberg
Sound Designer Odin Eggen Brække Cinematographer Daniel Warren
Film poster Bird Hearts
like a serious and positive event, and I’ve been reading about the other projects, which seem really exciting. Right now I’m working hard to make the film reflect my ideas more closely, and I really hope people will realize its potential – storywise, and not least, in its characters and the paths they may choose to follow. This director is working at a fast pace. He was recently granted funding from the Norwegian Film Institute for yet another short film project; Fanny. – I just finished shooting a new short film at Fårø in Gotland. A love project, both spiritually and in action. Fanny will be my next film. Fanny is a film about who you, I, and everyone
else are in other people’s eyes. Fanny is the character who both observes and is being observed, and we place her in various social settings with people she does not have a comfortable or close relation to. An important part of our exploration in this film will be to confront the causal relations between loneliness and sex. Do men and women have different attitudes towards a theme like loneliness? - This is the open question posed by Tøndel. In addition to the short film talent Tøndel, two students of film music composition at the Lillehammer University College will attend. Kate Havnevik is an established artist and a songwriter. She LES ARCS 2015 | NORWEGIAN FILMS 7
THREE FOR FILM SCHOOL VILLAGE
Kate Havnevik. Photo: Thomas Knights
has worked in the music business for 12 years, and has released four solo albums. Audun G. Vassdal is a composer, has played piano since his childhood, studied classical composition, and has a master’s degree from the Royal College of Music in London. They are both deeply involved in the film and TV industry, with two very different backgrounds. Havnevik tells us she has entered the field of film music the last few years, and has succeeded in having her music performed in a number of well-known and profiled productions. – Ten of my tunes have been used in series like Grey’s Anatomy, and a couple of them in series like The O.C., Injustice, West Wing, Commander in Chief and Windfall. The song Grace was written especially for the finale of Grey’s Anatomy Season 2. I also wrote and orchestrated seven tunes for the Norwegian film 8 NORWEGIAN FILMS | LES ARCS 2015
Granny & the Kids (2013), which were also released on a record, she tells us. Vassdal relates that his affiliation with the film industry is a result of having more or less grown up in the Norwegian film community, thanks to close family relations. – My father brought me with him to film sets ever since I was a kid. The first time I visited a set, I was only 4 months old. After I turned 13, I started to help out a bit, and from my youth on, I worked on a number of feature films and minor productions as an assistant producer, and later as camera assistant. So far I’ve mostly been working on student projects as a composer, but I have also composed music for a couple of shorts and a short documentary series on the NRK, he informs us. Composers participate in the Film School Village through a collaboration
with The Music Village - a parallel music festival. Havnevik explains: – We will participate in a workshop between film composers – two Norwegian ones, the rest of them French – and filmmakers. The idea is that each composer works on at least one project, and each project receives at least one musical proposal. By musical proposal is meant a short sample of what an original score would sound like. – This is a workshop in which Norwegian composers will collaborate with filmmakers on their projects. I think this will be really exciting, and slightly hectic. I hope I will have the opportunity to make great music for some interesting projects, and hopefully make new contacts, Vassdal adds. Both Havnevik and Vassdal state that they are involved in several film projects at the Lillehammer University College, and they are determined to continue with music production related to film in the future. – These days I make music for two documentary films at the Lillehammer University College, as well as a contribution to a fiction film. Come summer, I will have completed my film composition studies, and from then on I’ll be focusing on making music for feature films, TV series, and documentaries, Havnevik says. – At the moment, among other things, I’m working on two student projects for the documentary studies at the Lillehammer University College. My ambition is to become an established composer for film and TV in Norway. I find the development in the Norwegian film industry these days extremely exciting, and I hope to be an active part of this process. I hope and believe that my previous experience from film work has provided me with a solid comprehension of what it means to produce visual images, and that this will contribute to great collaboration projects in the times to come, Vassdal concludes. Tommy Gjerald
NEW NORDIC FILMS
New Nordic Films
– for Nordic co-productions The Nordic Film Market and International Co-Production and Financial Market during the Norwegian International Film Festival in Haugesund (20-26 August, 2016) with focus on Art House Films in a Mainstream Environment
O
rganised for the 22nd time, New Nordic Films – the industry division of the Norwegian International Film Festival in Haugesund (20-26 August) – will focus on Art House Films in a Mainstream Environment, during the programme starting three days before the festival closure. - In the current market it is a challenge both to finance, produce and distribute non-mainstream fare – also to find an audience for it – and in the long run, European cinema-goers will not be used to watch non-conventional cinema. This will also influence film art and new directors, explained Gyda Velvin Myklebust, head of New Nordic Films for the last 17 years.
Every year the Haugesund festival registers approx 350 Nordic and international film professionals for the Nordic Film Market, screening 20-25 mostly recent features, introducing 10-20 worksin-progress, and (Scandinavia’s largest) Nordic Co-Production and Finance Market. New Nordic Films collaborates closely with the Nordic Film Market at Sweden’s Göteborg International Film Festival (next year 29 January-8 February), also with the Producers’ Network at the Cannes International Film Festival – the Best Pitch Award in Haugesund is awarded in collaboration with the Cannes organisation. – Besides the market and the co-production and finance market, the Haugesund industry programme includes seminars and case studies.
Gyda Velvin Myklebust. Photo: The Norwegian International Film Festival, Haugesund
LES ARCS 2015 | NORWEGIAN FILMS 9
THE WAVE
The Wave: A mad race against time How do you shoot a disaster film about a tsunami no one has seen, with natural dusk light and hundreds of extras on the set? Cinematographer John Christian Rosenlund tells us about the creative rat race behind the cinematic success The Wave.
T
he Geiranger Fjord. One of Norway’s most beautiful valleys. One night, a large chunk of the mountain plunges into the fjord, creating a giant wave - a 70 metre high tsunami. This scenario forms the basis of Roar Uthaug’s The Wave. To join Roar and Fantefilm in making a true disaster
10 NORWEGIAN FILMS | LES ARCS 2015
film has been a great and informative experience. Nonetheless, many of the scenes required complicated solutions for lighting and camera - with the night scenes as maybe the greatest challenge. Dark nights cause a headache The key scenes in what may be Norway’s first disaster film take place in the mid-
dle of the night. The most important scene is set in Geiranger, more specifically on the Ørneveien road, while the others are played out in a 2,000 square metre studio in Bucharest, Romania. In the completed film, these two locations have to be perceived as the same place, they should fit together seamlessly. The Geiranger Fjord and the Ørnev-
THE WAVE
Above: Shooting The Wave. Photo: Eirik Evjen. Left: The Wave (2015). Directed by Roar Uthaug. Photo: Fantefilm
eien are vast areas. We knew that this was where we would have to work out the film’s visual universe. And first of all we had to succeed in shooting the important night scenes. Should we try to light up the whole valley? Do a socalled “day for night” shot? Or make use of the blue hour, the period after the sun has gone down, just before darkness falls? So alternative one was lighting. It would have been cool to try it out, but this is nowhere near the reality of a Norwegian film budget. Maybe not even a Hollywood budget, come to think of it. The area is just too large. And much of the point is that the fjord had to be
clearly visible - we had to make sure we could see the wave. In addition we had to make it as easy as possible to blend visual effects with the real surroundings. This requires a controlled lighting, and the work is often simplified by utilizing a soft top light rather than operating with sharp lamp shadows. Alternative two was day for night, and I have to admit that the expression gives me the shivers. To shoot night scenes in the daytime rarely works well on film. Once you place a light source, a headlight or the like in the picture, the audience will expect it to light up the surroundings. A headlight does not have much of an effect in broad daylight, so this is something the audience will react to - it looks fake. The third option was the real thing - to film everything at dusk, in the blue hour. But even though Norway is known for long, bright summer nights, the twilight in which it’s possible to shoot only lasts 1 or 2 hours in the month of May. A working day lasts ten hours, and this put enormous pressure on Roar Uthaug’s orchestration of actors, hundreds of extras and cars. In
addition, the key scenes at night had to be shot during the very first days. No room for mistakes To increase the visual-dramatic progress in the film, we defined two “visual worlds” - before and after the wave hits. Everything that happens on beforehand, we filmed in the twilight hour, while everything happening afterwards was shot in the middle of the night. This arrangement gave us a few extra hours after dark during which we transported ourselves a bit up the Ørneveien road to do the “afterwave scenes” - night after night, with proper film lighting. We wrote a detailed shooting script which enabled us to select some closeups which we could shoot before dusk, shots in which we could boost the headlights with stronger lights, and cover up against sunshine and shadows. This provided us with some extra shooting time prior to the blue hour. Nevertheless: Our somewhat crazy twilight plan had no room for mistakes. We made use of the daylight hours to do testing and to rehearse with actors, then with actors and camera, and LES ARCS 2015 | NORWEGIAN FILMS 11
THE WAVE John Erling Holmenes Fredriksen. John Erling is the kind of guy who knows how to assume responsibility and suggest good solutions. Many of the coolest Segway sequences in The Wave were shot by him. The art of improvisation We soon decided to drop classic dolly camera movements - we wanted an expression which was more realistic, improvised and present. Simultaneously we wanted steady “not handheld” images for some sequences. I was already in a test group for a new type of gimbal camera stabilizer, SC Newton Gimbal, and suggested to the developer, Guffe Funck, that maybe we could borrow a prototype. It arrived a few hours before shooting started... Among other things, we connected the gimbal with an extended version of Easyrig, a motorcycle from Fikser’n, and a Segway from Moviebird. With invaluable assistance from our competent camera crew, who gradually turned into experts at calibrating gimbal, we succeeded in making a few shots which would otherwise have been impossible to get.
Photos: Fantefilm Below: On set shooting The Wave. Photo: Eirik Evjen
then with extras, camera, and actors. And finally - like in a car race - we shot the day’s programme in the course of a magic time window of 1-2 hours. Actually it wasn’t really magic at all, just accurate and hard work by an extremely 12 NORWEGIAN FILMS | LES ARCS 2015
well-prepared crew. As far as I recall, we had an average of approximately 40-50 shooting adjustments per day. The Wave is shot with two sets of cameras, and the second unit camera was operated by the film photographer
Silk fabric from Turkey I find lighting of night scenes difficult. Making it look real is a challenge - to find a logical reason for the lighting, that is - and I have an aversion against the classic “American blue night.” When a 70 metre high wave has swept ashore, like it does in the film, the air will probably be filled with particles and smoke. Fortunately, very few of us have experienced the hours after a tsunami has struck in the night. In other words, we had visual freedom to a certain extent. For the night scenes in The Wave, I envisioned a soft blue-grey/ green downlight mixed with the light from car headlights and flames from demolished houses and the like. To put colour filters on large, soft surfaces is costly. In addition, film lights do get hot, which will eventually ruin
THE WAVE
The Wave approaching. Photo: Fantefilm
colour filters (which then have to be replaced). Therefore, my lighting director Catalin Calin suggested sheets of reasonably priced art silk which were initially bluish green, and which would also function as a soft filter - in other words, a brilliant, creative solution. I tested various silk-like materials at home in my living room together with my daughter, and ended up with a fabric with colours and softness which we liked. The light at Ørneveien road had to match the studio lighting - with the same colours and the same kind of softness. In the studio this is relatively easily done, but outdoors in wind and weather, it’s a bit more challenging. So Calin constructed a giant lighting box which was mounted beneath an industrial crane on the Ørneveien road. It had to be very solid, in order to withstand wind and rain. Inside the box he con-
structed a grid pattern of 64x150W light bulbs on a separate dimmer. This provided us with a very soft and even light. Actually, the Turkish silk fabric functioned beautifully. In the studio I was finally able to realize an old dream of mine, to cover the entire studio with an evenly lighted material, and consequently avoid reflexes from lamps in water and shiny surfaces, which I knew we would have lots of. First of all, we got a bunch of climbers to hang up 24 x space lights. They had to be hung high enough for us to have a decent distance to the material. Subsequently we stretched wires and applied a 60x25 metre large cloth, covering the ceiling of the large studio in Bucharest. Half a year later we were gathered in Storyline Studios for the post-production lighting. We had arrived at a rich yellowish green colour for this “afterwave night sequence.”
Just by chance, producer Martin Sundland came by, and reacted negatively to the yellowish green colour. He wondered why we didn’t leave these scenes like they were, the way I had lighted them on the set in Geiranger and in the studio. I went back to the original bluish green colours; those we had tested, tried out and agreed on before we started shooting. This worked out much better - it helped the film fall into place as a complete universe. This reminds me once again of the importance of trusting what you’ve done, trusting your established choice of colour codes and visual universe, instead of being seduced by the infinite possibilities offered by digital post-production. John Christian Rosenlund Cinematographer
First printed in Rushprint.
LES ARCS 2015 | NORWEGIAN FILMS 13
NORWEGIAN FILMS LES ARCS 2015
DOCUMENTARIES 2015 / 2016
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PLAYTIME (Opening Film) The Wave Dir: Roar Uthaug / 2015 / 104 min
NORWEGIAN FOCUS
Oslo, August 31st
Dir: Joachim Trier / 2011 / 96 min
Out of Nature
Dir: Ole Giæver / 2014 / 80 min
The Almost Man
Dir: Martin Lund / 2012 / 75 min
Babycall
Dir: Pål Sletaune / 2011 / 96
Happy Happy
The Art of Negative Thinking
Dir: Bård Breien / 2006 / 79 min
Dir: Anne Sewitsky / 2010 / 85 min
Headhunters
The Hunt
Dir: Erik Løchen / 1959 / 94 min
Dir: Morten Tyldum / 2011 / 100 min
In Order of Disappearance
Turn Me On Goddammit
Dir: Hans Petter Moland / 2014 / 116 min
Dir: Jannicke Systad Jacobsen / 2011 / 76 min
Insomnia
SNOW FRAYEURS
Dir: Erik Skjoldbjærg / 1997 / 96 min
Kitchen Stories
Dead Snow: Red vs Dead Dir: Tommy Wirkola / 2014 / 90 min
Dir: Bent Hamer 7 2003 / 90 min
Kon-Tiki
Dir: Joachim Rønning/Espen Sandberg / 2012 / 110 min
Norway of Life/ The Bothersome Man Dir: Jens Lien / 2006 / 95 min
The Troll Hunter
Dir: André Øvredal / 2010 / 103 min
SPECIAL SCREENINGS Back Home / Louder Than Bombs
Dir: Joachim Trier / 2015 / 109 min
DOCUMENTARIES 2015 / 2016
YOUTH SCREENINGS
PROJECTS IN DEVELOPMENT
Letter to the King
Dir: Hisham Zaman / 2014 / 75 min
FILM SCHOOL VILLAGE Bird Hearts
Children
Dir: Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel
Dir: Dag Johan Haugerud, Prod: Motlys
Operation Arctic
Dir: Grethe Bøe-Waal / 2014 / 87 min
High (in development) Eternal Summer
Dir: Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel
Dir: Jakob Rørvik, Prod: Maipo Film
NORWEGIAN FOCUS SHORT FILMS Baldguy
Dir: Maria Bock / 2011 / 12 min
Lake Over Fire
Dir: Joern Utkilen, Prod: Ape&Bjorn
Loot
Dir: Trygve Allister Diesen, Prod: Tenk.tv
Premature
Dir: Gunhild Enger / 2012 / 17 min
To Open, To See
Dir: Camilla Figenschou / 2012 / 15 min
Water Lilies in Bloom
Dir: Emil Stang Lund / 2010 / 15 min
Yes We Love
Swamp
Dir: Camilla Strøm Henriksen, Prod: Hummelfilm
WORK IN PROGRESS Valley of Shadows
Dir: Jonas Matzow Gulbrandsen, Prod: Film Farms
Dir: Hallvar Witzø / 2015 / 15 min
INDUSTRY CONFERENCE Monday, Dec 14: 16h30 - 17h45 Arc 1950 - Manoir Savoie Case Study on Louder than Bombs by Joachim Trier The panel will consist of the producers Sigve Endresen and Thomas Robsahm from Motlys, Emilie Georges, managing director of Memento International, Roberto Olla, executive director of Eurimages and Sveinung Golimo, Norwegian Film Institute executive producer of development and production.
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LES ARCS COPRODUCTION VILLAGE 2015
FOCUS ON NORWAY
Les Arcs Coproduction Village 2015 LOOT Dir: Trygve Allister Diesen. Prod: Frode Søbstad, for Tenk.tv.
When Norwegian director Trygve Allister Diesen last time signed a Norwegian feature – Hold My Heart (Tyven, tyven/2001) – it was the Norwegian Oscar entry and won for Best Norwegian Film at the Norwegian International Film Festival in Haugesund. Since then he has been busy mainly making television series, both Norwegian and Swedish, a US TV series, The Assets (2014) and a US drama thriller, Red (2008). But now he is back on Norwegian feature turf with Loot, a €1.8 million thriller actioner presented at Les Arcs Coproduction Village, looking for co-producers, distributors and an international sales agent. Norwegian producer Frode Søbstad, of Oslo-based Tenk.tv, is developing the project. “I love thrillers, particularly thrillers with anti-heroes and an emotional substance to match the strong pulse that the genre demands,” said Diesen, whose lead character in Loot is 40-year-old excop Bjørn, convicted of police corruption and his part in a major gold heist. On his way to prison the transport is attacked by men in ski masks killing the guards, and Bjørn is given 24 hours to dig up the €4,5 million of gold missing from the robbery. To make sure he will do it, they keep the one thing he still cares about: his 17-year-old daughter. Now Bjørn has no idea where the gold is – the heist left him in a coma, 16 NORWEGIAN FILMS | LES ARCS 2015
and he only recalls flashes of what he is now forced to unravel – the drug deal that started it, the gold robbery that made it worse, and the shootout leading to his arrest. “The daughter/victims turn out to be strong-willed antagonists. Our hero’s failings as a dad has not only crushed her life, but spurned a hatred he has to face. It is not just about wasting bad guys, but also about realising consequences,” Diesen added. The real shocker is when Bjørn discovers he had not only driven his daughter in the arms of a thug, but into a war directed at her father. “I will shoot the film with a roaming, curious camera – a camera that does not precede the action, but discovers things with or even a second after our hero. As a storyteller I prefer to pull people into a story, rather than pushing them through it,” the director concluded.
VALLEY OF SHADOWS (Skyggenes dal) Dir: Jonas Matzow Gulbrandsen. Prods: Alan R Milligan, Tom Kjeseth, with Terez Hollo-Klausen for Film Farms. Work-in-progress.
Due to shoot the first scenes at Kvinesdal in western Norway later this month (27-28 November), Norwegian director Jonas Matzow Gulbrandsen’s feature debut Valley of Shadows (Skyggenes dal) will be the second local movie for Film Farms, “an international film production company based on a farm in Norway,” af-
ter Norwegian director Hisham Zaman’s award- winning Letter to the King (2014). It is presented at Les Arcs Coproduction Village, looking for distributors and an international sales agent. Still producers Tom Kjeseth and Alan R. Milligan also realised Gulbrandsen’s two shorts, Everything Will Be OK (2011) and Darek (2009); could be because their shingle is co-owned by Gulbrandsen and his brother, Marius Matzow Gulbrandsen, also a cinematographer on Valley of Shadows (and Letter to the King). This year they had two films in Un Certain Regard at Cannes, Icelandic director Grimur Hákonarson’s Rams (executive producer) – which won the main prize – and the Ethiopean co-production with director Yared Zeleke’s Lambs. The €1 million Valley of Shadows is a drama, described as “a dark metaphysical mood piece,“ about a broken family living in a small pietistic valley. 39-yearold Astrid lives with her 7-year-old son Aslak and their dog Rapp, but Astrid seems quite indifferent to Aslak – she is pre-occupied with finding her oldest son, after a young man has died in the village, and she is afraid he will follow the same fate. When the dog Rapp escapes into the forbidden forest, Aslak follows trying to find him, but is lost in the wilderness. On his dangerous, mystical journey he meets upon a presence who brings him safely into a cabin in the woods. “The metaphysical element is central in the film. In a traumatised family the ghost follows them as an expression of Astrid’s
LES ARCS COPRODUCTION VILLAGE 2015
subconscious guilt and emotions. She will meet the son in the end, but then as a deceased. So who did Aslak meet in the forest – his brother or a ghost,” Gulbrandsen concluded.
ETERNAL SUMMER (Evig sommer) Dir: Jakob Rørvik. Prods: Åshild Ramborg, Synnøve Hørsdal, for Maipo Film
After five shorts, Norwegian director Jakob Rørvik is ready with his first feature, Eternal Summer (Evig sommer), a €1.2 million project presented at Les Arcs Coproduction Village, looking for co-producers, distributors and an international sales agent. A 2005 director graduate from the UK National Film and Television School, Rørvik has worked as a writer-director both in the UK and Norway; his 19-minute graduation film, Vanilla Song, was selected for the Cinéfondation competition in Cannes, and his most recent short, Nothing Ever Really Ends – a dysfunctional love story – is currently in post-production. But Elisabeth and Christian – in Eternal Summer – is an inseparable couple. When Christian is treated for cancer, they handle it with optimism and courage, till they get the finale message: treatment is not working, this will be Christian’s last summer. Elisabeth flees into an intense relationship with a younger man, Jonas, who reminds him of the Christian she met 10 years ago. It is like travelling back, and starting afresh: no more grief, no more death. He gets under her skin, refusing her to push him away. “But it is not a film that simply focuses on the tragedy, but a film about
a woman who in her escape through summer and closeness to a new man finds acceptance for what is really happening, returning to the love of her life before it is too late,” explained Rørvik. “Due to certain life experiences, it is a project which feels deeply personal to both the producers and myself. “Eternal Summer constantly jumps from seriousness to humour, from tears to laughter, from grief to ecstasy – so despite its tragic starting point, it is first and foremost about how intense life can be, both when it is at its worst and when it is as its very best.” Maipo Film has produced more than 30 features and television films, including Norwegian director Petter Næss’ Oscar-nominated Elling (2001); Norwegian director Anne Sewitsky’s Sundance winner, Happy, Happy (Sykt lykkelig/2010); and – most recently – Norwegian actress-director Liv Ullmann’s August Strindberg adaption, Miss Julie (Frøken Julie/2014) and Sewitsky’s second Sundance entry; Homesick (2015).
LAKE OVER FIRE (Vann over ild) Dir: Joern Utkilen. Prod: Ruben Thorkildsen, for Ape&Bjørn Productions
Norwegian director Joern Utkilen feature debut Lake over Fire (Vann over ild) is set in a village in the wilderness – a timeless western-like world, where horses are replaced by mopeds. Life has come to a standstill because of overwhelming wealth, deriving from a mine with natural minerals: nobody wants to do the less attractive jobs needed for a society to function. Described as a “deadpan comedy,”
with a Norwegian cast of Kristoffer Joner, Ole Christoffer Ertvaag, Cato Skimten Storengen and Nina Ellen Ødegård, Utkilen’s €1.2 million project (with €0.5 million already supplied by the Norwegian Film Institute) is presented at Les Arcs Coproduction Village, looking for co-producers, distributors and an international sales agent Produced by Ruben Thorkildsen for Norway’s Ape&Bjørn – the company behind, the Karlovy Vary Crystal Globe winner The Almost Man (2012)– the film opens when an alcoholic cowboy, Kristoffer, who comes to town and is forced to take the job as mayor to make up for an unpaid bar bill. He meets Olec, the wealthiest man in the village, and together they work out a resolution to the local problem: they will throw out the demanding residents from their homes and import cheap labour from outside. The hero, Cato, who has been living in the forest for some time, is forced to return when the sheriff imprisons his wife; he is set up against Olec by the new mayor, and involuntarily kills Olec’s assistant. The fight between good and evil has started. “Every story element has its origin in the actors’ own lives – they were cast based on who had stories that caught my attention and imagination. The plan was that intuition would give direction and analysis the back seat. “Most of the actors live in Stavanger, Norway’s “oil capital”, and the idea of a society so rich that everything had come to a halt started to emerge,” explained Utkilen, who lives in Scotland, and was educated at the Edinburgh College of Art and Screen Academy Scotland. “The world I want to create is heightened, ideosyncratic, timeless, bright, colourful, and the performances subtle and deadpan.” LES ARCS 2015 | NORWEGIAN FILMS 17
LES ARCS COPRODUCTION VILLAGE 2015
SWAMP (Sump) Dir: Camilla Strøm Henriksen. Prods: Gudny Hummelvoll, Paulina Rider Wilhelmsen, for Hummelfilm
Norwegian writer-director Camilla Strøm Henriksen started on the other side of the camera. An actress performing in 12 features and television films, garnering her a Best Actress Amanda – Norway’s national film prize – for Norwegian director Martin Asphaug’s A Handful of Time (En håndfull tid/1989), she started studies at the London Film School. With an MA degree in 2004, she moved into writing and directing, and has since worked on some of the longest-running TV series in Scandinavia, including Norway’s Hotel Cæsar (2006-2011). For her feature debut, Swamp (Sump) presented at Les Arcs Coproduction Village, looking for financial partners, co-producers and an international sales agent – she has teamed up with Norway’s Hummelfilm and producers Gudny Hummelvoll and Paulina Rider Wilhelmsen to film a story about surviving a family trauma. Her lead character, Jill, is a young teenager who tries to manage her mother Astrid’s dysfunctions, while taking care of her little brother, Bo. To cope with the situation she makes her father, Nils, a touring jazz musician they rarely see, larger-than-life. She wants to think he will solve everything. When she finds her mother dead in the cellar – she has committed suicide – Jill decides to conceal her discovery, and lies to Bo about her disappearance. She hopes they will escape together with Nils, but the father – who otherwise lives abroad - appears with a new girlfriend and wants them to be a hap18 NORWEGIAN FILMS | LES ARCS 2015
py family. Jill’s fantasies crack, and she suspects he will not stand the light of day; but as the illusion of the father as the hero breaks, the faith in herself start to grow – she realises that she has the resources in her to find a new life for herself and her little brother. “It is a personal story, based on my own experiences as a young girl –a story of loss: loss of parents, illusions and innocence, but also a story of the unbreakable bond between two siblings,” Strøm Henriksen explained. “My aim has been to tell about children who manoeuvre in an adult world. It is about the dynamics in a family, when the roles are turned upside-down – when the grown-ups refuse to be to be parents, and the children are forced to be grown-ups. And above all it is about Jill, a child, a girl and a young woman, who through the losses discovers her own strength.
BEWARE OF CHILDREN (Barn) Dir: Dag Johan Haugerud. Prod: Yngve Sæther, for Motlys
When after seven shorts, Norwegian writer-director Dag Johan Haugesund made his first feature, I Belong (Som du ser meg) in 2012, he received four Amandas, Norway’s national film prize, including Best Film (for producer Yngve Sæther), Best Direction, Best Screenplay (for himself ) and Best Actress (for Laila Goody). After last year’s 53-minute drama, I’m the One You Want (Det er meg du vil ha), he is now preparing to shoot his next feature, Beware of Children (Barn), next spring. Teaming up again with Norwegian producer Yngve Sæther and Motlys, a leading production company (which
also delivered Norway’s first Golden Palm contender in Cannes for 36 years, Norwegian director Joachim Trier’s Louder than Bombs), the film – which is presented at Les Arcs Coproduction Village, looking for distributors and an international sales agent – will have a cast of Henriette Steenstrup, Andrea Bræin Hovig, Trine Wiggen, Jan Gunnar Røise and Anne Marit Jacobsen. Set at a suburban school in Oslo, where 13-year-old Lykke – the daughter of a prominent Labour politician – has just beaten her classmate Jamie, a local right wing politicians son, to death. She claims it was an accident, but nobody believes her. The school’s principal Liv is an idealist, who against her political beliefs has been living in a secret relationship with Jamie’s father, Karl Erik; he is in mourning and obsessed with revenge – and their liaison is no longer a secret. Her brother Anders, also burning for the teaching profession, is both Lykke and Jamie’s class teacher; he gets closer to Lykke and her parents as she is dismissed from school and starts private tutoring. The parents have a hard time trying to understand how their daughter could do what she did. “What we mean to one another, how we talk to one another and how we misunderstood one another are themes all my films have dealt with. I want to use the close and trivial to show and explore structures in society. I am interested in looking closer at how we carry our class affiliation and our political beliefs with us in everything we do, without moralising or stereotyping,” said Haugerud. “The point is not to find definite answers, but to show several situations that at best will start further discussions about our lives and our society.
FILM PRESENTATION SHORTS DIRECTORS MOVE THE WORLD NORWEGIAN FEMALE
NORWEGIAN FILMS IN FRANCE FACTS & FIGURES 2014 Top 5 Norwegian Feature Films in French Movie Theatres (produced: 2000-2014) ENGLISH TITLE Oslo, August 31st The Christmas of Louis and Nolan Kitchen Stories The Journey to the Christmas Star O´Horten
DIRECTOR Joachim Trier Rasmus A. Sivertsen Bent Hamer Nils Gaup Bent Hamer
31 Norwegian feature films produced in 20002014 were shown on French movie theatres.
PROD.YEAR 2011 2013 2003 2012 2007
ADMISSION FRANCE 150 563 141 800 73 162 64 808 35 988
Average annual admissions:
26 237
Admissions on Norwegian Feature Films in French Movie Theates, by Production Year 250000 200000 150000 100000 50000 0 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 LES ARCS 2015 | NORWEGIAN FILMS 19
NORWEGIAN WORK-IN-PROGRESS
Vally of Shadows.Photo: Film Farms
Norwegian Work-in-Progress:
Valley of Shadows Norway participates at the Work-in-Progress session with the feature film project Valley of Shadows, directed by Jonas Matzow Gulbrandsen and produced by the company Film Farms. Producer Allan Milligan tells us that when he selects projects as a producer, it’s important to him to be able to relate to the screenplay personally - it needs to speak to me, he says.
I
n the Work-in-Progress-session, extracts from 10 European films in post-production will be screened to sales agents, festival programmers, distributors and funds. The session invites the producers of the selected films to present their work following the screenings, to a professional audience. The Norwegian project Valley of Shadows is about a mother, Astrid, who struggles to overcome guilt about a decision she once made, to save herself and her youngest son Aslak (6). The torment she carries does not allow her to connect with her son Aslak, and she as-
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pires to put her guilt to rest. Aslak senses something is missing in the family, but is more preoccupied with the mutilated sheep the farmers have found. It’s rumoured that the beast which killed the sheep lives in the forbidden forest. Aslak is drawn to the forest, not by the beast, but by something familiar. Both Astrid and Aslak set off on their separate journeys into the unknown, in a universe where the lines between realism and the supernatural are blurred. Film Farms' producer Allan Milligan relates that what makes the project unique is that the vision and artistic
ambition for the film is edgy and ambitious, and that it has a distinct director-cinematographer signature. – The theme is very personal to the characters and hence to the audience, as it also has an objective social critique. It’s set in a very local, very unique community that I believe will interest a universal audience. Very importantly, the signature of the two brothers Jonas (director) and Marius Matzow Gulbrandsen (cinematographer) is absolutely distinct. That I could also relate to the script personally, is of course important when I choose my projects. It needs to
NORWEGIAN WORK-IN-PROGRESS speak to me, first and foremost, if I intend to spend the time, money and energy on making a film. – Jonas, Marius and I are partners in Film Farms, so it’s been a very natural evolution in choosing to work on this project. I’ve been aware of Valley of Shadows for the last four years, but it’s been in Jonas’ mind for the last ten, he adds. The unique signature is what Film Farms are always looking for when selecting projects, Milligan relates, and thereby reveals that they have their own signature as a production company - they want films that are artistically and thematically edgy. And he reminds us that art-house-film represents an important balance which should not be excluded in today’s homogeneous market. - The ambitions need to be of the highest order from the beginning - we are not making films for a Norwegian audience specifically, we are making films for a specific audience of which there are many more globally. In this way we believe our films will get a larger audience in Norway. More than ever, art-house films are needed to balance up the overwhelming number of Hollywood/superhero films and their European copies. In the long run, I am convinced that cinemas and streaming providers will lose out if they continue to maintain the imbalance as it is today - art house film is being shut out of the market. As usual, wake-up calls tend to be dramatic, and we as a business are certainly heading towards an epic one. In the meantime, we can only continue our aim of making films locally that resonate globally. Film Farms will also be screening Hisham Zaman’s Letter to the King (2014) in the Youth Screenings programme. Milligan has great respect for the French market, and emphasizes its importance. In his opinion, the French film audiences, to a much higher degree than in other nations, consider film a superior art form. Consequently, getting films into French cinema theatres
requires a certain quality level. – France is a very important market for us - and in fact we have two films we have been involved with in French distribution this year; Rams (2015) and Lamb (2015).While I do hear my French friends complain about how commercial the market is, the audience and market in France hold film in a higher artistic and cultural regard than most other nations. In Norway however, this respect has yet to take a strong foothold among audience and investors alike. Then again we must ask ourselves if we as filmmakers have delivered enough films that can demand such respect. If you look at the number
of prizes and nominations Norway has won at the major four or five festivals in the last ten years, comparatively speaking, I would say no. – To have a festival and commercial success internationally, to get noticed in a very crowded market, requires edginess, vision and hard work. So we are aiming high, pushing ourselves to stand out and be edgy and to get our films screened in cinemas in France and other markets. If we can keep doing this, we are making important steps in positioning our brand Film Farms. And, very importantly, developing who we are as filmmakers and human beings. Tommy Gjerald
Top: Letter To The King. Photo: Film Farms Below: Valley of Shadows. Photo: Film Farms
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UPCOMING TITLES
The Last King. Photo: Paradox Film
The Wave – and what comes after
Norway and the Nordic countries’ first disaster movie took 46% of this year’s cinema audiences for local films
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orwegian director Roar Uthaug’s The Wave (Bølgen) – Norway and the Nordic countries’ first disaster movie, Norway’s submission for the Oscar as Best Foreign-Language Feature, which opens the 7th European Film Festival in Les Arc - sold more than 830,000 cinema tickets in Norway to become the 8th most popular local film of all times. The Wave, which has now been sold to 136 countries, according to Norwegian producer Martin Sundland, of Fantefilm Fiksjon – was one of Norway’s major achievements in 2015, along with Norwegian director Joachim Trier’s first English-language feature, Louder Than Bombs – Norway’s first contender for the Golden Palm in Cannes since
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1979 – which most recently won for Best Film at the 26th Stockholm’s International Film Festival, to receive the top prize, 7.5 kilo Bronze Horse. Louder Than Bombs has also exceeded 100 international sales. The local market share has otherwise been backed by such films as (currently) Norwegian directors Thale Persen’s Valley of Knights: Mira’s Magical Christmas (Julekongen – Full rustning/162,099 admissions, after three weeks); Arne Lindtner Næss’ Casper and Emma on Safari (Karsten og Petra på safari/ 249,802); Arild Fröhlich’s Doctor Proctor Bubble in the Bathtub (Doktor Proktors tidsbadekar/235,239); and Rasmus A. Sivertsen-Rune Spaan’s animated Two Buddies and a Badger (Knutsen & Ludvigsen og den fæle Rasputin/209,736).
The new year’s first major local release (12 February) will be Norwegian Oscar-nominated director Nils Gaup’s The Last King (Birkebeinerne), a historical epic about the two men who saved the life of later king Haakon Haakonsson, with Jakob Oftebro, Kristofer Hivju, Thorbjørn Harr and Pål Sverre Hagen in the leads. Set during civil war in Norway, scripted by Ravn Laneskog, the Finn Gjerdrum-Stein B. Kvae production for Paradox follows the warriors who escaped across the mountains with the two-year-old prince - the last remaining heir to the throne, whom half the kingdom is out to kill - thus changing the history of Norway. Four years after All That Matters Is Past (Uskyld/2012), Norwegian director
UPCOMING TITLES Sara Johnsen will early next year release Framing Mom (Rose Marie og gartnerens hemmelighet), which Turid Øversveen produced for Norway’s 4½ Fiksjon, with Denmark’s Nimbus Film and Germany’s Match Factory, with Tuva Novotny, Jesper Christensen and Emil Johnsen in the leads. Scripted by Johnsen, Framing Mom is the story of Unn Tove, a TV journalist, who marries the wrong man and is unfaithful to him at their very wedding. At the same time a newly-born baby, Rose Marie, is left at a restaurant bathroom. Their lives are intertwined, and 16 years later Unn Tove and Rose Marie begin a search for the young girl’s biological parents. After signing five episodes of the Norwegian TV2 series TV2 series Acquitted (Frikjent), Norwegian director Rune Denstad Langlo is ready with an early 2016 follow-up on his award-winning North (Nord/2009) and Chasing the Wind (Jag etter vind/2013), also written by himself: Welcome to Norway!, aka Primus Motor, starring Anders Baasmo Christiansen, Nini Bakke Kristiansen, Henriette Stenstrup, and produced by Sigve Endresen for Norway’s Motlys. Welcome to Norway!, Per Primus, a racist, almost bankrupt owner of a holiday hotel in the fjells, where nobody comes – so now he wants to open a state-funded refugee centre to save the economy. The first group of 50 unruly émigrés, most of them Muslims, causes absolute chaos – one of them on particular, Abedi, from Congo. First he annoys the hell out of Primus, but in the end he changes him completely. From the bottom of the North Sea in his award-winning thriller Pioneer (2013), Norwegian director Erik Skjoldbjærg – who has since, ao, directed episodes for the Norwegian TV2 series Occupied (Okkupert) – will go for fire, following an arsonist who terrorises a small community in Pyromaniac (Pyromanen), which will open in the autumn. Agnes Kittelsen, Henrik Rafaels-
Valley of Knights: Mira’s Magical Christmas. Photo: Storm Studio
en and Trond Nilssen star in the film, scripted by Norwegian writer Bjørn Olaf Johannessen from Gaute Heivoll’s novel, and based on real-life events in the small town of Finsland in Southern Norway, where a pyromaniac in 1978 started a number of dangerous fires. A local policeman discovers that the culprit is not a stranger, but a village fireman. After two family features about Doctor Proctor (from Norwegian author Jo Nesbø’s books), including Doctor Proctor's Fart Powder (Doktor Proktors prompepulver) - No 3 on the 2014 national charts – Norwegian director Arild Fröhlich has filmed Norwegian screenwriter Megan Gallagher’s first feature, Grand Hotel, which will open in the autumn. A Karin Julsrud production for 4½ Fiksjon, starring Atle Antonsen, it unites a pompous, aging alcoholic and a 10-year-old boy suffering from Tourette’s disorder (with multiple physical and vocal tics), who are forced to spend a week together at the hotel. They have one thing in common: they are both difficult to like. But during the week they form a unique friendship, pushing them both towards a change. With The Wave Norway saw its first
local disaster movie – now comes “the first real political thriller made in Norway,” according to Norwegian veteran producer John M. Jacobsen. His Filmkameratene production company will back Norwegian writer-director Stig Svendsen’s contemporary King’s Bay, which will shoot in January-February 2016 for a January premiere the following year. On 5 November, 1962, 21 workers were killed in an explosion in the Norwegian mines at King’s Bay, Svalbard, the Arctic; in June, 1963, a public commission investigating the accident critisised the security measures in the mines, which later forced the Social Democratic government to resign, to give place for the first right-wing rule in Norway. “On the backdrop of the increasing focus on the Arctic and the super powers’ game of future resources, King’s Bay is based on this historical event during the Cold War, the impact it had then and still has in the current situation. And what if it wasn’t an accident after all,” Jacobsen explained. – Svendsen was inspired by such films as All the President’s Men, JRF and Michael Clayton.
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NORWEGIAN FACTS & FIGURES 2014
Population of Norway, 5.1 million
Market share
Are you interested in information about the film market in Norway, and the performance of Norwegian films? We have gathered key statistics displaying theatrical releases, cinema admissions, most viewed films, market share, gender equality and a lot more. Download your paper copy of Facts & Figures from nfi.no/english/downloads.
Number of screens
Average cinema admissions per Norwegian is 2.2
191 Norwegian feature-length films
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Number of cinemas
Admissions Norwegian films
INDUSTRY NEWS
Norway's first Emmy On Tuesday the 24th of November, Norwegian actress Anneke von der Lippe became the first actor in the Nordic countries to receive an Emmy from the International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences – the TV world’s equivalent to the Oscar. The 51-year-old actress was awarded for her role as police investigator Helen Sikkeland in Norwegian pubcaster NRK’s 2014 six-part thriller series Eyewitness, about two youngsters witnessing a brutal murder in a small town, but being too afraid to tell. Von der Lippe has once before been nominated for this international prize, after in 2005 she played a Cabinet Minister in Norwegian director Leidulv Risan’s By the King’s Table. She has worked on stage at Oslo’s National Theatre, in Bergen and Stavanger, and performed in several films, winning the Amanda – Norway’s national film prize – for Risan’s The Warrior’s Heart in 1992, Eva Isaksen’s Stork Staring Mad in 1994, and Henning Carlsen’s Pan in 1995. Von der Lippe was the first Norwegian Shooting Star in 1998.
Anneke von der Lippe. Photo: Ivar Køhn
Jury member:
Anders Danielsen Lie
Anders Danielsen Lie
Born in Norway, Anders Danielsen Lie is both an actor, a doctor and a musician. Son of actors, he took his first steps at the age of 11 years in Herman (1990) by Erik Gustavson. In adulthood, he was spotted by the Norwegian director Joachim Trier and he gained international notoriety after his performance of a drug addict in Oslo, August 31st (2011) following his first successfull collaboration with Trier in Reprise (2006). Since then, he has played in Fidelio: Alice's Odyssey by Lucie Borleteau, and will soon appear in two films: Personal Shopper by Olivier Assayas and This summer feeling by Mikhael Hers. LES ARCS 2015 | NORWEGIAN FILMS 25
INDUSTRY NEWS
Occupied won in Rome
Occupied
Director Erik Skjoldbjærg received the Best Director award at the Roma Fiction Fest in November for the TV series Occupied. The festival is exclusively for TV drama, and has become a gathering place for international talents. - I feel happy as a child when winning prizes. It's great to have a confirmation that Occupied is able to compete with the best American, British, and Danish TV series, prize winner Erik Skjoldbjærg tells us. Occupied also won the New Creators Award 2015 at the film festival Mannheim-Heidelberg in Germany in October. Occupied is the most expensive Norwegian TV production ever, and is set in a fictional near future in which Russia has occupied Norway in order to gain control of the country's oil resources. The series is based on an original idea by the Norwegian writer Jo Nesbø, known for the books Headhunters and Insomnia, filmed in 2011 and 1997 respectively, and screened as part of the Norwegian Focus at Les Arcs. In France, the series has been broadcast on the Arte channel. The following Norwegian series have also been broadcast on French TV channels: Lilyhammer (Canal+, Arte), Mammon (13e rue), and Acquitted (Canal+).
The Heavy Water War with Special Commendation at Prix Europa The TV series The Heavy Water War, which dramatizes the sabotage of Nazi Germany's heavy water production at Norsk Hydro's factory at Rjukan during the Second World War, received Special Commendation at the Prix Europa in October, in the category Best European TV Fiction Serial or Mini Series. The jury declared: This series is a successful dramatization of one of the most exciting stories from the Second World War. It gives a new perspective to the horrible race in creating the atom bomb. Its viewpoints travel from Northern Norway to Berlin, London and Stockholm. A huge and profound research work has been done for this series. The Heavy Water War This gives the audience a big trust in the authenticity. In addition, suspense is so skillfully created that viewers are kept on the edges of their seats throughout – with ever growing interest in the subject matter. The story has been adapted for the silver screen several 26 NORWEGIAN FILMS | LES ARCS 2015
times, and the first Norwegian film version was made in 1948. Operation Swallow: The Battle for Heavy Water (1948) was directed by Titus Vibe-Müller in cooperation with the French director Jean Dréville.
The Norwegian Film Database The Norwegian Films app has new content – including TV-series. Download the new version and see for yourself. Now also available for Android
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LES ARCS 2015
NORWEGIAN FILMS For more information, visit www.norwegianfilms.no 28 NORWEGIAN FILMS | LES ARCS 2015