Norwegian Films News - Jan 23

The Norwegian Film Institute chips in NOK 42.6 million production funding for four features and three documentaries

Anne-Cath Vestly’s Grandma and the Eight Children (Mormor og de åtte ungene) and a film adaption of Norwegian author Lars Saabye Christensens’s literary 1984 break, Beatles, both received production funding from the Norwegian Film Institute, which Friday (20 January) allocated NOK 42.6 million for four features and three documentaries.

”This package of new films follows up on the remarkable development of Norwegian cinema during recent years,” said the institute’s head of production, Ivar Køhn. ”It confirms both the current state of artistic ambitions, artistic quality and audience potential both for the local and the international markets.”

Grandma and Beatles were both supported after an evaluation of their market potential. Produced by Finn Gjerdrum and Svein B. Kvae, of Paradox, Grandma and the Eight Children will revive the characters from Anne-Cath Vestly’s two kidpics from the 1970s, from a script by Birgitte Bratseth (Twigson/Knerten). Lisa Marie Gamlem will direct the 2012 version, where Grandma and Mona - too little to be old, too old to be little – both feel they are kept to the sidelines. Gamlem’s feature debut, which will be ready in August 2013, has a total budget of NOK 25 million, with NOK 12.5 million from the institute.

Beatles, one of the best-selling books in Norway, follows four 1960s’ teenagers about to enter the grown-up world - their hopes and disappointments, ups and downs, still no group is better than The Beatles. Max Manus and Kon-Tiki directors Joachim Roenning and Espen Sandberg will bring it to the screen from a script by Axel Hellstenius (who, among others, adapted Elling), and Jørgen Storm Rosenberg, of Storm Rosenberg - most recently active on the Magic Silver (Blåfjell) franchises – will realise the NOK 40 million project. The institute will contribute NOK 16 million.

Another two features will be subsidised on recommendations from the institute’s film consultants, including Hans Petter Moland’s The Prize Idiot (Kraftidioten), from an original screenplay by Danish writer Kim Fupz Aakeson, and Roar Uthaug’s Escape (Flukt), scripted by Thomas Moldestad, who has collected an Amanda – Norway’s national film prize – for his work.

The Prize Idiot, which has also received €600,000 from Eurimages, is the story of a family father and snowplough entrepreneur in eastern Norway, who provokes a showdown in the local underworld. Paradox’s Finn Gjerdrum and Stein B. Kvae will produce the NOK 31.5 million feature with Zentropa Denmark and Sweden, and were presented with NOK 11.3 million institute backing. Moland, whose latest outing was the award-winning A Somewhat Gentle Man (En ganske snill mann) – also realised with Paradox - will ready his new film for February 2014.

In Escape Uthaug (Cold Prey 1/Fritt vilt 1, Magic Silver 1/Julenatt i Blåfjell 1) goes back 650 years to a Norway, which has been raged by the plague (in Norwegian: the Black Death). A poor family in the search for better living conditions is attacked by robbers who spare only the life of 19-year-old Signe. She soon realises that she had better find a way out. The NOK 16 million feature is in the hands of Are Heidenstrøm and Martin Sundland’s Fantefilm Fiksjon, which received NOK 1 million from the institute. In production since last autumn, the film will be launched domestically this September.

The three documentaries supported by the institute are Dheerai Akolkar’s Liv and Ingmar (Liv og Ingmar), about Norwegian actress-director Liv Ullmann and Swedish director Ingmar Bergman; Kari Anne Moe’s Bravehearts (Til ungdommen), on the aftermath of the 22 July, 2011, Utøya massacre; and Gunhild Westhagen Magnor’s The Optimists (Optimistene), which is under development.