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NORWEGIAN FILMS Published by

TOTALLY TRUE LOVE / BERLINALE GENERATION THE LIVERPOOL GOALIE / BERLINALE GENERATION TWIGSON TIES THE KNOT / BERLINALE GENERATION THE MOUNTAIN / BERLINALE PANORAMA

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39TH

17-26 AUGUST 2011 NEW NORDIC FILMS 17-20 AUGUST AMANDA AWARD 20 AUGUST OPENING FESTIVAL MAIN PROGRAMME 21 AUGUST WWW.FILMFESTIVALEN.NO

THE NORWEGIAN INTERNATIONAL

FILM FESTIVAL

HAUGESUND

BLÆST DESIGN

IMAGES YOU WERE NOT ALLOWED TO SEE A: Gaza

A FILM BY VIBEKE LØKKEBERG

«The Ultimate anti war film» the hollywood reporter «Disturbing, powerful and unforgettable.» toronto filmfestival «I am shocked.» venezia filmfestival «Tears of Gaza creates a storm» the national contact: Director Vibeke Løkkeberg: vibeke@neroas.no Producer Terje Kristiansen: terje@imax.no NERO MEDIA

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Kristiansand International Children’s Film Festival! 3 – 7 May 2011, Norway. PROFESSSIONAL DAYS, 5 – 7 MAY: - NEW NORDIC CHILDREN’S FILMS - ECFA SEMINAR: “TO GAME OR NOT TO GAME” - FILMS ON THE HORIZON: WORKS IN PROGRESS WWW.KICFF.NO Supported by

INSIDE 6

6 A Lot Like Love / Generation Kplus

18 Behind the tears of Gaza

The young director Anne Sewitsky is play-

Tears of Gaza speaks out against war, not

ing with genres to portray and poke fun at

against Israel, Vibeke Løkkeberg emphasises.

our concept of love. Both her first two feature

– What moved me was the human aspect of it.

films will be screened in Berlin 2011.

8 The tribulations of the teenager / Generation Kplus

– I've tried not to have excessive respect when it comes to fiddling around with Norwegian mythology, André Øvredal says of his genre

tasy world allowed me to do almost anything,

hybrid, The Troll Hunter.

able and true, Arild Andresen states about his

23 Conquering the world with Kon-tiki

feature film debut The Liverpool Goalie.

Their film about the war hero Max Manus was

10 Nordic dominance

seen by 1,158,142 Norwegians. Now Espen Sandberg and Joachim Rønning are going to

Norwegian and Nordic youth and children's

make a movie about another Norwegian icon –

films have always made an impression in Ber-

the explorer Thor Heyerdahl.

lin. What is the cause of this Nordic dominance at international children's film festivals?

11 The Popular Twig / Generation Kplus

26 Spring time for Norwegian Cinemas After achieving a record 23.2% share of the market from 25 releases in 2010, the Norwe-

Following in the footsteps of the first one, the

gian film industry is ready to unspool 21 new

second film about the popular twig, Twigson

productions – within the first six months of

Ties the Knot, has been selected for the film

the new year.

festival in Berlin.

12 Cinematic visions high up in the mountains / Panorama The Mountain is Ole Giæver's feature film debut, made outside Norway's public financial

28 Essential export The two award-winning films Rare Exports and Essential Killing got much of their distinctiveness from Norwegian nature.

is often my experience that the more original

31 Norwegian shorts at the Berlinale Generation Kplus / Generation 14plus:

ideas will surface out of that.

Pjotr Sapegin’s The Last Norwegian Troll and

support system. – I enjoy constraints and it

14 With a duty to complicate – Good film parts do not grow on trees, but in

20 The art of hunting trolls

– The exaggerations in the protagonist's fanwithout losing touch with something believ-

SIX NORWEGIAN FILMS SELECTED FOR THE 2011 BERLIN FILM FESTIVAL Panorama The Mountain: Director/Producer: Ole Giæver. Co-producer: Karin Julsrud for 4 1/2 Fiksjon, Giæver for Ferdinand Films. Intl sales: TBA Generation Kplus Totally, True Love: Director: Anne Sewitsky. Producers: Teréz Hollo-Klausen, Silje Hopland, Tanya Nanette Badendyck, for Cinenord Kidstory. Intl sales: AB Svensk Filmindustri (Stockholm) Twigson Ties the Knot: Director: Martin Lund. Producers: Finn Gjerdrum, Stein B. Kvae, for Paradox. Intl sales: Sola Media (Stuttgart) The Liverpool Goalie: Director: Arild Andresen. Producers: Håkon Øverås, Karin Julsrud for 4½ Fiksjon. Intl sales: NonStop Sales (Stockholm) The Last Norwegian Troll: Director: Pjotr Sapegin. Producer: Gry Nøstdahl, for KinoPravda. (Short) Generation 14plus: Jenny: Director: Ingvild Søderlind. Producer: Frode Søbstad, for Mediamente. (Short)

Ingvild Søderlind’s Jenny will both have their international premieres in the Generation selection.

New Norwegian Films is published by RUSHPRINT

than other places, Stellan Skarsgård, an actor in

33 The Nordic Fall Season

the current release King of Devil's Island, says.

New Nordic Films in Haugesund is a window

Editor Kjetil Lismoen Editorial contributors Jan Erik Holst, Oda Bahr, Morten A. Steingrimsen, Anders Fagerholt Thanks to Norwegian Film Institute for contributing essential information Translations Dag Soedtholt Cover King of Devil's Island Design Cyan Grafisk Design Print Merkur Trykk Advertisement Annette Gustavsen, mail: annette@rushprint.no

Norway they are evidently a bit more common

17 Innocence Lost Director Marius Holst debuted at the Berlin Film

into the Nordic film industry. – One starts the fall season at New Nordic and make plans for the upcoming Nordic film year, Gyda Myklebust says.

Festival in 1995 with Cross My Heart and Hope To Die. Now he is back with King of Devil's Island.

RUSHPRINT is the leading film magazine for the film- and tv-producing community in Norway and Scandinavia. www.rushprint.no/english

For the latest news and information on Norwegian film: www.nfi.no/english

6 Generation Kplus

N EW NORW EGI A N FILMS

A lot like

LOVE The young director Anne Sewitsky is playing with genres to portray and poke fun at our concept of love. Both her first two feature films will be screened in Berlin 2011. One of them turns a popular children’s novel into a prepubescent romantic comedy, the other one darkens an encounter between two (relatively) happy couples in the snowy Norwegian countryside with black humour.

By Oda Bhar

PREPUBESCENT LOVE Whereas Happy, Happy was Sewitsky’s own

Anne Sewitsky is already considered not only

project, developed from scratch together with

one of the most promising but also success-

Ragnhild Tronvoll, a colleague from the Nor-

ful Norwegian directors. Just four years after

wegian Film School, she was hired to do Total-

graduation from the Norwegian Film School

ly True Love with an already existing screen-

at Lillehammer she is constantly busy, in an

play, based on a popular children’s novel by

industry where many have trouble getting

Norwegian author Vigdis Hjorth.

started.

Totally True Love

– I read the book several times when I was

– Many directors consider it important that

ten. It is one of the stories I remember best.

their first project should be a highly personal

I was worried the screenplay might ruin my

one. I did’t put any prestige into that. I just

fond memories, but luckily I found it fantastic

wanted experience, and kept working simulta-

and playful.

neously on my own and other people’s projects.

In Berlin the film will be screened in the

This strategy paid off. During the last four

Generation Kplus program, because it is

months I have interviewed her twice: the

mainly considered to be a children’s movie. To

first time two weeks into the shooting of her

Sewitsky this was never an important con-

second feature Totally True Love, just three

cern. She wanted the film to express her own

weeks after completing her first one, Happy,

taste, planning it more like romantic comedy

Happy. Then we met in January on her 33d

than a children’s movie.

birthday, one week before Happy, Happy was

– The plot is classic. 10-year-old Anne meets

going to compete in the World Cinema Com-

a boy and falls in love. The prettiest girl in

petition in Sundance (where the film won the

school wants him too, and trouble starts. In

jurys Grand Prix) and one month before To-

most romantic comedies you expect a happy

tally True Love will open the Generation Com-

end, but it is still possible to enjoy the ride and

petition in Berlin (even Happy, Happy will

the emotions the story creates.

be screened at the European Film Market).

To make the storytelling more diverse, vari-

Sewitsky has visited the Berlinale before, re-

ous techniques were taken from different gen-

ceiving awards in 2009 for her short film Oh

res. Characters are introduced in a prologue

My God! She has also directed several TV dra-

presenting each person’s likes and dislikes,

ma episodes for NRK (The Norwegian Broad-

reminiscent of the French romantic comedy

casting Corporation).

Le fabuleux destin d’Amélie Poulain (2001).

Anne Sewitsky Happy, Happy

PU BLISH ED BY

ing sex with her. When an urban couple move in next door, Kaja is both impressed and interested. Envy is not in her character, but enthusiasm is! She is overtly enthused, annoying to some, but also, as it turns out, attractive to one. Soon she is plunged into an affair with the other woman’s husband. – Originally we didn’t plan for Kaja to be the main character. The more urban Elisabeth seemed easier to relate to for us modern women. But then Kaja had something vulnerable that attracted us. The story took a more interesting turn once we put her at the centre. The team behind Happy, Happy has also attracted attention for being unusually female dominated. Contrary to most areas of Norwegian society, the film industry is still mostly run by men. This time, however, women performed most of the important functions: Director, screenwriter, cinematographer, producer, production designer etc. – It really happened by coincidence. I knew some of the girls from school, and we started talking about working together. Most of the team were invited to join her next project as well. A male director might have balked at the heavily pregnant cinematographer Anna Myking, but Sewitsky shrugs at the potential risk. – All we needed was a backup plan. We decided to use a camera operator, and let Anna make There are home video sequences, suspense-

– The film is about first love, and I think first

the decisions from behind the monitors. This

ful use of music like in thrillers, visual fan-

loves are less about the actual object of that

we might have done anyway. On Happy, Happy

tasies of horror movies. A parallell story with

love than the feeling itself. Yet it feels ex-

she operated the camera herself, but some-

mythical qualities is intertwined, centred

tremely real and serious.

times felt it weakened her overview and con-

upon a creepy house where another girl were

The girls are plotting for their love fantasies

trol. On Totally True Love the two of us could

supposed to have met a grim destiny once,

to come true, but the results have the inno-

have a dialogue during takes, making her less

succumbing to her madly romantic feelings

cent, almost trivial form of prepubescent love.

of a technician, more of a creative partner.

for a reluctant boy.

In a typical scene the girl asks the boy: Should

– The children’s love story seemed so realistic. I felt we needed something else, too. We

we be together, then? He agrees, and they simply get on their bikes and take off.

tried to keep the parallel story strictly poetic and dreamlike, in order to emphasise the emo-

THE FEMALE PERSPECTIVE

tionality of that story.

Even in Happy, Happy, her first feature about

Can 10 year olds fall in love? The realism of it

adults, Anne Sewitsky makes sure to present

soon proved itself, when similar romantic in-

love with elements of innocence and absurd

trigues developed among the child actors.

triviality. For the two couples in Happy, Hap-

– The children were much meaner to each other in reality. It surprised me how fast they

py, skeletons are crashing out of the closet, leading to shocking yet hopeful situations.

got to know each other. After a few seconds

– I was concerned with avoiding sentimen-

they already had strong opinions about each

tality. I wanted a light touch. On the set I kept

other.

saying: No, too heavy, too much drama! At

In spite of rivalries this is not a classic story

the same time I didn’t want a hysterical slap-

about the popular vs the outsider. Anne, the

stick comedy. We tried to play every scene in a

main character, is neither a geek nor a tomboy,

deadly serious way, but decided to make most

even though she likes to climb trees and beats

of them end humorously.

her older brother in arm wrestling. The bonds

Kaja (Agnes Kittelsen), the main character, is

of same-sex-constellations seem stronger

a country girl who looks upon life in an exces-

than the boy-girl ones. Anne and her best

sively optimistic way. She married her high

friend Beate share an intimate and sensual

school boyfriend and loves her little family

tenderness, sleeping over in the same bed,

very much, although her husband seems more

giggling and sharing secrets.

interested in hunting with the boys than hav-

TOTALLY TRUE LOVE

Anne, 10, is an energetic girl whose favourite activities are tree-climbing and running. When a new boy moves into the haunted house down the road Anne’s world turns upside-down; she falls head over heals in love with him. Director: Anne Sewitsky Producers: Teréz Hollo-Klausen, Silje Hopland Eik, Tanya N. Badendyck Production company Cinenord Kidstory Tel: +47 22 95 55 80 Mail: spillefilm@cinenord.no www.cinenord.no International sales: AB Svensk Filmindustri

HAPPY, HA PPY

Kaja is an eternal optimist in spite of living with a man who would rather go hunting with the boys, and who refuses to have sex with her because she “isn’t particularly attractive” anymore. But when “the perfect couple” moves in next door, Kaja struggles to keep her emotions in check. Director: Anne Sewitsky Producer: Synnøve Hørsdal Production company Maipo AS Tel: +47 67 52 51 90 Mail: maipo@maipo.no www.maipo.no International sales: TrustNordisk

8 Generation Kplus

N EW NORW EGI A N FILMS

– The exaggerations in the protagonist’s fantasy world allowed me to do almost anything, without losing touch with something believable and true, Arild Andresen states about his feature film debut The Liverpool Goalie.

The tribulations of the teenager By Morten Steingrimsen

your life, and you’re totally unprepared. Lars Gudmestad’s screenplay, with its marvellous

Arild Andresen’s The Liverpool Goalie is in

mix of humour, warmth and incisive dialogue,

many ways a chronicle of a feature film fore-

had the potential to treat the theme in a lively

told. Having made short films and commer-

and entertaining fashion. The exaggerations

cials for many years, he got his breakthrough

in the protagonist Jo Idstad’s fantasy world al-

with The Boys, a TV series for children and

lowed us to do almost anything, without los-

youth that was shown on NRK (The Norwe-

ing touch with something believable and true.

gian Broadcasting Corporation) in 2006. The

It was a very tempting concept, all in all, he

Boys was nominated for the prestigious Emmy

says.

award in the category of shows for children

The primary goal has been to make a fun and

and youth, and received a wider exposure on

engaging family film, in the strict sense of the

TV than any Norwegian film in theatrical re-

term, Andresen continues.

lease will experience.

caricature, like Juno’s parents and her child’s

– “Family films” often mean feeble stuff that

adoptive parents. It also has a stylistically

The Liverpool Goalie is about the transition

parents can safely take their children to. We

light touch that appealed to me, and also its

from being a child to the tribulations of a

wanted to make something that is actually

palette of autumnal colours and the low after-

teenager, with all its sudden changes. One of

fun for both young and old. So we have tried

noon sunlight. This is part of the reason why I

the reasons that Andresen wanted to make a

to make the humour work at several levels,

wanted to shoot during the fall. Later I learned

film about this subject is that it is a period of

something that the big Pixar animation films

that Juno is actually shot in early spring – the

life that almost everyone can relate to, either

have managed to do so successfully – not that

autumnal colours are created by the art direc-

when you are facing it or are right in the mid-

we would compare our film to those. I think

tor! As for Superbad, it was primarily the por-

dle of it, or you can remember how it felt like.

that a younger audience will be swept away by

trait of the three outsiders, marvellously and

– It is an age when the world around you sud-

the film’s suspense elements, while youth and

truthfully observed in the middle of all the

denly grows out of all known proportions. Re-

adults, to a greater degree, would be able to re-

mayhem. The simplicity and precision that a

sponsibility. Demands. Falling in love. Status.

late to the humour.

fantasy sequence was staged with was another

All of these things that come crashing into Arild Andresen on location

– On a purely thematic level, the movie is, perhaps, about the fact that the problems we

inspiration. Other references are Thumbsucker and the TV series Freaks and Geeks.

experience are often just in our minds. I don’t

One of the scenes in The Liverpool Goalie is

mean to say that it is sufficient to “think posi-

also inspired by The 400 Blows, the nouvelle

tively”. Simple solutions are seldom lasting

vague classic. Like that film, The Liverpool

ones, something that Jo will come to experi-

Goalie concludes with a freeze frame.

ence. A subtheme of the film is the close rela-

– The final scene offered us an obvious op-

tionship between ambition and failure. Hav-

portunity to give a small nod in that direction,

ing ambitions is of course a good thing, but

and we couldn’t resist.

if you should fail it’s smart to have a fallback option that you can live with.

For The 400 Blows has meant a lot to Andresen. – I got really fascinated with the movies in my early teens and watched everything I

REFERENCE TO A CLASSIC

could lay my hands on. Gradually I developed

The Liverpool Goalie has also been inspired

a critical sense, but it took time before the idea

by American cinema. Andresen drew both a

took hold that movies could become my pro-

thematic and formal inspiration from Juno

fession. When I studied aesthetics and film

and Superbad.

history in Stavanger, The 400 Blows was re-

– Juno has an affection for and a loyalty to

released theatrically. It was a revelation. Truf-

the characters; also the ones who lean towards

faut’s humanist project and playful attitude to

PU BLISH ED BY

– Many youths have a natural talent for drama, but comedy is a different matter. Some of the humour of the screenplay is, after all, quite far out, and the key to finding the tone of the film was to cast a Jo whom one can actually permit oneself to laugh at, even during the most humiliating situations. So he couldn’t be too fragile, at the same time his neurosis had to be believable. This balance was hard to find, but I think Ask van der Hagen does a great job. It took many auditions before I decided on Ask, but now the film is inconceivable without him. Comedy is different from drama primarily in rhythm and timing. Something can be fixed in the editing room, but the actors also had to work on their timing of lines and reactions. With such a relatively high number of inexperienced youths, it was a challenging, instructive and fun process. I’m very proud of the entire cast. It is said that recognition for children and youth films does not come as easily as for films for adults. Does the director agree? – At least I hope this isn’t so. Perhaps some of the reason lies in an underestimation of this audience group, that many think they can get away with sloppiness. But youths are a critical audience, loaded with references. And if recognition was a goal in itself, I think I would have tried something else than cinema. Somecinema, and, not least, Jean-Pierre Léaud’s in-

I was greatly assisted by art director Merete

thing that would have yielded a faster result,

terpretation were, and still are, a great source

Bostrøm’s smart solutions, and the skill and

Andresen concludes.

of inspiration.

enthusiasm of the VFX people at Storm Studios, he adds.

The Liverpool Goalie opened domestically in

In purely practical and aesthetic terms, An-

October 2010 and is still running with close to

Since the film operates on two planes of real-

dresen and his cinematographer Gaute Gun-

100.000 admissions, prior to the international

ity, Jo’s inner and outer life, it is also given two

nari chose a style where the camera was often

premiere in the Generation Kplus competition

stylistic levels.

quite close to the actors.

in Berlin.

VARIOUS STYLISTIC PLANES

– At least two levels. The film’s reality plane is mostly shot in classic comedy style, with lots of twoshots and medium shots,

– The film is shot digitally

“The final scene gave me an obvious opportunity to give a small nod to The 400 Blows.”

with enough space that the

(RED), and in this case you often compensate for the sharpness of the image by using telephoto lenses. We didn’t want that, because

actors can move around in the shot. On the

you get less sense of space and it’s noticeable

other hand, Jo’s fantasies often have a quite

that the characters are being observed from

different style: a faster pace, more strictly com-

a distance. Our close style is not necessarily

posed tableaux and a more expressive colour

about taking close-ups, but to let the audience

palette. His fantasies take him to many places

feel that they are close to the action.

a 13-year-old has hardly experienced, other than through movies and TV. This allowed us

A DEMANDING BALANCING ACT

to leave naturalism behind and create our own

When making the TV series The Boys it was

form of “psychological realism”: how Jo ima-

important to Andersen to get close to the chil-

gines the insides of a prison, a desolate shop in

dren’s world. He attempted to be very loyal to

Finnmark, an unglamorous workmen’s shed at

the children’s projects, to be with the children.

Grønland, and so on. One obvious option was

This time around it was even more important.

then to play around with genre tropes from

– This is a quite subjectively told film. So if

Mafia films, westerns, film noir and Nordic

you substitute children with youth in the

tristesse.

above quote, I still reflects my position – even

– It was a challenge with all the different fantasy universes we rapidly move through, since time and money always are a constraint. Here

though I don’t really remember the exact context where it was made. Casting was, as always, a big challenge.

ARILD ANDRESEN BIOGR A PHY

Arild Andresen has represented Moland Film Company as a director of commercials, of which he has directed around 100 since 1999. He has received many national and international prizes for commercials and commissioned films. He has directed the short films Mary (2000) and Sit Quiet (2003), as well as the Emmy-nominated TV series The Boys. The Liverpool Goalie is his first feature film.

THE LIVERPOOL GOALIE

The Liverpool Goalie is a warm comedy, in which both girls and boys play football, worship their idols, and are frustrated by complicated friendships, young love, anxious mothers and overambitious football coaches. At the heart of the events, we find twelve year old Jo. Jo tries to avoid both potential girfriends, mothers and football coaches, as he is hunting desperately for a rare football card which he believes will solve all his problems. Producers: Håkon Øverås , Karin Julsrud Production company: 4 1/2 Fiksjon AS Tel: +47 40 00 63 28 www.fourandahalf.no International sales: NonStop Sales

N EW NORW EGI A N FILMS

Norwegian and Nordic youth and children’s films have always made an impression in Berlin. What is the cause of this Nordic dominance at international children’s film festivals?

Nordic dominance By Jan Erik Holst

new generation of children during the 1990s

have made wonderful animated shorts for

and 2010s, first with the stories about Ole Al-

children (and grown-ups!). Sapegin’s short The

When the writer and editor Peter Cowie studied

exander, and then about Twigson. The latter

Last Troll will be screened during this year’s

Norwegian cinema, he observed that growing

has turned out to be formidable success, both

Generation Kplus.

up is a recurrent and central feature of mod-

in Norway and abroad, through two films,

It was the 1970s radical engagement that

ern Norwegian films. Surely it is safe to say the

with a third one under way. Twigson Ties the

paved the way but the economics of it had to

same about other Nordic countries, especially

Knot will be screened in Berlin, receiving its

be sound before film producers started to take

Denmark and Sweden.

international premiere during the Kplus pro-

an interest in children’s films. A new arrange-

It was Pinchcliffe Grand Prix (1975) that in

gramme. The first film was last year’s greatest

ment with an increased box office bonus of

many ways served as a breakthrough work

box office success among the Norwegian mov-

100% for youth and children’s films saw the

for modern Norwegian children’s cinema. Ivo

ies, with 400.000 tickets sold.

light of day in 1988.

Kjell Aukrust’s stories. It is about a racing com-

PEDAGOGY AND ECONOMY

countries, been defined as films about, for and

petition, has been released in twelve different

The Anne-Cath Vestly adaptations are the

with children up to the age of 15, as the Berlin

language versions and is today sold all over

closest Norway comes to the children’s films

festival and Germany, the most important

the world, and the last few years have seen a

tradition in the rest of Scandinavia, which is

market for Nordic children’s films, define it:

renaissance on DVD and as a computer game.

stronger both in numbers and popularity, es-

”Kinder und Jugendfilme The current body

pecially in Denmark and Sweden.

of rules of the Norwegian Film Institute still

Caprino’s puppet film was based on the writer

Adventure films also made their mark in this

The term children’s films has, in all the Nordic

period. Ola Solum’s Journey to the Christmas

Danish children’s cinema is probably more

stimulates the production of children’s films,

Star (1976), based on Sverre Brandt’s play, is

audience-friendly and somewhat less educa-

but we do not have a specially designated

probably the best example of this genre. But

tional. The legendary Father of Four movies,

commissioning editor for children’s films, like

also Folk og røvere i Kardemomme by, based

followed by Uncle to Six and The Olsen Gang,

our neighbouring countries have and not at

on Thorbjøn Egner’s stories, and the winter

both sr. and jr., made history. The latter has

the expense of quantity or quality.”

film The Polar Bear King deserve to be men-

been copied both in Norway and Sweden.

tioned. Several Nordic co-productions entered

Astrid Lindgren is of course obvious whenever

MODERN NORWEGIAN CHILDREN’S FILMS

the genre, like Ronja Røverdatter and Mio in

one speaks of children’s films, with her stories

During

the Land of Faraway. With Mormor og de åtte

about Pippi Longstocking and Emil from Løn-

films experienced a new international break-

ungene i byen (1977) and Mormor og de åtte un-

neberget.

through, with Berit Nesheim’s Frida Straight

the

1990s,

Norwegian

children’s

gene i skogen (1979), both directed by Espen

In Norway the TV series about Ploddy the

from the Heart (1991) and Beyond the Sky

Thorstensson based on Anne Cath. Vestly’s

Police Car and Elias the tugboat have been

(1993), Morten Kolstad’s The Wild Horse (1994)

novels, we got a mix of homespun wisdom,

adapted for the cinema. Furthermore, Erlend

and Ole Bjørn Salvesen’s Kalle and the Angels

good-heartedness and timeless adventure sto-

Loe’s books about Kurt have been animated

(1993), all of them well-known Berlin films.

ries. Anne Cath. Vestly became legendary to a

and adapted, and Pjotr Sapegin and Anita Killi

Totally true love

The 1990s saw a development within the more action-oriented youth and children’s cinema. Norsk Film A/S produced Death at Oslo Central, directed by Eva Isaksen. The story, by Ingvar Ambjørnsen, about the two young heroes Pelle and Proffen, a modern and lively Hardy Boys-adventure that was repeated in two more films. The producers had by then changed to Filmkameratene A/S, who with great satisfaction could add these films to their filmography. The director and producer team of Vibeke Idsøe and John M. Jacobsen later made the ambitious works Chasing the Kidneystone, Gurin with the foxtail and Karlsson on the Roof. The first of these is an imaginative feature film with highly distinctive use of costumes and decorations, a sort of live-action puppet movie,

PU BLISH ED BY

while the latter two are classic animation films.

Closet and the feature films Maya Stoneface

of the Norwegian Film Fund's grants based

These films were co-produced with SF in Swe-

in 1996 and Scars in 2002. The Berlin festival

on market projections. The five The Olsen

den, got a wide release and achieved very nice

later got a new section called 14+, and two

Gang jr. movies (2003, 04, 06, 07 and 09) has

attendance figures in Germany.

Norwegian movies participated to great ac-

contributed to audiences’ and movie theatres’

Several Norwegian children’s films have been

claim: Just Bea directed by Petter Næss and

excitement and enthusiasm for new Norwegian

invited to the Berlin festival Kinderfilmfest

United by Magnus Martens. Norwegian and

children’s films.

through the years. The section's programmer

Nordic films have always been a fixture in Berlin.

from 1992 to 2002, Renate Zylla, had a keen

Norwegian children’s cinema has been de-

eye for the playful and thematically strong

veloping in two main directions during the

tion ECFA, where someone claimed that if it

Scandinavian children's films. The directors

last few years. We still see the funny, wry, a

hadn't been for the Nordic children's cinema,

who have won acclaim especially in Berlin

bit philosophical and/or moralising grown-up

there wouldn't have been any children's film

include Torun Lian with Only Clouds Move the

children's film which stimulates and engages

festivals at all!

Stars in 1998 and The Color of Milk in 2005, and

us. What's new is the commercial entertain-

Lars Berg, with the short film A Devil in the

ment films, appearing partly as a consequence

It is tempting to quote from a meeting at the

European

children's

films

organisa-

Generation Kplus

The Popular Twig Following in the footsteps of the first one, the second film about the popular twig, Twigson Ties the Knot, has been selected for the film festival in Berlin. By Morten Steingrimsen With more than 400,000 tickets sold, Twigson Ties the Knot became last year’s next highest

– We have put a somewhat different content in

and right after Berlin, and we received many

grossing theatrical release in Norway. Twigson

Twigson the brand name than before, but we

festival invitations in its wake. For a talented

Ties the Knot did better than American block-

also managed to keep enough of the books’

first-time filmmaker like Martin Lund it’s a

busters like Alice in Wonderland, Karate Kid and

original values. These are movies that are

marvellous thing to have the Berlinale on his

Toy Story 3. And now it has been selected for the

built upon Anne-Cath. Vestly’s values and

filmography.

film festival in Berlin. It will be screened in Gen-

understanding of children, and in addition to

– I also think it’s great that there are several

eration, the section for youth and children’s’

that we have worked with directors who have

other excellent children’s and youth films that

films, and this will be its international premiere.

succeeded in turning this into lively and mod-

have been selected for Berlin. This helps boost

ern film stories.

the scene at home and the films will lift each

– I think the main reason for the Twigson movies being selected for Berlin is that they

Dickman can tell us that last year’s screening

other up in the international market. It proves

take children and parents seriously. The Twig-

in Berlin was his most marvellous and moving

that the Norwegian children’s film tradition is

son films have proven that it is possible that

experience ever.

in good shape, he adds.

non-Pixar films can be funny, dramatic and

– None of the German children had any

warm movies that will appeal to the entire

knowledge of Twigson from before and the

family. I also believe that their Norwegian

dialogue was translated simultaneously. But

origins will give them an exotic universe that

the response was overwhelming, the best

will be appealing to audiences, Jan Petter

screening I have ever attended. The Q&A with

Dickman, Head of Marketing in the production

Petrus Christensen (Phillip, the older brother)

company Paradox, says.

and Åsleik Engmark (Twigson) afterwards

– These movies are about family, friendship, longing and dreams. This is important to all

never ended. It’s the most fun I have ever had at work.

human beings. BERLIN IS OF GREAT IMPORTANCE MODERN FILM STORIES

Participating in Berlin is of great importance,

He believes that Paradox has succeeded in re-

Dickman says.

creating Twigson for a modern audience –

– This is opening doors for us and a great op-

more than fifty years after the first books

portunity to make contacts. Last year the film

appeared.

was sold to more than twenty countries during

TWIGSON

Twigson Ties the Knot is a humorous animation film, directed by feature film debutant Martin Lund. The Twigson movies are based on the books by Anne-Cath. Vestly (1920-2008). Her timeless stories are loved by both young and old, and the story about Little Brother and the twig named Twigson has been part of the Norwegian childhood experience through generations. The third film, Twigson in Trouble, will be directed by Arild Østin Ommundsen and will be released theatrically in Norway this fall. Producers: Finn Gjerdrum and Stein B. Kvae Production company: Paradox Film AS Tel: +47 23 22 71 50 Mail: firmapost@paradox.no www.paradox.no International sales: Sola Media (Stuttgart)

N EW NORW EGI A N FILMS

Panorama

Cinematic visions

high up in the mountains The Mountain is Ole Giæver’s feature film debut, made outside Norway’s public financial support system. – We shot in different areas near the cabin where we lived during the shoot, so that we could exploit the varying qualities of the nature to reinforce the content and development of the film.

By Morten A. Steingrimsen

opened, and an outer trip of the senses through

had to shoot eight minutes a day while three

the Norwegian mountains, Giæver says.

is normal. For Summer Past we shot four min-

In The Mountain we meet Nora and Solveig,

utes a day and for Tommy twelve, so it seemed

a lesbian couple in their early thirties, who

LANDSCAPE AS CHAR ACTER

sensible and realistic to land somewhere in

return to the place where they lost their five-

The Mountain shares similarities with Giæver’s

between.

year-old son in an accident. Nora cannot han-

short film Tommy, but primarily through its

dle the grief. Instead of sharing and working

effective use of landscape as location.

CHALLENGING CONDITIONS

through the grief with Solveig, she has closed

– When I decided to look for a deliberately

The Mountain is shot at Norefjell. There are

herself off, distancing herself from the bad

simple idea for a feature film, my thoughts

only exterior shots, except for a few scenes in-

things. In this film Giæver further develops

naturally went to my own short Tommy,

side a tent.

themes presented in

Tommy and his mid-

where there are just two actors and all the ac-

– We shot in different areas near the cabin

length Summer Past, in which grief is central.

tion takes place in the mountains. The stories,

where we lived during the shoot, so that we

In Summer Past the protagonist returned to

however, are quite different, because I needed

could exploit the varying qualities of the na-

the scene that caused the grief.

some completely different material in order to

ture to reinforce the content and development

– The film starts at the foot of the mountain

make a 90-minute film. The terms I laid down

of the film. When all the action takes place

and we are taken on a rough and challenging,

were that there had to be few actors and that

outdoors, in roughly the same surroundings,

but also funny and beautiful tour of the spec-

the film could be shot in 10 to 12 days. I also

it was important to be able to exploit the vari-

tacular mountain landscape. In the course of

considered other ideas with simple terms and

ations that existed in that area.

several days and nights we get to know, for

scope, but The Mountain was the story I im-

good and for worse, these complex women.

mediately felt the most love for. The fact that

It is both a journey through their inner land-

everything happens outdoors would lead to

– We had an open and generous co-operation

scape where closed and fresh spaces are to be

minimal time for setting up and lighting. We

where we constantly helped each other to un-

Marte Magnusdotter Solem plays Nora, while Ellen Dorrit Petersen plays Solveig.

PU BLISH ED BY

derstand the situations and the characters’ de-

each shoot. So I started looking for an idea sim-

sires and resistance. It is extremely demand-

ple enough to be realised without public sup-

ing for the actors when there are only two of

port. Another aspect of it all is that it can take

them. The audience must not get bored, so the

an incredible amount of time until an applica-

presence of the actors and the variations in

tion will result in getting support, and it can be

the emotional turning points are completely

a challenge to maintain the energy and focus

essential to make the film interesting.

while waiting. In some cases a break can do

Giæver is joined by three people he worked

you good, but in others you want a better flow

very closely with at Summer Past: Øystein Ma-

or continuity in the work, meaning a shorter

men as cinematographer, Wibecke Rønseth as

time from idea to the finished film. With The

editor and Ola Fløttum as composer.

Mountain it was really great that the various

– They were the decisive factor in making

processes – story development, screenplay,

Summer Past the film it was, and I have no

rehearsals, pre-production, shoot and post-

doubt this will be the case with The Moun-

production – followed each other without any

tain as well. In addition to be-

gaps. The energy and optimism

ing highly skilled in their areas,

I had at the start of the project

they possess the human qualities that are needed for complex, character-driven stories. They

“I have to make films to have a good life”

on the finished result. Through The Mountain the director hopes to find a template

for future projects.

therefore able to lift them up, strengthen the

– I enjoy constraints and it is often my experi-

processes the films go through and their emo-

ence that the more original ideas will surface

tional moods.

out of that. A screenplay of mine presently

OUTSIDE THE FINANCIAL SUPPORT

under consideration at the Norwegian Film

SYSTEM

Institute has completely different production

Giæver wanted to sidestep the public financial

prerequisites, demanding a budget that can-

support system to achieve a better flow in the

not be financed without public support. Lately

process from idea to shooting.

we have seen several films financed outside

– After Summer Past I was maybe slightly

the system, often made by friends banding

too optimistic and naïve in thinking that its

together, but I would wish that more of the es-

good reception would make it easier for me

tablished directors did the same. Then I think

to get money for my first feature. But after be-

we would have made more engaging and inter-

ing rejected by two of the three consultants,

esting films in Norway.

I realised that I might never get any financial support. Then I would either be forced to leave

The Mountain is ready for a theatrical release

the film industry or simply make my films

in March 2011.

Institute. The first alternative is not an option – I have to make films to have a good life. I get depressed if too much time elapses between

Producers: Ole Giæver, Karin Julsrud Production companies: 4 1/2 Fiksjon, Ferdinand Films Tel: +47 97044311 Mail: postmaster@ferdinandfilms.no International sales: Bavaria Film International

and has hopefully put its stamp

see and understand the charac-

without the support from the Norwegian Film

THE MOUNTA IN

This is the story of Nora and Solveig, a grief-stricken couple on a trip through the mountain range where they had a traumatic experience two years prior.

stayed with me the whole time,

all have lots of empathy and ters in the films they are working on, and are

OLE GIÆVER BIOGR A PHY

Ole Giæver was born and raised in Tromsø. He graduated from the Nordland Art and Film School in Lofoten, and the Konstfack in Stockholm. He has been nominated for the European Film Awards for Best Short Film (Tommy) in 2007, and the Amanda Award for Best Screenplay (Summer Past) in 2008.

Director Ole Giæver

N EW NORW EGI A N FILMS

– Good film parts do not grow on trees, but in Norway they are evidently a bit more common than other places, Stellan Skarsgård, an actor in the current release King of Devil’s Island, says.

With a duty to complicate By Oda Bhar

get out of them. I found this extraordinarily attractive.

The internationally famous actor got to know

Other than Skarsgård, Kristoffer Joner from

King of Devil’s Island director Marius Holst dur-

Norway was the only professional actor in a

ing the production of another of his Norwegian

large part, something that led to a special at-

films, Hans Petter Moland’s Zero Kelvin.

mosphere.

– In the Norwegian fashion, Hans Petter was

– It was fantastic to work with amateurs like

screening the first cut for his director col-

these. What they showed in their eyes no actor

leagues. Something like that could never had

of that age could have acted. The experiences

around 100 years ago and is today used as a

happened in Sweden, I think, where everyone

they carry with them, that combination of

hotel, so parts of the crew could stay there.

wanted to be Bergman. But it worked great.

toughness and vulnerability. They were like

The boys were placed in special barracks, yet

Everyone had something to say about the film

rough diamonds. The challenge as an actor

another strategy to increase authenticity. The

and a wild discussion broke out.

then becomes to be as good, as true as them.

screenplay was not finished until the shooting

Some years ago, Skarsgård read an early draft

began, and Skarsgård was allowed to form his

of the story, and later Holst returned with a

A BOYS’ HOME AT LOCATION

own role. His interpretation shows the Princi-

more finished screenplay.

King of Devil’s Island is mainly shot in

pal as a conflicted man.

– He told me about his casting idea, which

Estonia, with Estonian and Russian extras.

– I had no inclination to play him just as a

I thought was a hell of an idea. He wanted to

The boys’ home we see is the private palace

crook, and at one point we added a separate

find boys with a problematic background and

Kalvi Mõis, between Tallinn and Narva at the

life for him, but ended up removing a lot of it

work with them in camps, to see what he could

Gulf of Finland. The building was erected

again. The structure of the film is reminiscent of Bridge over the River Kwai, or other stories

Director Marius Holst (left) and Stellan Skarsgård

about escaping from a prison camp. It is a genre of its own and it requires firm opposition from the authorities. It became important that the character maintained this unrelenting function. In the middle of the film a betrayal will change the dramatic arc of the movie. Up to this point, the Principal has been a strict but also positive character. – Yes, he betrays the boys. Afterwards he gradually loses faith in himself. My idea was that he did not see himself as a brutal headmaster, but as a radical, liberal for his time. We forget so easily that the type of civilisation we live in has hardly existed for more than a hundred years, maybe even only fifty.

PU BLISH ED BY

TRIER AND BERGMA N

the film requires precisely there. Not how you

defined, like when you play a good guy or a bad

With his forty years of experience, Skarsgård

shall do it but what the story needs. Here this

guy. But that does not need to stop you. You

has worked with many directorial legends. He

must happen, a certain question has to be

can always stretch it a little.

is known for combining big American films

posed. Then it’s up to you to express it. Both

with smaller European ones. In the last few

have in common that they listen, and see the

years, he has worked more in Norway and

actors. They have a musicality, an ear that

Denmark than in Sweden. With Lars von Trier

understands when something is true and life it-

he has made both TV productions and several

self is created in front of the camera.

films.

This view from outside comes as a refreshing

– To work with Trier means enormous freedom and playfulness. Those who are un-

contrast to the self-flagellation in the Norwegian film industry.

comfortable with this are, I

– Four of my best parts have

believe, people who are used

been for Norwegian direc-

to having control themselves.

“Four of my best roles have tors. All three Moland films been for Norwegian directors.” and Skjoldbjærg's Insomnia.

Despite

his

peculiarities,

Trier is no Bergmanian demon director. – Bergman went in and con-

trolled every detail. The performances were marvellous, but they feel like monologues. He broke down the text and found incredible nuance, but it wasn't a genuine conversation between the actors. Norwegian directors are known for being good with actors, in different ways.

The Principal of Devil’s Island

is not bad either. Such characters do not grow on trees, but seem to be a bit more common in Norway. Skarsgård thinks it an actor's duty to complicate our understanding of the world. – I think it is our duty to avoid simplification. You won't manage anyway to complicate something so that it becomes more complicated than reality. Truth is never white or black,

– Marius is picking at people until they start

so why should it be that way in the movies? At

to feel their own way. Hans Petter does not pick

the same time I understand the circumstanc-

at details at all but casts the parts incredibly

es, that the role I play shall have a function. In

well. Before every scene he talks about what

a formula film that function can be narrowly

BASED ON A TRUE STORY

Norwegian winter, early 20th century. On the island of Bastøy, located in the Oslo Fjord, there live a group of delinquent young boys aged 11 to 18. The boys' everyday, sadistic regime is governed by the guards and the Principal (Stellan Skarsgård) who heap both mental and physical abuse on them. Instead of straightening the boys out with education, they end up being used as cheap, manual labour. The boys attempt to survive by adapting to their inhumane conditions. One day a new boy, 17-year-old Erling, arrives with his own agenda: how to escape from the island. How far is he willing to go in order to win his freedom? After a tragic incident, Erling ends up being forced into involving himself in the destinies of the other boys, leading them into a violent uprising. Once the boys have managed to take over Bastøy, 150 government soldiers are sent in to restore order.

KING OF DEVIL’S ISLAND

Director: Marius Holst Producer: Karin Julsrud Production Company: 4 ½ Fiksjon Tel: +47 40 00 63 28 | Mail: karin@fourandahalf.no www.fourandahalf.no International sales: Les Films du Losange

Innocence Lost Director Marius Holst debuted at the Berlin Film Festival in 1995 with Cross My Heart and Hope To Die, for which he won the Blaue Engel Award. Now he is back with King of Devil’s Island, a film that took him twelve years to realise.

ing than Mirush. Were you never afraid that it could become too clean and simple? – The most difficult thing of all is precisely being simple. What is your next project? – Right now I guess I think it would be a blessing to work with adult actors, at a location where it doesn’t snow all the time. Perhaps I should jump the fence and make a comedy

By Sølve Skagen

ject, Wild Tracks, ground to a halt and could not

with very good actors, to attempt something

be restarted, King of Devil’s Island continued to

entirely new? If I do succeed in making a new

Your short film Visiting Hours, and the fea-

talk to me. Even though years passed between

film, one never knows.

ture films Cross My Heart and Hope To Die,

every time I worked on the project, it never let

A few years ago, there was news that you

Mirush, and now King of Devil’s Island, are all

go of me. It is a powerful story that almost no-

were to adapt Per Pettersson’s marvellous

about the transition from childhood to adult-

body knows about, surprisingly enough.

novel Out Stealing Horses? Since then, Pet-

hood, young boys who meet a tough world of

All the boys are amateurs and you pin

grown-ups and lose their innocence. I guess

them against marvellous actors like Stellan

this is the main theme of your films?

Skarsgård. Were you never afraid of creating

– I suppose it has to do with my working very

an imbalance?

intuitively, and this often leads me back to

– The boys had to be 18 or 19, and professional

places I have been before. I am fascinated by

actors that young do not exist, so there you

the period in life where everything is possible

are. Besides, what the film needed was not ac-

and you go from innocence to experiencing

tors who handled dialogue well. This was an

that the world makes demands of you and you

oppressive society where it was almost for-

have to overcome challenges. It is a vulnerable

bidden to speak together. I looked for people

age, you are under pressure, and then you be-

who carried something. To me, they possess a

come highly sensitive. Such characters appeal

depth and intensity in their presence that pro-

to me. It becomes an inner drama that lends

fessionals lack. It is a portrait of people who

itself to cinema, both visually and when it

did not have a voice, a silent universe.

comes to actors. I like to work with people who have to start on something new, but are stuck

– This is for you to find out yourself. Stellan Skarsgård plumbs the depth of the Principal’s

thing personal will find that they have one or

psyche, while Erling, the boy heading the re-

two stories in them, which they explore, which

bellion, only reacts, he sets things in motion.

they tell over and over in different ways.

The most complex among the boys is Olav –

ally tough adult world?

– That project is still alive. Actually I spoke with Per the other day. A finished screenplay exists and he has read it.

Who is the king of Bastøy, the Principal or

writers as well, who want to express some-

In King of Devil’s Island you work with young

star. What happens?

the young rebel?

in something old. I believe most directors, and

boys who have to grapple with an exception-

tersson has become an international literary

perhaps it is he who is the king of Bastøy? This is a freezingly cold film, where the images express the inner lack of emotion.

– It is a story I began twelve years ago, so obvi-

The story is simple and the style completely

ously it means a lot to me. When another pro-

clean, even more classical and uncompromis-

Marius Holst became internationally known with his feature film Cross My Heart and Hope To Die, which was in competition in Berlin in 1995, winning the Blaue Engel Award. Since then he has made numerous commercials. In 2001 he returned to feature production, together with Pål Sletaune through their company 4 ½, with Dragonflies, and Mirush from 2007.

N EW NORW EGI A N FILMS

Tears of Gaza speaks out against war, not against Israel, Vibeke Løkkeberg emphasises. – What moved me was the human aspect of it. Children becoming victims, how helpless the innocents become when under attack.

Behind the tears of

GAZA By Oda Bhar

trolled by Hamas, a Palestinian organisation that, contrary to the moderate government on

Who are the people searching the ruins? Who

the West Bank, does not recognise Israel as a

is the man lifting the killed child towards the

state. The Israeli claim that they invaded Gaza

heavens, shouting: Look what they have done!

as a reaction to repeated missile attacks from

Why does a crowd stand observing the peo-

across the border. The offensive lasted three

ple searching? The Israeli ravagings are not

weeks, 1,500 Palestinians were killed and

the only shocking things about Vibeke Løk-

countless wounded, 50,000 became homeless.

keberg’s Tears of Gaza. The reactions of the

Tears of Gaza speaks out against war, not

victims are also painful to behold. The fear in

against Israel. It could have been the sto-

the children’s faces, the pain in the adults, the understandable thirst for revenge. Look

“I was careful that the children were filmed at face level.”

– No! Løkkeberg exclaims. You must not think like that! It is your prejudices speaking.

other

wars,

she

Afghanistan or Iraq.

what they have done! May God punish them!

claims, like the ones in – What moved me was

the human aspect of it. Children becoming victims, how helpless the innocents become when under attack.

It is not sensation-seeking, the crowd want to

In the US the film has already received posi-

help. We have to realise that they love their

tive attention. “Perhaps the ultimate anti-war

children, exactly like we do.

film”, The Hollywood Reporter writes. But is it

In the film’s possibly most powerful scene

not really a present to Israel’s opponents? We

we see three small children shot through their

see images that make probable that a geno-

chests. A man unfolds the small garments, re-

cide took place in Gaza. Is it true that the film

vealing the bullet holes, in the middle of their

doesn’t take sides?

chests. It is as if they had been executed. Powerful images, but are they necessary?

– It is a film against war. I say like Desmond Tutu: Those who stay neutral will automati-

– Haven’t you read the propaganda? We are

cally end up on the oppressors’ side. We watch

being told that they are using their children as

the TV news without being revolted. I want to

shields. They raise them to be suicide bombers

make a film that will mobilise people.

and martyrs. They don’t care for their children as we do. This is the myth.

TR A PPED IN THE DESERT During the offensive Israel closed Gaza to

POLITICAL OR NOT?

western journalists. The entire Norwegian

The film is about Israel’s offensive against the

nation helplessly followed the doctors Gilbert

Gaza Strip in 2008, during the days between

and Fosse by text messages.

Christmas and New Year’s Eve. Gaza is a nar-

– I was watching TV when a small boy turns

row area along the Mediterranean coast at

up on the screen. It was a short interview but

the border with Egypt, with a population de-

I was devastated. This must not be forgotten!

scending from refugees from the Israeli-Arab

I wanted to get to know these people, make

war in 1948. Since 2007 the area has been con-

others get to know them, show that they were

DIRECTOR BIOGR A PHY

Vibeke Løkkeberg (b. 1945) has become one of Norway’s most well-known personalities and a leading feminist artist; as an actress, director, screenwriter and author. She has directed five features and written five novels. She has starred in her own films, as well as in films by Pål Løkkeberg.

TEARS OF GA ZA

In a rough style, using unique footage, the brutal consequences of modern war are exposed. The film also depicts the ability of women and children to cope with their everyday life after a dramatic war experience. Many of them live in tents or in ruins without walls or roofs. They are all in need of money, food, water and electricity. Others have lost family members, or are left with seriously injured children. Can war solve conflicts or create peace? The film follows three children through the war and the period after the ceasefire. Director: Vibeke Løkkeberg Producer: Terje Kristiansen Production company Nero Media International sales: AB Svensk Filmindustri Mail: international@sf.se For more info: www.nfi.no/english

PU BLISH ED BY

not different from us. We must not make them

tacts by Fredrik Græsvik, the TV2 correspond-

and tidy up in the ruin where they lived, so

into strangers

ent who had made the clip with the little boy.

that they had something to do while talk-

This became the start of an extended period of

ing. I wanted to see them visit the graves of

remote direction.

relatives, read from the Koran, follow their

The war was over by the end of January. As early as February she sat on a plane with her producer and husband Terje Kristiansen.

– I worked with the crew on the phone and

children to the beach. It is important to a

They landed in Jerusalem and applied for a

through the internet, and giving running in-

Western audience to get to know a family, to

travel permit to Gaza, which was refused.

structions as to what they were to do. I needed

realise they are people like us, with children

They went to the West Bank to investigate

context, where they lived, how the women in

like ours. I think we then experience their be-

Palestinian conditions, to experience the Wall

the ruins prepared food and had meals with

ing bombed differently.

and the border posts.

their families. I needed close-ups, medium

– We saw how Palestinians were treated, making us even more determined. Especially the fact that no one was allowed into

shots, wide shots and transitional shots be-

“I constantly juxtaposed the children’s faces with the war.”

Gaza, to avoid witnesses…

THE METHODS OF FICTION

tween scenes. They received

Interviews were intercut with bombing at-

entirely different tasks than

tacks from the war.

they were used to from the news agencies.

– Soon many in Gaza knew about the film and offers of war footage steadily increased, from

It made me physically devastated. Then the

This method had many advantages.

people who had had a camera, quite close to

small boy appeared on TV.

– Perhaps it was for the best that we didn’t

the bombings.

That boy later became one of the protago-

get into Gaza. The population had had enough

nists of Løkkeberg’s film. But first the border

of western correspondents who came just to

had to be crossed. They decide to make an at-

stick a microphone in their face before leaving

– We have to remember that these were at-

tempt via Egypt.

again. Since no one at that time was allowed

tacks that Israel didn’t want the international

Showing the war’s consequences for their present life was important.

– We arrived in the middle of the night. The

to stay in Gaza for more than three days, our

media to witness. Every time I got new mate-

only cars available were pirate taxis, so we had

method was the only possibly one. It would

rial and listened to the children’s stories, I had

to have a go at them. We entered a car to drive

have been impossible to follow the families

to provide background through scenes from

the entire night through the Sinai Desert.

over time.

the war. I didn’t only want to hear, but also

Not having a translator was useful to everyone.

show what the children had been through, and

– We used interviewers who spoke the lan-

then I had to relate what they said to the war

BORDER

guage, knew how far they could go. Not least,

footage. I constantly juxtaposed the children’s

But Terje and Vibeke never got into Gaza.

we had a young woman who interviewed

faces with the war.

REMOTE DIRECTION ACROSS THE

– When we reached the border the car started

women and children. Since children have a

There is no voice-over, almost no written in-

to shake something terrible. I thought: God,

different status in Gaza, we had to instruct the

formation. Could it have helped building the

have we been hit!? But no, a bomb had struck

cinematographers very precisely. I was care-

characters to repeat their names when they

nearby. It turned out that they bombed the il-

ful that the children were filmed at face level,

spoke? Is a fragmented structure chosen de-

legal tunnels every day at two o’clock.

and if they started to cry, filming should not

liberately, so that the film shall overwhelm us,

be shut down.

like war itself?

Originally Løkkeberg had considered entering Gaza illegally. Now she realised that the risk was too great. The solution was to use a

Showing everyday life increased the potential for identification.

– Of course, this is dramaturgy. It is about breaking down your defences. Everything has

local TV crew, who were shooting following

– I wanted to see how they live, think and

to be dramatised, even news reports. You can-

her instructions. She got help obtaining con-

feel. I got the crew to ask the women to sweep

not put the camera up on a wall, film a situation and claim that it is objective. I employ a subjective storytelling approach. In Norway, her formal choices have been criticised for precisely this. Especially the editing is regarded as overly creative. The boy is sitting inside a tent, we hear a hum and he looks up, a drone is flying up in the sky. Can he see it through the tent canvas? – Why shouldn’t he look up? He does not see through the canvas, he looks up because of the noise. The sound of drones can be heard day and night in Gaza. The inhabitants are surveilled by drones, selected people can be shot, even when there is no war. Everyone in Gaza knows that. Drones, planes and helicopters flying over people is one of many situations where we have reconstructed what the children tell us, things that mark their everyday lives. To show situations like that is a quite normal technique in all media. Tears of Gaza had its world premiere in Toronto last year.

N EW NORW EGI A N FILMS

There is a new Scandinavian trend with mythological figures mixed with Hollywood-style action adventure. – I’ve tried not to have excessive respect when it comes to fiddling around with Norwegian mythology, André Øvredal says. His film, the genre hybrid The Troll Hunter, has started its international career.

The art of hunting trolls Before the Norwegian premiere October 29 it

By Anders Fagerholt

wasn’t easy to guess what one could expect

speculation. For there has been much speculation, especially abroad. Producer John M.

from The Troll Hunter. It was even promoted

with a man who works as a troll hunter for a

Jacobsen has declared that he’s never got so

as a documentary. First there was extreme se-

Norwegian state organisation called the Troll

many inquiries about a film in his whole life

crecy around the film, then tiny bits gradually

Security Service. TST’s mission is to keep

(it was sold to the US, after being screened at

came out, without making us much wiser. Was

trolls under surveillance and make sure they

Fantastic Fest in September).

this a Norwegian Blair Witch Project? A Godzilla

remain insides their territories. These are in

with trolls? Or purely a comedy?

Dovre, Jotunheimen and various other moun-

MYTHOLOGICAL MIX

– Ultimately it is really an adventure film,

tains and forests, and are bordered by high-

Øvredal says that he was wondering about

director André Øvredal, who recently was in-

voltage power lines that work as electrified

how Norwegian mythology could be used in

cluded in Variety’s list of “Directors to watch”,

perimeters for the trolls. The troll hunter is

a film. Then he came up with the character of

concludes.

responsible for the practical everyday opera-

the troll hunter. This led to an effort to balance

He allows this simple statement to sink in for

tions of TST. When the film begins something

the fairytale world against our real one. After

a few seconds before he starts complicating it

has happened that cause the trolls move out-

that, the idea came of a way to take this to the

all. The Troll Hunter is also a documentary, or

side their territories.

greatest extremes, by making a documentary.

at least a mockumentary. In addition there is large helping of humour, for as Øvredal says: – That can easily happen when you are dealing with trolls.

Øvredal tells us that the secrecy around the

Øvredal says that he has tried not to have

project has been part of the plan right from the

excessive respect when it comes to fiddle

outset.

around with Norwegian technology and mix it

– We’re very confident that we’ve made a

freely with American monster movies.

The Troll Hunter is a mockumentary about a

funny film. So the best approach was to hold

– In a way, mythology is part of us all but not in

group of medicine students who get in touch

things back and foster an environment for

any visible way. No one makes use of it. Why not?

PU BLISH ED BY

The main reference for how the trolls ought to look was the images of the painter Theodor Kittelsen. – We have designed everything ourselves, but evidently the public has an image of trolls from before. We know what a troll should look like. We wanted to stick quite closely to that, but at the same time it should be something uniquely our own. Among movie references, Øvredal points to Jurassic Park, Men in Black and Cloverfield. The film has already received a lot of attention abroad. Øvredal is waiting eagerly to find out how it will be received outside Norway and whether it will be as easy for a foreign audience to understand it. – The film is very much intended for a Norwegian audience. There’s a lot we don’t have to explain to Norwegians, like trolls not being able to stand sunlight and things like

The troll hunter

that. Since I had no idea what knowledge a foreign audience has about trolls, I have delibergrate the trolls in the images and what we

logy. That we now have the possibility to make

had to do to avoid ruining the effects. Just a

films about creatures like trolls. Research

DOCUMENTARY AND IMPROVISATION

few years ago I wouldn’t have believed that

has been done about film projects with trolls

Øvredal thinks the requirements for acting

we could film an effects film in such a vibrant

before, but they have all been terminated at

performances in a film like this are extraordi-

way. The camera is just sweeping around, on

some point, probably due to the lack of skill to

narily high, because they have to go through

a rampage, and there are trolls in the images

pull it off. You cannot make a troll movie with-

such extreme emotions.

all the time. It’s impressive that technology

out trolls and it’s only 5 to 10 years ago that the

ately avoided doing too much research.

– Because we were to shoot as if it were a

has come that far in Norway. I have watched

only option available to us in Norway was to

documentary, they had to be flexible since we

Jurassic Park a bit lately and it’s rather stiff in

construct them physically.

improvised constantly.

its pictorial language compared with this. The Troll Hunter had its world premiere at

The cast is primarily unknowns but the troll hunter himself is played by the famous

SCA NDINAVIAN MYTHOLOGY

Fantastic Fest in Austin, and was recently

Norwegian TV comedian Otto Jespersen.

At the same time, it is the documentary

screened in Sundance and Göteborg in the

approach that made it possible to succeed with

midnight programs

– We thought this would work really great if we got a good comedian as the troll hunter.

the effects.

It just took a few days before it struck us that

– This limited us to one camera viewpoint,

Otto would be perfect. He has the charisma,

so we minimised the need to see things from

the sarcasm and the way of being that the troll

every possible angle. This is a great advantage

hunter ought to have. As casting goes it was a

when making the effects because it’s after all a

complete bull’s eye.

low-budget film. We have just one tenth of the

The documentary approach and the improvisation turned it into a special shoot.

budget of an American low-budget film like Cloverfield.

– We shot long takes and let the actors impro-

Øvredal tells us that the documentary view-

vise far beyond the screenplay, as long as they

point of the screenplay also caused some

stayed within some key elements. The longest

challenges during the writing.

take with Otto lasted half an hour. It was a bit

– You have nothing you can cut away to, only

exhausting at the time but extremely funny in

the story that the people with the camera are

hindsight. The microphone battery went flat

telling. We never leave their experience, every-

in the middle of the take – only fragments of

thing is seen through their perspective. That

the sound made it into the film.

also lends a tight focus to the film, of course.

He tells us that every time he started to direct the scenes too precisely, things went stale.

It seems that there is a trend in Scandinavia with mythological figures mixed with Holly-

– Then we just had to start again. We had

wood-style action adventures. In addition to

to mess it up and create a natural chaos and

The Troll Hunter, the Finnish director Jalmari

then the camera just had stay with it. Then it

Helander comes with the Santa Claus horror

worked right away. This way of working was especially challenging since special effects were to be added later.

comedy Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale, and Ted Kjellsson from Sweden with the elf horror film Tompta.

– The acting always had priority. We set up

– It’s hard to say why so many of these turn up

some rules for ourselves about how to inte-

right now. But I think it has to do with techno-

ANDRÉ ØVREDAL

Norwegian director André Øvredal is included in the US trade paper Variety’s 16th annual list of 10 Directors to Watch, announced on 12 December. The attendance figures of The Troll Hunter has now exceeded 275,000 in Norway.

THE TROLL HUNTER

The Troll Hunter is a sensational documentary which exposess the Norwegian Government’s monumental efforts to hide the sensational news that trolls actually exists in Norway - and has done so over millenniums. Within the corridors of the Government there is a secret department - The Troll Security Service - who’s job is to monitor the trolls. They also have the power to call in a Troll Hunter to cover up problems if trolls break out of their reservations. Director: André Øvredal Producers: John M. Jacobsen, Sveinung Golimo Production company: Filmkameratene AS Tel: +47 23 35 53 00 Mail: film@filmkameratene.no International sales: Magnolia Pictures & Magnet Releasing and AB Svensk Filmindustri

GENERATION OPENING FILM! Feb. 11 at 3:30 PM - Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Kino 1 FESTIVAL SCREENINGS: Feb. 12 at 2 PM - CinemaxX 3 Feb. 13 at 10 AM - Filmtheater am Friedrichshain

CREDITS NOT CONTRACTUAL

Martin-Gropius-Bau / Scandinavian Film Stand No. 24 Ann-Kristin Westerberg - Sr. V.P. / Head of Intâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;l Div Phone: +46 705 38 48 48 E-mail: international@sf.se

Anita Simovic - VP International Sales Phone: +46 706 48 26 11 E-mail: anita.simovic@sf.se

www.sfinternational.se

Conceptual drawing from the Kon-tiki pre-production by Kjetil Nystuen.

Conquering the world with

Kon-tiki

By Morten Andreas Steingrimsen – Kon-tiki is a marvellous story about choosing adventure. We all dream of travelling – to take a few months or more off to get away from our everyday lives and experience something new and exciting. But most people do not follow

Their film about the war hero Max Manus was seen by 1,158,142 Norwegians. Now Espen Sandberg and Joachim Roenning are going to make a movie about another Norwegian icon – the explorer Thor Heyerdahl and his journey with the Kon-tiki – and this time it is the whole world that is going to be conquered.

this up, Joachim Roenning says. He hopes that the fi lm will be an inspiration for just that, to dare to go for the adventure. – It will be a spectacular encounter with some

experienced operator in the Nordisk system,

– It was a time of rationing and a lack of eve-

beautiful and violent nature, close encounters

has been another decisive factor in getting us

rything. This contributed to the Kon-tiki voy-

with exotic marine animals and, not least, the

going. To be able to launch a Norwegian-Dan-

age getting so much international attention. A

human soul during extreme and stressful sit-

ish-British co-production with this price tag is

world tired of war yearned for something else

uations. It is also the story of a man with great

simply a masterpiece, Espen Sandberg says.

to focus on – excitement on a positive note.

willpower, who sacrificed everything to achieve his goals and success, Roenning continues. It is the experienced British producer Jeremy Thomas (The Last Emperor, The Dreamers)

– One of the reasons that the fi lm of the Kon-

We joke that the Kon-tiki expedition was the

tiki voyage has taken so long to develop is that

world’s fi rst reality show. Thor and his crew

the screenplay has been very demanding to

sent daily radio telegrams to the media, which

write, Joachim Roenning adds.

was retold in newspapers and on radio as a

who has been developing the Kon-tiki project

– Even though it is an adventure fi lm, it is also

dramatic serial from the real world. All over

for many years. But it was not before watching

a psychological drama and a chamber piece –

the world, people raptly followed his stories of

Max Manus that Thomas saw the possibility of

difficult genres, in other words. It is only dur-

aggressive sharks and violent storms. This ap-

producing a blockbuster in Scandinavia.

ing the last year, in co-operation with screen-

peal was proven again when Heyerdahl released

writer Petter Skavlan, it has really started

his book on the expedition a few years later. It is

to pan out.

estimated that it sold 50 million copies!

entirely in line with Jeremy Thomas’s multi-

EPIC BLOCKBUSTER

become Norway’s fi rst great international

territorial philosophy, and Nordisk became

Kon-tiki will be an epic blockbuster. The story

success.

the factor that made Kon-tiki a viable project.

takes place in 1946 and 47, a time that Sand-

Aage Aaberge, its Norwegian producer and an

berg calls “the lean post-war years”.

– With Max Manus we also had a good cooperation with Nordisk Film – whose ambition is to make pan-Scandinavian movies. This is

There are many indicators that Kon-tiki could

– Thor Heyerdahl’s Kon-tiki is one of the most famous things Norway can offer and the books

24 sold millions of copies all over the world. Our English producer Jeremy Thomas has proven that he is one of the best when it comes to selling European films internationally, so with him on board we are off to a great start. We do cross our fingers for international success, but it is important to emphasise that the Norwegian market is as important to us, Sandberg says But Kon-tiki will not be Norway’s first ever 3D feature film. – Several factors played a part when we, together with the producers, finally decided not to film Kon-tiki stereoscopically – which, in our book, is the only way to work to achieve a real 3D feel (3D added in post-production are in 99% of the cases not good). The budget is

are now able to choose among the very best,

now around 90 million Norwegian Kroner. A

like on Max Manus. The same goes for the

stereoscopic production would have landed

crew, where the key people will primarily be

on 130 million. There is no basis in the Scandi-

Norwegian, even though there are just a few

navian market for this added cost, so it was not

days of shooting in Norway. Most of the shoot

interesting to our distributor Nordisk Film to

will take place in the large water tank on Malta,

put a large part of the extra 40 million on the

to enable us to work efficiently, but we are

table to get 3D, Roenning says

also going out to sea and to exotic locations to

High ambitions mean great demands of the

catch this spectacular adventure on fi lm. One

production, both from the filmmakers them-

big challenge will be to recreate the adventur-

selves and from the audience.

ers’ encounter with whale sharks, flying fish,

– With the best people around us in all func-

giant octopuses and luminescent marine ani-

tions, we have every chance of succeeding.

mals that even we do not know the name of,

During the casting process we noticed that we

Roenning says.

DIRECTORS BIOGR APHY

Espen Sandberg and Joachim Roenning graduated from Stockholm Film School, Sweden, in 1996. Under their professional name Roenberg, they are credited with hundreds of outstanding commercials made all over the world. Sandberg and Roenning’s first feature film was Bandidas, starring Penelope Cruz and Salma Hayek, for producer Luc Besson and Europa-corp in Mexico. They followed up with the audience success Max Manus.

KON-TIKI

Directors: Joachim Roenning, Espen Sandberg Producers: Aage Aaberge, Lone Korslund, Jeremy Production company: Nordisk Film Production Co-producer Recorded Picture Company, UK Release date (national) 2011-09 International sales: HanWay Films

The Golden Chair

Best International Short Film Zentropa International Norway and The Norwegian Short Film Festival come together in 2011 with the common goal of promoting the art of short films. Our vision is to encourage the artistic and innovative collaboration between International and Norwegian film professionals. Zentropa International Norway will award The Golden Chair and 50.000 NOK to an outstanding film achievement. The nominations for The Golden Chair for Best International Short Film 2011 will be announced at the Cannes Film Festival in May and awarded in Grimstad on the 19th of June.

Z E N T R O PA

The Norwegian Short Film Festival Grimstad 15.6.–20.6.

IN T E R N ATIO N A L N O R WAY

www.shortfilm.no

www.zentropanorway.com

Support and invest in film productions within central Norway. www.midtnorskfilm.no

WESTERN NORWAY

Norwayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s strongest film region and most attractive location 37 films from 10 countries shot in Western Norway since 2006 23 co-produced with the regional film fund From Star Wars to Harry Potter, Western Norway remains the most popular destination for international film makers coming to Scandinavia, and offers experienced and internationally oriented film crew and service providers. Free location services Your first point of contact

Funding for co-productions

sigmund@wnfc.no www.wnfc.no

lars@fuzz.no www.fuzz.no

Spring time for Norwegian Cinemas After achieving a record 23.2% share of the market from 25 releases in 2010, the Norwegian film industry is ready to unspool 21 new productions – within the first six months of the new year.

By Jan Erik Holst

considerable part of their budgets. This is pos-

Norway and abroad, within the fixed terms in

sible because of a youthful optimism within

relation to invested capital.

The Norwegian film industry is facing its

the industry, a high production volume and

most busy season ever this spring. As many

the large market share that Norwegian cinema

EPIC, GR AND WORK

as 21 features will premiere between Janu-

has achieved in the cinema and DVD market in

Prominent forces within the industry now fear

ary and July, films for every taste and target

the last few years (around 22-23 % of the cin-

that this will bring about several commercial

group. Many genres are represented: comedy,

ema market). But the new bonus arrangement

failures and bankruptcies. The Norwegian

traditional and psychological drama, action-

that the Norwegian Film Institute has estab-

market cannot take so many films in so short a

oriented horror and crime films, as well as

lished this year to replace the old box office

time, some believe, and the international mar-

documentaries and films about, for and with

bonus has also caused great interest and vig-

ket is not exactly wide open for national low-

children.

our as regards commercial movies with low

budget comedies. Things are a bit different for

Many of these are so-called low-budget films

budgets. The new arrangement gives a 35%

the unorthodox action movie – good results

with work and supplier credits making up a

bonus on all revenue from all windows, in

have been seen in the US for Dead Snow. Also the films from prolific directors like Bent Hamer

Sons of Norway - Jens Lien

(Home for Christmas), Erik Poppe (Troubled Water) and Hans Petter Moland (A Somewhat Gentle Man) have seen a certain amount of international success. But a lot must go well to make even a lowbudget movie break even – the old criterion for success in Norway, 100,000 tickets out of an annual total of 2,600,000, is far from enough. Therefore it is very pleasing that also the serious and personal cinema seems to be having a good year. Marius Holst has already seen the premiere of his grand work about the boys’ home on the island of Bastøy (King of Devil’s Island), a powerful story from 1920s Norway about mental and physical oppression of boys between 11 and 18 years old, and a marvellous breeding ground for juvenile delinquents. The film is beautifully shot by John Andreas Andersen, the screenplay is partly based on Lars Saabye Christensen’s storytelling, and Stellan Skarsgård and Kristoffer Joner from Norway are playing the leading parts in this epic, grand work. It had its international premiere during this year’s Gothenburg festival. It recently exceeded the 225,000 ticket mark in Norway and is ready for extensive international sales. Marius Holst is one of “the first Norwave”'s central directors, with a debut that gave him a Blaue Engel Award in Berlin in

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1995, and he has later made distinctive works

During the fall we will also see films by direc-

like Dragonflies and Mirush, as well as numer-

tors who have won considerable international

ous award-winning commercials.

acclaim in the last few years. Morten Tyldum

A NEW “NORWAVE”?

in many ways marked the start of the second

A newcomer of great interest is Ole Giæver,

Norwave, just after the establishment of the

who is screening his feature film debut The

Norwegian Film Fund had caused a consider-

Mountain in this year’s Panorama section

able growth in Norwegian feature films. Tyl-

(interview on page 12). One of the rising Nor-

dum is now back with Headhunters, based on

wegian film stars, Ellen Dorrit Pedersen, who

bestselling writer Jo Nesbø’s novel of the same

made a solid impression in Erik Poppes Trou-

name. Aksel Hennie, from Max Manus and

bled Water a few years ago, is playing one

a great number of other Norwegian movies,

of the female protagonists. The other one is

plays the lead. Also Joachim Trier, who gained

played by Marte Magnusdotter Solem.

international critical acclaim for his debut Re-

had a great debut with Buddy in 2003 which

Another newcomer of special interest is

prise, will return this autumn with an inter-

Anne Sewitsky, who debuted last year with

esting existential film, Oslo, August 31, loosely

Happy, Happy, a black comedy about youthful

based on Drieu La Rochelle’s classic ”Le Feu

love and happiness, already screened during

follet”. The screenplay is written together

the prestigious Sundance festival. In Berlin

with Eskil Vogt, who was also the co-writer

she is back with Totally True Love, a romantic

on Reprise. Jens Lien is back with a new film,

comedy for children, based on Vigdis Hjort’s

Sons of Norway, yet another black comedy,

success novel (interview on page 6).

about identity, rebellion and punk rock. Lien

Marius Holst’s partner in the company 4 ½,

presented two shorts in Cannes during the

Pål Sletaune, who started the “Norwave” in

1990s, his feature film debut Jonny Vang was

Cannes in 1997 together with Erik Skjoldbjærg,

screened in Berlin’s Panorama section in 2003,

will present the co-production Babycall, with

and The Bothersome Man during the 2006

rising star Noomi Rapace (of the Millennium

Critics’ Week in Cannes.

films) playing the lead. Like Sletaune’s previous film Neighbours, this is a psychological thriller, again starring Kristoffer Joner.

THE FILMS AND THEIR DIRECTORS

Babycall: Pål Sletaune Cupid’s Balls: Kristoffer Metcalfe Dark Souls: César Ducasse and Mathieu Peteul Dear Dad: Øystein Stene Graduates: Kenneth Olaf Hjellum Gunnar Goes God (doc): Gunnar Hall Jensen Hjelp, vi er i filmbransjen*: Nini Bull Robsahm and Patrik Syversen I Travel Alone: Stian Kristiansen Kings of Oslo (doc): Elsa Kvamme The Little Grey Fergie and his new friend Clunky: Trond Jacobsen The Mountain: Ole Giæver Pax: Annette Sjursen People in the Sun: Per-Olav Sørensen Red Heart: Halikawt Mustafa Tomme tønner 2 - Det brune gullet*: Sebastian Dalén and Leon Bashir Totally True Love: Anne Sewitsky Tying the Knot: Frode N. Nordås Umeå4ever: Geir Greni Varg Veum - Black Sheep: Stephan Apelgren Varg Veum - Consorts of Death: Stephan Apelgren Wide Blue Yonder: Robert Young *English titles to be announced

Essential

EXPORT The two award-winning films Rare Exports and Essential Killing got much of their distinctiveness from Norwegian nature. â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Quentin Tarantino thought the landscape in Essential Killing was fantastic and wondered where it was shot, co-producer Ingrid Lill HĂ¸gtun says. Rare Exports

N EW NORW EGI A N FILMS

PU BLISH ED BY

By Anders Fagerholt In the Finnish-Norwegian-Swedish-French co-production Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale American scientists stumble upon Father Christmas’s grave. But it is not the jovial, red-clad Santa that we know who is dug up, but the original vicious creature of old myth. The Santa-horror-comedy Rare Exports had its world premiere during the Locarno Film Festival in Switzerland and won the Variety Piazza Grande Award. The film is shot in its entirety in Målselv in Northern Norway, with FilmCamp being the first to finance the project. – They contributed two million Norwegian Kroner to the movie, partly through credits and investments. It was pivotal to the filmmakers that FilmCamp joined the project so early. Besides, the nature and environments we can ofEssential Killing fer in Indre Troms fit the story perfectly, Knut

mowski and his wife Ewa Piaskowska, co-

Skoglund says. He was the Norwegian co-pro-

screenwriter and producer, were put in touch

ducer for the film through Pomor Film.

with the film’s Norwegian co-producer, Ingrid Lill Høgtun of Cylinder Production.

– Jalmari Helander, the director, was enchanted by the possibilities this area offered, realis-

The Norwegian scenes in Essential Killing are

ing quite early that he could do his film there.

mainly shot at Enebakkneset. Høgtun tells us

The landscape suited his story.

that they found this location quite by chance.

Skoglund thinks the film can serve as imortant

– We needed dogs for some of the scenes, so

marketing of the region for other film shoots,

we got in touch with Geir Marring who runs

since it has received a wide distribution.

Oslo Dog School. We called at his place, a large estate at Enebakkneset. It turned out we had

– The film will premiere both in New York and

almost all the locations we needed right there

London. I think it will become a door-opener

on his site. Then we could kill two birds with

to us, leading to more inquiries.

one stone and get locations as well as dogs.

The film was shot over 24 days last year. Sk-

Essential Killing was screened during the film

oglund says that Pomor Film has specialised

festival in Venice, where it won the Jury Spe-

in co-productions, especially towards the east.

cial Prize and Vincent Gallo received the Best Actor prize. Just one other Norwegian film had

– We have a formalised co-operation with

won in Venice before, when Oddvar Einarson’s

companies in both Sweden and Finland. We

X won the Jury Special Prize in 1986.

don›t always have enough technical equipment in Northern Norway, so we have es-

– I spoke with Quentin Tarantino after the

tablished co-operation with Filmgården in

screening. He thought the landscape in the

Luleå, Sweden. In that way we can comple-

film was fantastic and told me that he had

ment each other. It is a way to survive.

been wondering during the screening where

– We find co-productions exciting, precisely

it was shot.

because several countries are involved, leading to a wider distribution. We see this now

Høgtun says that the main reason for the pro-

with Rare Exports. We also learn an incred-

duction being located in Norway was the na-

ible amount from the various countries, how

ture and that they had to be sure that there

things are put together.

would be snow. Essential Killing is Cylinder

Production’s first international co-production,

Essential Killing landed in Norway after Truls

but they currently work on several new projects.

Kontny of Film Commission Norway came into contact with director Jerzy Skolimowski.

www.filmcamp.no

Skolimowski had several projects that needed

www.norwegianfilm.com

a snowy landscape. Through Kontny, Skoli-

www.pomorfilm.no

LOOK TO NORWAY - A LOCATION WITH A DIFFERENCE

PHONE: +47 22 47 45 00 - POST@NORWEGIANFILM.COM - WWW.NORWEGIANFILM.COM

Looking for the next Nordic Shooting Star? Ask us.

Norweg ian Actors’ Equity Association www.skuespillerforbund.no

Norwegian shorts at the Berlinale Generation 14plus

Jenny: Poetic realism from new talent - The fundamental idea with Jenny was to work with a more poetic form, says Norwegian films great new talent, Ingvild Søderlind. In the opening scene of Ingvild Søderlinds

one works with form the whole time you can break it in the middle of the novel, you can include a digression in an entirely different form than the rest. Modern literature is very free in its form and sometimes I have to wonder why

Generation Kplus

Pjotr Sapegin: The Last Norwegian Troll

cinema is so limited in this way. Films that have inspired Jenny include Gus

Norwegian filmmaker Pjotr Sapegin is one of the

van Sant’s Elephant and Paranoid Park, Lynne

worlds leading animator artists engaged in claymation

Ramsay’s films and Tomas Alfredson’s Let the

and film puppetry. His latest film The Last Norwegian

Right One In.

Troll has been selected for the short section in the

short film Jenny we are introduced to a ritual

- I emphasise very much that it is the im-

2011 Berlinale. The film trades on traditional Norwe-

between some teenage girls and boys, a game

ages that shall tell the story. I wanted to write

gian mythology in a story about three young goats

with a serious undercurrent of budding sexu-

a screenplay that consisted of the images I

who decide to get rid of an old Troll who lives under a

ality and a need to be noticed.

wanted to shoot and that were challenging the

bridge. Little do they know that he is the last survivor

Jenny, the protagonist, is a passive observer

realistic forms. It was the poetry and the emo-

of his species, the very last Troll of Norway.

of this game. She is not included in this com-

tions awakened in the viewer that were impor-

munity and is treated harshly as an outsider.

tant. It wasn’t meant to be plot-driven. It’s the

But Jenny is no social realist portrait of teen-

little things in the story that count.

agers adrift. Søderlind uses amateur actors

- Jenny is a very personal work to me and I

from Holmlia in Oslo where she grew up her-

had a very steep learning curve because I had

self, and the action takes place in this special

to let go of everything clever and theoretical.

area, where the city and the forests around it

It is basically a very simple film. A classic story

intersect. This gives the film’s poetic universe

of being an outsider, but the ending is not pre-

sufficient space and atmosphere, expressively

senting solutions. Earlier I was very concerned

depicted by cinematographer Jakob Ingi-

with analysing and accounting for everything.

mundarson, framing the actors’ faces in nu-

At film school we wrote movie concepts that

anced little portraits.

were fifty pages long. Making Jenny has freed

Everyone had little or no acting experience.

me in a major way from that whole cleverness

- The fundamental idea with Jenny was to

thing. I have made what I believe is good and

work with a more poetic form within a com-

tried to be very honest. My great project here

Sapegin was born in Russia in 1955 and started

pletely realistic framework. In a realistic novel

was not to be afraid of being stupid.

to work with animation films after moving to Norway in 1990. His films have been celebrated widely throughout the world, and he was recently the Animator in Focus at Gothenburg International film festival. Sapegin was one of the founders of the animation studio Studio Magica as in Oslo, Norway, but is now running his own production company, Pravda Productions (established 2001) with David Reiss-Andersen

and

Mikkel

Sandemose.

Sapegin has made a number of short films, which have won both national and international awards. His film One Day a Man Bought a House has won more than 20 national and international awards.

Angry Man: The year’s most successful short internationally

about domestic violence. A boy suffers under a violent father, especially when he is forced to witness his mother being battered. The film was created in the animation studio of the author Anita Killi, located at a remote mountain

The Norwegian animated short Angry Man by

farmstead. In the meantime, the filmmaker

Anita Killi was awarded 13 of the prizes reg-

has joined Zentropa and is working on a fea-

istered during 2010 on shortfilm.de. Besides

ture-length animated film.

these, the film also won almost 30 additional awards not cited on these pages. Sinna Mann is

For more information: www.trollfilm.no

s s e n i s u

b n i ars

e y 5

Arctic Norway: • Funding • Locations • Infrastructure • Network • Development www.filmcamp.no

SNOW QUEEN

The Nordic

Fall Season New Nordic Films in Haugesund is a window into the Nordic film industry. – One starts the fall season at New Nordic and make plans for the upcoming Nordic film year, Gyda Myklebust says. New Nordic Films (NNF) is an annual film market that is incorporated into the Norwegian International Film Festival in Haugesund. Right from the market's inception in 1995 the festival has developed and extended this event, Gyda Myklebust, responsible for New Nordic Films, says. – It started out as a small exclusive market for a few carefully selected international distributors, where ten of the very best Nordic films were screened. Year by year, the programme and the number of participants have been gradually increasing. Six years ago we also established a Nordic Co-Production Forum. By so doing, we also included the producing part of the Nordic industry who are looking for partners outside the Nordic countries, she says. Everyone with a certain position within Nordic cinema comes to the NNF in Haugesund, she continues. – They start the fall season here by meeting others and making plans for the upcoming film year. During four days they will get an excellent overview over what’s going on in Nordic cinema. We offer an extensive film programme, works in progress, a co-production forum where producers are looking for coproduction partners and work to complete the puzzle of financial backing. I believe we have a market that is sufficiently concentrated, so it is easy to watch films, attend seminars and meet the other participants. Buyers and distributors from Europe and elsewhere in the world come to visit, international film festivals like Berlin, Cannes, Karlovy Vary and Sundance are present to look for the good Nordic films. – There are Nordic, government and regional financiers of feature films present, and many of the most prominent producers and directors from the Nordic countries are here, as well as the various sales agents for Nordic cinema and representatives of the film institutes. The films have been selected on the basis of quality and their international potential. – The main idea behind New Nordic Films is to make an international launching point for Nordic cinema towards the rest of the world. So we show the films we think are the best and have the greatest international potential. Another concern is demonstrating the range of Nordic cinema, with room for both the artistically ambitious works and the more commercial genre movies. This year’s NNF will have a focus on co-production between the Nordic countries and Germany, Canada and France. – Our 2011 edition will see an extensive market programme with about 25 finished films, 15 works in progress and 20 film projects looking for co-producers and financial backing. The forum is also open to all international producers with projects they would like to co-produce with one of the Nordic countries. Additionally, we will organise events and debates of interest to the international film

Foto: Helge Hansen

industry, Myklebust concludes. New Nordic Films: 17-20 August 2011. www.filmfestivalen.no Contact: gyda@kino.no

Indian feature looks to Norway for inspiration

Ullmann at the Berlinale

K. V. Anand directed a song sequence for his

Indian fi lm crew was provided by Vidar Trel-

The Norwegian actress Liv Ullmann will

upcoming thriller Ko featuring some of Nor-

levik for VPB Media.

attend

the

Berlinale

for

the

Bergman

way’s most stunning locations and UNESCO

Ko is an action thriller, and revolves around

heritage sites, such as the Bergen harbor, Gud-

the story of a photo journalist and his face-off

vangen, Prekestolen and the Troll Tongue.

with various characters. The fi lm is produced

In 1984 Liv Ullmann was present at the Berli-

The chartbusting song sequence, tuned by

by Kumar for R. S.Infotainment, and will be

nale as head of the main jury. This year she is

Harris Jayaraj, is picturized on Jeeva and Rad-

distributed by Red Giant Movies.

attending the festival for the retrospective of

retrospective.

her famous collaborator, the Swedish direc-

ha’s daughter Karthika. Anand, who is very particular to shoot in

tor Ingmar Bergman. As the festivals website

never seen before locations, discovered the

puts it: Few fi lm directors have worked as con-

spectacular beauty of the Norwegian fjords

sistently over decades with the same team as

and mountains and was soon to contact West-

Ingmar Bergman. Harriet Andersson, Gunnel

ern Norway Film Commission (www.wnfc.

Lindblom and Liv Ullmann, three of Berg-

no), thru Film Commission Norway to find

man’s most outstanding actresses will not

the ideal locations. The film commission of-

only present “their” fi lms at the Berlinale, but

fers free services to major productions eye-

also converse in detail publicly about life and

ing to shoot in the fjords on the west coast of

work with Bergman for both the screen and

Norway. Production services in Norway for the

the stage. When Bergman cast the Norwegian actress

Russian Lessons nominated for the Cinema for Peace Award

Liv Ullmann in Persona (1965/66), she was the fi rst non-Swedish performer in a Bergman film. Their many other works together include

Andrei Nekrasov's Norwegian co-production

Nekrasov’s last fi lm, Russian Lessons, pro-

Scenes from a Marriage (1972/73) and Autumn

Russian Lessons is being nominated for the

duced by his wife Olga Konskaya and Norwe-

Sonata (1977/78). In Bergman’s last fi lm Sara-

Cinema for Peace Award for Justice, which

gian Producer Torstein Grude deals with the

band (2002/03), she appeared in front of the

will be presented at the Cinema for Peace Gala

Russian-Georgian war of 2008.

camera with Erland Josephson for the last

in Berlin on February 14, 2011.

The fi lm starts as a journey by the two director/protagonists,

Olga

and

Andrei,

time. Liv Ullmann has also directed her own fi lms based on screenplays by Bergman, for example, Faithless (1999/2000).

The Cinema for Peace Award for Justice was

one on each side of the frontline. It's a non-

initiated in 2009, when it was first presented

conventional deeply personal feature docu-

at the Cinema for Peace Gala by Luis Moreno-

mentary that fi rmly establishes emotional

All panel discussions will be held in the

Ocampo, the Prosecutor of the International

contact with the audiences by depicting hu-

Deutsche Kinemathek’s Event Room in the

Criminal Court. Cinema for Peace is a platform

man drama, before coming up with political

Filmhaus at Potsdamer Platz. Admission is

for dedicated filmmakers and artists. Since its

conclusions. .

free of charge.

premiere in 2002, the Cinema for Peace Gala has brought together film and media personalities, as well as members of international society and the business community, in order

Russian Lessons Director and co-producer: Andrei Lvovich Nekrasov Producers: Torstein Grude, Olga Konskaya Production company: Piraya Film as

to bring humanitarian issues to the public’s attention. From left: Producers Torstein Grude and Olga Konskaya with director and co-producer Andrei Nekrasov.

“The perfect thriller for kids” NRK P3

“A genuinely healthy and amusing family film” Dagbladet

“Simply a really good children’s film” Sarpsborg Arbeiderblad

MARKET SCREENING: FEB OFFICIAL SCREENING: FEB 14TH FEB 15TH FEB 18TH FEB 20TH

9 11TH 11:15 AM CINEMAXX

REN DER WELT, KINO 1 9:30 AM HAUS DER KULTU 11:30 AM CINEMAXX 3 2:00 PM CINEMAXX 3 AM FRIEDRICHSHAIN 10:00 AM FILMTHEATER

WORLD SALES: SOLA MEDIA GMBH MARTIN GROPIUS BAU · STAND #7 Solveig Langeland · Fon: 0177 278 1625

Based on ANNE CATH. VESTLYS books about „JUNIOR AND TWIGSON“ · Starring ADRIAN GRØNNEVIK SMITH, PETRUS A. CHRISTENSEN, PERNILLE SØRENSEN, JAN GUNNAR RØISE, ÅSLEIK ENGMARK, SAMSAYA Screenplay BIRGITTE BRATSETH Adapted from a novel by ANNE CATH. VESTLY · D.O.P MORTEN HALFSTAD FORSBERG FNF · Scenography ÅSA ISACSSON · Costume CHRISTINA LOVERY · Editor STEINAR STALSBERG Sound Recording KARI NYTRØ · Sound Design BENT ERIK HOLM · Composer MAGNUS BEITE · Line producer RUBEN THORKILDSEN · Director MARTIN LUND · Producers STEIN B. KVAE & FINN GJERDRUM

BERLIN 2011

NORWEGIAN FILMS

PANORAMA The Mountain by Ole Giæver GENERATION KPLUS The Last Norwegian Troll by Pjotr Sapegin (short) Liverpool Goalie by Arild Andresen Totally True Love by Anne Sewitsky Twigson Ties the Knot by Martin Lund GENERATION 14PLUS Jenny by Ingvild Søderlind (short)