'An unfortunate accident, but there were simply no new local films ready,' comments programme director Vigdis Lian on the lack of Norwegian Cinema in this year's festival programme
The most notable absentees at this year's 24th Norwegian International Film Festival in Haugesund are… the Norwegian films. Despite strong activity on the production scene, only an hour-long, semi-documentary film about dyslexic children - Svein Andersen's Utboropprøret (Odd Rebellion) - has been included in the main programme, which last year boasted two domestic entries, Liv Ullmann's Kristin Lavransdatter (The Garland) and Erik Gustavsen's Hører du ikke hva jeg sier! (Shut up and Listen!).
'It is an unfortunate accident, both culturally and politically, that Norway's national film festival is unable to come up with substantial, local contributions,' says programme director Vigdis Lian, of the Norwegian Film Festival. 'But there were simply no domestic films ready. Because of the weather and cast availability, most productions are shot over the summer, and premiered long before the festival.'
'A year without major Norwegian features in Haugesund is not enough to keep me awake at night,' adds managing director distribution-international relations Jan Erik Holst, of the Norwegian Film Institute. 'We had a strong spring season with six openings, and by the end of the year we will have five or six films which can be considered for the early international festivals in 1997.'
'Of course it has raised the question of whether Norwegian filmmakers are scared to present their work at a festival, where it will either be hailed as a masterpiece or consigned for oblivion. But, in fact, the lack of Norwegian films in this year's festival is nothing but a coincidence,' confirms Bjørn Hoenvoll, managing director of SF Norge distribution, who is also chairman of the Norwegian Distributors Association.
Hoenvoll is currently preparing the launch of Vibeke Idsøe's feature debut, Jakten på nyresteinen (Hunting the Kidneystone), but it is still in post-production for John M Jacobsen's Filmkameratene, 'and there was no way we could have had it completed before the festival'. And 1996: Pust på mig (1996: Blow Me a Breath), the first of four portmanteau films from Norsk Film A/S, was also too late for selection.
However, those films which didn't make it to the festival will be under scrutiny at a meeting on Sunday, 18 August, in Haugesund's Festiviteten, where six production companies - Norsk Film A/S, Northern Lights Film & TV, Nordic Screen Production, Yellow Cottage, Magdalenafilm and Bul Bul Film - will announce their upcoming projects to festival participants.
Until 1999 the new executive producer and managing director of Norsk Film A/S, Tom Remlov, will spend NOK40 (US$6.25) million bringing together new scriptwriters and young directors around a common theme, for a series of four features. The first installment, 1996: Pust på mig, deals with a Dane in exile, with a theme written by Danish author Klaus Rifbjerg.
The directorial teams of Terje Holtet Larssen/Oddvar Einarson, Marit Tusvik/Eva Isaksen, Arne Berggren/Mona Hoel, and Gunnar Staalesen/Eva Dahr have all worked from the same idea, and the same conditions: the episodes must be set in the same Oslo apartment with a plot that unspools over 24 hours. Remlov is now gathering his group of filmmakers for the follow-up, 1997: Norway.
The production slate of Norsk Film A/S includes Lars Berg's Maja Steinansikt (Maja Stoneface), about the fantasy world of a nine year-old girl. Magdalenafilm's Bente Erichsen produces the film of divorce, friendship and growing up.
The company is also involved in Insomnia, the first feature by Erik Skjoldbjærg produced by Petter Borgli and Tomas Backström for Nordic Screen Production. From an original script by Nikolaj Frobenius, it follows an Oslo police investigator going to northern Norway with his older assistant, to help solve the murder of an attractive young girl.
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