Escape (Flukt)

Roar Uthaug

Roar Uthaug (b. 1973) made his first film, The Axekiller, in eight grade. He continued his filmmaking throughout his teens, continuously honing his skills. After this early start as a filmmaker, Uthaug soon also educated himself formally in the art he knew he wanted to make a career in, and by his early twenties he attended courses at the cultural initiative Mediefabrikken (translates as the Media Factory), run by the Akershus County administration. Here he directed several shorts, such as DX13036 (1996) and A Fistful of Kebab (1998). In 1999 he was accepted to the Norwegian Film School in Lillehammer, where he graduated as a director in 2002. His graduation film, The Martin Administration, was nominated by the Academy of Motion Pictures, Arts and Sciences for the Student Academy Awards in the Best Foreign Student Film category - a feat only one other Norwegian director had achieved before Uthaug.

After finishing his education Uthaug was employed by the production company Fantefilm, and directed several commercials and music videos for popular Norwegian bands and artists like Gåte, Furia, Unni Wilhelmsen and Vidar Busk. In 2006 he made his feature film debut with the immensely successful horror film Cold Prey, which was screened at numerous international festivals - including Karlovy Vary and Montreal World Film Festival - and received several awards. It also sparked two additional films (Cold Prey II and III), comprising one of the most successful movie-trilogies in Norwegian cinema history. Veering noticeably from his horror debut Uthaug also proved his diversity as a filmmaker when he directed the children's film Magic Silver in 2009 (co-directing with Katarina Launing), the first film of the Magic Silver-franchise already made popular by an award-winning television series, music albums, theater versions, books and various merchandise.