Top EU MEDIA support for Norway’s Wisting TV series
Cinenord Drama is the first Norwegian production company to receive the €1 million maximum for its 10x45min thriller project
Creative Europe MEDIA announced 8 May the first 2018 list of recipients, also including the Norwegian Fabelaktiv series Helium and Norsk Fjernsyn documentary War of Art; only Wisting and Italy’s My Brilliant Friend, from Willside, reached the million.
Wisting
Produced by Cinenord Drama
Supported by €1 million
Based on Norwegian author Jørn Lier Horst’s novels about police detective William Wisting, Cinenord Drama’s 10x45min Wisting is described as a character-driven thriller series of Nordic noir with a strong, international appeal.
“Obviously we are very excited about this support from Creative Europe MEDIA, which we also see as a recognition both of the project and of our company,” said Norwegian producer Silje Hopland Eik, of Cinenord Drama, who will produce the series with Terez Hollo-Klausen and Anni Faurbye Fernandez .
Co-produced by Denmark’s Good Company Films on a NOK 110 million (€11.4 million) budget, including the Norwegian Incentive Scheme framework grant of NOK 26.05 million (€2.7 million) from the Norwegian Film Institute, Wisting is filmed in and around Larvik-Stavern in the Vestfold region.
Starring Sven Nordin
Norwegian actor Sven Nordin – most recently in Norwegian pubcaster NRK’s Valkyrien (The Valkyrie/2017) series – will play the lead, with Canadian Hollywood-actress Carrie-Anne Moss in the role as FBI agent Maggie Griffin.
Directed by and Katarina Launing and Trygve Allister Diesen, who has also scripted with Kathrine Valen Zeiner, Wisting started the 150-day shooting schedule in January. The series has been presold to, ao. MTG’s Viaplay streaming service and German pubcaster ARD.
Helium
Produced by Fabelaktiv
Supported by €254,500
Described as a humorous, feelgood drama series, the 13x14min Helium follows 12-year-old Martin, when he falls in love for the first time – in Dalia. But there are problems: when he talks to her, it sounds as if he had a “helium voice.” Scripted by Trond Morten Venasen and Morten Hovland, Helium will be directed by Liv Karin Dahlstrøm, for NRK Super. The Fabelaktiv production has received NOK 4 million (€0.4 million) support from the film institute.
War of Art
Produced by Norsk Fjernsyn
Supported by €57,550
Scripted and directed by award-winning Tommy Gulliksen, War of Art is a documentary about a group of artists including Norway’s controversial Morten Traavik, who have for several years worked on cultural exchange with North Korea. But how is it possible to collaborate with a country, where (according to Human Rights Watch) 200,000 Koreans are kept in concentration camps, and dissidents and their families are imprisoned and forced to hard labour for their criticism of the system? The film will be produced by Eirin Høgetveit for Norsk Fjernsyn.
About Creative Europe MEDIA
A sub-division of the European Commission’s MEDIA programme, Creative Europe supports the EU film and audiovisual industries financially in the development, distribution and promotion of their work. It helps to launch projects with a European dimension and nurtures new technologies; it enables European films and audiovisual works including feature films, television drama, documentaries and new media to find markets beyond national and European borders; it also funds training and film development schemes. Last year the Norwegian audiovisual industry, which participates in Creative Europe through the EEA agreement, received various grants totalling NOK 29 million (€3 million).