Out Stealing Horses is ready for an Oscar nomination

Norwegian director Hans Petter Molands feature Out Stealing Horses (Ut og stjæle hester) will be Norway`s bid for the Oscar-nomination as Best Foreign Language film. The Norwegian Oscar Committee announced its choice today, (Tuesday, 3. September) from a shortlist of candidates also including Dag Johan Haugerud`s Beware of Children and Eirik Svenssons Harajuku

The committee`s statement

“Hans Petter Moland impresses in his ambitious and fearless use of filmatical instruments, and in this way creates a rarely emotional depth in his dissemination of a unique story. The film's sensual and inner tranquility reverberates in very beautiful scenery and a nicely tuned actor ensemble that is needed to lift the film's themes and seamless shifts between different time periods. Based on the novel ny Per Petterson, not the least photography, sound and editing manage to capture the poetry in the novel a way that strikes spectators with physical strength, and which remains even after the film ends.
The jury believes that the strong and original story along with high cinematic qualities both in front and behind the camera will contribute to Out  Stealing Horses having good chances in the competition to be nominated for the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film."

Out Stealing Horses

November 1999. 67-year-old Trond lives in new-found solitude and looks forward to spending New Year's Eve 2000 alone. As winter arrives he discovers he has a neighbor, a man Trond knew back in 1948, the summer he turned 15 and the summer Trond's father prepared him to carry the burden of his forthcoming betrayal and disappearance. And also the summer Trond grew up and smelled the scent of a woman he longed for. The same woman Trond's father was preparing to spend his life with.
 
Out Stealing Horses won the Silver Bear for Outstanding Artistic Contribution for its cinematography at the Berlinale 2019, before Norwegian premiere on March 8, 2019.
 
Director Hans Petter Moland has written the screenplay based on Per Petterson’s novel Out Stealing Horses. The film is produced by Turid Øversveen and Håkon Øverås for 4 ½ Fiksjon and international sales is handled by TrustNordisk.

The Oscar-contending film is produced with grants from the Norwegian Film Institute.

Norwegian Oscars Committee 2019

The Norwegian Oscar Committee, consisting of eight representatives from the Norwegian film industry and headed by CEO Sindre Guldvog.
 
CEO Sindre Guldvog, Norwegian Film Institute
Journalist Mode Steinkjer, Norwegian Film Critics Associaton
Editor Ingrid Mæhre, Norwegian Film Workers Union
Actress Marika Enstad, Norwegian Actors’ Union
Director Ingvild Søderlind, Norwegian Film Directors Association
Screenwriter Lars Gudmestad, Writers’ Guild of Norway
Morten Larssen, Norwegian Producers Association
Manager International Relations, feature Films Stine Oppegaard, Norwegian Film Institute