The Norwegian Film Institute awards funding to three new feature films
Funding awarded to Witzø, Olin and Halle in this round.
This past week, the Norwegian Film Institute gave funding to three new feature film productions. Director Margreth Olin and Fantefilm fiction AS received 1 million euros to produce Safe House, a film that will bring Olin’s deep social engagement to the thriller format. Director Hallvar Witzø and Nordisk Film Production AS were awarded 800,000 euros for their rural comedy Alle hater Johan (Everyone hates Johan), written by Erlend Loe, a story about the trials and tribulations of single life. For their production of the drama Vi er her nå (We are here now), a subtle and multifaceted contemporary reflection of life of parents in a maternity group over the course of a year, director Mariken Halle and Alternativet Produksjon AS pocketed 220,000 euros.
“The funding gave us an opportunity to support three very distinctive and different projects,” says Anne Borgaard Sørensen, NFI’s newly appointed feature film consultant. “The three stories’ high quality and multi-faceted expression promise well for the future of Norwegian films.”
“These are projects that will gain terrain both at home and internationally,” acknowledges colleague Ståle Stein Berg of the record number of 33 projects that applied for “production funding for films with a strong audience potential”.
He adds: “The margins are getting increasingly smaller at the top of the application stack. Naturally, this is a poor consolation for the many first-rate projects that were not prioritized, but at the same time it is a tremendous recognition for the ones that were awarded a grant.”