Eurimages Co-Production Award for Maria Ekerhovd

This is the first time the fourteen-year-old award has been given to a Norwegian film producer. The award recognizes a European producer who has excelled internationally and who is active in Co-Productions.

This is to the highest degree the case with Maria Ekerhovd, who through her production company Mer Film has for ten years produced ten Norwegian feature films in addition to a number of international Co-Productions. Her Norwegian films have also often had a large share of international funding, as was the case with, among other things, What Will People Say, which was a Co-Production with Germany and Sweden. Ekerhovd's production company Mer Film is based in Bergen and Tromsø.

Big surprise

-This was a big surprise, and I'm very happy with the price. It has previously gone to producers I have great respect for and who are among the foremost in Europe. Being the first from Norway to receive this award is great, but also a result of the fact that we at Mer Film have been looking outwards since the beginning. This is perhaps one of the advantages of not being based in the capital Oslo - we have looked to the world, rather than to Oslo, says Maria Ekerhovd.

Historical dramas 

More Film is now in the process of producing two historical dramas; The War Sailors by Gunnar Vikene and Let The River Flow by Ole Giæver. Both films will hit theaters in 2023. And this year the production company has premiered two films; The Innocents by Eskil Vogt and Gritt by Itonje Søimer Guttormsen, at the same time as Mer Film has been a co-producer of the Danish Oscar candidate Flee.

Maria Ekerhovd receives the Eurimage Co-Production Award during the award ceremony Europen Film Awards in Berlin on 11 December.

Read more about the Eurimage Co-Production Award and previous award recipients here