Support for five new documentaries from NFI

Faces Like Mine

In her new documentary Faces Like Mine, Norwegian director Deeyah Khan – since last year UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador for Artistic Freedom and Creaty – will investigate the stories the media tell about the different ethnic groups in the modern, multicultural society. Produced by Sverre Pedersen for Fuuse, the film will seek to reveal how the media reflect and shape the perception of “the strangers,” and explore the psychological consequences of these creations.

Faces Like Mine is one of five new documentaries supported by the Norwegian Film Institute, which has allocated €1 million (NOK 9.9 million) production funding to a package also comprising seven new shorts.

The Fall of Aleppo

Norwegian director Nizam Najar follows a civilian group who had for years defended themselves against their own government until The Fall of Aleppo in 2016, when the survivors must escape. Two leaders in the Free Syrian Army have different opinions of which society will arise after Arab Spring in Syria, also reflected by the internal colllapse of the rebellion. Henrik Underbjerg and Tore Buvarp will produce for Fenris Film.

Fengslet og forlatt

Fengslet og forlatt (English title tba) by Norwegian director Katja Høgset, describes the prison conditions at Department G of Ila outside Oslo, housing the country’s sickest and most dangerous inmates. In Margreth Olin’s production for Speranza Film abut the borderland of humanity, psychiatrist Randi Rosenqvist fights for the preservation of their humanity – their own stories are characterised by neglect, violence, drug abuse and a struggle to survive.

Dacca og reinsdyrene

Norwegian director Fridtjof Kjæreng`s Dacca og reinsdyrene (English title tba), produced by Benedikte Bredesen for f(x) Produksjoner, is the story of Reiulf Aleksandersen, a Norwegian from Kautokeino in the northern Finnmark, who has his whole life dreamt of becoming a reindeer herder. The he and his wife are offered to take over a reindeer farm at Kvaløya outside Tromsø – but to run reindeer in northern Norway, you have to be a sami.

Magalúf

Also part of the institute’s New Ways scheme, Norwegian director Jon Vatne’s Magalúf is set in the little town on Mallorca, with a 4,000 population and more than 100 bars an clubs, which is every night in the summer months occupied by 10,000 Scandinavians and Brits. The Håvard Wettland Gossé production for Spætt Film tells about a group of Nordic friends – their voyage to Magalúf and return: expectations, experiences, consequences.