Two features, three TV series, four documentaries receive funding

Feature films

• Road Trip with Mom (Á ferð með mömmu)
  Grant: NOK 1,000,000
  Recipient: Ursus Parvus, Iceland
  Producer: Hlín Jóhannesdóttir
  Writer/Director: Hilmar Oddsson
  Domestic distribution: Sena
  Story: When Jon’s dominant mother passes away in their isolated Westfjords home, he must honour her last wish to bring the body across Iceland for the final rest in her hometown. As they travel on, Jon’s whole existence gets a new meaning. The film by seasoned director Hilmar Oddsson (Cold Light) received support from the Icelandic Film Centre. Details soon to be announced.
• The Quiet Migration (Stille liv)
  Grant: NOK 800,000
  Recipient: Manna Film, Denmark
  Producer: Mia Møller Kjeldgaard
  Director: Malene Choi Jensen
  Writers: Malene Choi Jensen, Sissel Dalsgaard Thomsen
  Domestic distribution: Øst for Paradis
  Story: Carl (19), adopted from South Korea, lives a quiet life at his parents’ farm, but feels estranged in his own family. He is faced with the choice of seeking his origins or embracing his destiny in the Danish countryside.
  
  The upcoming feature by Malene Choi Jensen (The Return) received backing from the Danish Film Institute, The West Danish Film Fund and DR. Mer Film will handle the release in Norway. Øst for Paradis will release the film in Denmark late spring/summer 2022.

TV Series

• Carmen Curlers
  Format: 8x60’
  Grant: NOK 2.8 million
  Recipient: DR Drama, Denmark
  Producer: Stinna Lassen
  Director: Natasha Arthy
  Writer: Mette Heeno
  Commissioning broadcaster: DR
  Story: The incredible story of how a little electric curler changed the lives of thousands of women in rural Denmark in the 1960s. Details soon to be announced.
• Nordic Christmas (Nordisk Jul)-working title
  Format: 8x7’
  Grant: NOK 1,700,000
  Recipient: Qvisten Animation, Norway
  Producers; Åshild Ramborg, Fredrik Klosterud
  Directors confirmed: Rune Spaans, Kim Hagen Jensen, Kari Juusonen, Jean-Michel Boesch, Peter Smith, Gunnar Karlsson, Are Austnes, Yaprak Morali, Rasmus A. Sivertsen.
  Writers: Eeva Putro, Leo Viirret, Jóhann Ævar Grímsson, Karsten Fullu, Kim Hagen Jensen, Peter Smith, Magnus Igland Møller, Merete Nordahl and Aleksander Kirkwood Brown.
  Commissioning broadcaster: NRK
  Story: The TV special will be a true Nordic, magical experience for the whole family; a compilation of gripping, colourful stories written by some of our greatest artists of all time, told through high-end animation from the region’s finest studios.
  
  The Nordic Christmas special consists of multiple short stories, based on works by Tove Jansson, Astrid Lindgren, Jakob Martin Strid, Mauri Kunnas, Kjell Aukrust and H.C. Andersen, in addition to one story based on Icelandic folklore and the frame narrative inspired by Norse mythology.
  
  The series is co-produced by Søren Fleng of Happy Flyfish, Denmark, Haukur Sigurjónsson of GunHil, Iceland and Anttu Harlin of Gigglebug, Finland, YLE, DR, with support from the Danish Film Institute, the West Danish Film Fund and Viborg Municipality. Full financing is due to close by the end of the year. The domestic premiere is set for Christmas 2022.

• Saving the Fucking Planet (Vi lover et helvete)
  Format: 6x40’
  Grant: NOK 1,000,000
  Recipient: Fenomen TV Film & Scene, Norway
  Producer: Knut Inge Solbu
  Director: Rebecca Wirkola Kjellmann
  Writers: Kristin Vestreim, Karina Lystad, Rebecca Wirkola Kjellmann
  Commissioning broadcaster: NRK
  Story: The series is a present-day drama, about the unemployed climate change sceptic Daniel and the Sami environmentalist Elin who meet and fall madly in love. But when they find out they are on opposite sides of a bitter conflict concerning the reopening of an old copper mine, and consequently a battle of identity politics, their budding relationship face trouble.
  
  “Thematically, Saving the Fucking Planet is about communication and the state of the public debate climate. About young people who fear for their future in different ways and feel they are treated unfairly. And it’s about trying to understand your opponent instead of just trying to convince them,” said producer Solbu.
  
  The series received development support from NRK, the Norwegian Film Institute, Sørnorsk Filmsenter, Zefyr, the EU MEDIA Programme. It is co-produced by Rein Film in Norway, Overcoat and Bauta Film in Sweden, with co-financing so far, from NRK, Filmfond Nord, the Sámi Parliament of Norway and the International Sámi Film Institute. Filming is due to start this fall.

Documentary films

• After Work
  Grant: NOK 850,000
  Recipient: Fasad, Sweden
  Producer: Jesper Kurlandsky
  Director: Erik Gandini
  Domestic distribution: SVT
  Story: As A.I. outperforms humans in more and more tasks, it will replace humans in more and more jobs. Ahead might be an era of mass unemployment and collective irrelevance. What will this mean to us as human beings?
  
  The upcoming documentary by multi-awarded Erik Gandini (Videocracy, The Swedish Theory of Love) is coproduced by Marina Marzotto and Mattia Oddone of Propaganda Italia, Film i Väst, SVT, with co-financing from Rai Cinema and MIBAC, support from the Swedish Film Institute. Further co-producers and co-financiers are in discussion. The premiere is scheduled for August/September 2022.
• Songs of Earth (Fedrelandet)
  Grant: NOK 600,000
  Recipient: Speranza Film
  Producer: Margreth Olin
  Director: Margreth Olin
  Domestic distribution: Norsk Filmdistribusjon, NRK
  Story: Songs of Earth is a full-length feature documentary-symphony for the big screen. In the battle between power (man) and the powerful (nature), the powerful wins.
  
  “Nature has its own language, that we must listen to in order to survive,” said Olin. “Our film is an audio-visual composition of the earth's primordial forces. The sounds of the earth are put together to make music. We want to make a meditative experience where you feel and listen to the songs of the earth, while the camera takes you inside of nature’s smallest components and outside to the great wild panoramas. We follow in the footsteps of my father (84). He is the fittest person I know, and he takes us to Norway ́s most adventurous valley where he grew up and where generations have been living alongside nature in order to survive.”
  
  Margrete Olin’s latest film after the acclaimed The Self Portrait (co-directed with Katja Høgset, Espen Wallin), Childhood and Doing Good, received backing from the Norwegian Film Institute, Fritt Ord, NRK, SVT, WWT among others. Norsk Filmdistribusjon holds rights for the Norwegian release, and Folkets Bio for the Swedish release. Cinefil handles sales.

• The Raaby Mystery (Mysteriet Raaby)
  Grant: NOK 550,000
  Recipient: Screen Story Film & TV, Norway
  Producer: Thorvald Nilsen
  Director: Stian Indrevoll
  Domestic distribution: NRK
  Story: What happened when the Norwegian war hero and superspy Torstein Raaby died under mysterious circumstances close to a top secret Canadian base at the height of the Cold War?
  
  Director Stian Indrevoll has been working on the project for 25 years. “I have always been deeply fascinated by the story of my grandfather’s cousin Torstein Raaby,” he said. “He was a James Bond figure working as a special agent for Churchills MI6 during WW2. He was parachuted into the Arctic part of Norway by plane and sent information back to England about the German battleship Tirpitz, that ultimately led to the sinking of the ship by British bombers. After the war, he took part in his best friend Thor Heyerdahl’s Kon-Tiki expedition, were they drifted on an ancient raft over the Pacific Ocean in 101 days in 1947, met President Truman at the White House and received an Academy Award for Best Documentary in 1952.”
  
  “Torstein died when he was only 45, on an expedition to the North Pole in 1964. He died near the Canadian Forces Station in Alert, Nunavut, the northernmost permanently inhabited place in the world. Nobody really wanted to talk about the incident. Rumours of foul play pervaded the top secret arctic military base. Was it something more to the story,” asked the producer.
  
  The Moldovan Miracle director’s new documentary is co-financed by the Norwegian Film Institute, Western Norwegian Film Centre, Zefyr Media Fund, Filmkraft Rogaland, Freedom of Speech Association, NRK, DR, YLE and Screen Story. The premiere in Norway is set for 2022.
• The Gullspång Miracle (Miraklet i Gullspång)
  Grant: NOK 450,000
  Recipient: Ballad Film, Sweden
  Producer: Ina Holmqvist
  Director: Maria Fredriksson
  Domestic distribution: Folkets Bio, SVT
  Story: A Norwegian woman on a holiday to Sweden comes face to face with a dead ringer for her sister who committed suicide years earlier. What begins as an eerie story of family reunification transforms into a stranger-than-fiction-drama about family secrets, identity crisis and a wish to believe in the inexplicable.
  
  “At first, it was this very strange meeting between three women that made me curious, their claim of a miracle. Now, the story has developed into a twisted tale that constantly challenges and amazes me,” said the director who admits her role in the filmmaking process has evolved, from telling the story from the outside to being part of the narrative.
  
  The film is co-produced by SVT, Film i Väst and Film Stockholm, with co-financing from NRK, YLE and DR. It has received support from The Swedish Art Council, Film Capital and Nordnorsk filmsenter. Norwegian co-producer Mer Film will also handle the Norwegian release via Mer Distribusjon. Delivery is scheduled for the fall 2022.

Distribution Support

• NOK 530,000 to TriArt, Sweden for the distribution of the Norwegian films The Worst Person in the World, A-ha-The Movie and Danish film Flee.
  

Industry Initiatives Support

• NOK 350,000 to Filmkontakt Nord for Nordisk Panorama Forum & Market
• NOK 100,000 to the Reykjavik International Film Festival for RIFF Industry Days.