18/03/2014 - Set to unspool from 16-22 August, the Norwegian International Film Festival will instigate a programme of nine graduation films from Nordic national film schools

Gunnar Johan Løvvik, director of the Norwegian International Film Festival

The Norwegian International Film Festival – Norway’s largest film event and a Nordic meeting point for the Scandinavian and international film industries – will this year add a competition programme for Nordic film school graduates to its 42nd line-up, taking place from 16-22 August.

“Graduation films from the Norwegian National Film School have often screened at the festival, and in the last couple of years we have invited producer students from the film schools in Lillehammer, Copenhagen and Stockholm to participate in the New Nordic Films market,” explained Gunnar Johan Løvvik, director of the Norwegian International Film Festival.

“Now we invite the new filmmakers to compete in Haugesund. The programme will comprise nine graduation films, selected by a jury from the Nordic film schools. It will unspool from 19-22 August, and the winner will be announced at the closing ceremony of New Nordic Films on 21 August,” he concluded.

“The competitive section will most certainly be an attraction to festival audiences and, not least, a great opportunity for fresh film graduates to show the film industry what they are capable of,” added project manager Tonje Hardersen.

Last year, the Norwegian International Film Festival took 22,447 admissions for a line-up of 108 films, including 25 works in progress at the New Nordic Films market. A total of 1,252 film professionals from 32 countries visited the event, which will again feature the main programme, sidebars, the market, the Nordic Co-production and Finance Market, and the Amanda ceremony, awarding Norway’s national film prizes.