The largest film festival in Norway, at the gateway to the Arctic Circle, the Tromsö International Film Festival (TIFF), opens today with the screening of Pål Jackman’s new film Shooting the Sun, eight years after his acclaimed feature debut Detector.

Also on the programme today: an industry meeting to discuss the state of Norwegian cinema, hosted by Minister of Culture Trond Giske.
The 5th conference on Film Policy in Norway is organised with Tromsö County Council and the regional Film Fund Filmcampen. Apart from Mr Giske, Nina Refseth, head of the Norwegian Film Institute, will be on hand to present what has been achieved since the presentation of the government’s White Paper on Film Policy in 2006 and the challenges ahead.

This year’s film programme is, as usual, focusing on Films from the North, as well as on the best offerings around the world. Tomorrow, as a sign of solidarity towards Tromsö’s twin city Gaza, a live report from isolated and besieged Gaza via Skype will try to be organised instead of the meeting that was supposed to take place between Gaza film representatives and four other twin cities with the Palestinian city.

In the main competition programme, ten feature films are competing for TIFF’s Aurora award (NOK 75,000 towards Norwegian distribution), including Country Wedding [trailer] (Iceland), Summer Hours [trailer] (France) and Sonetàula [trailer] (Italy).

The Horizon section has a line-up of 33 films, from Sweden’s Involuntary and the UK’s Hunger [trailer, film focus] to 2009 Golden Globe winner Slumdog Millionaire [trailer, film focus].

Other sections include French Touch, a Czech Retrospective and Special Screenings, in which Norway’s celebrated documentary filmmaker Knut Erik Jensen (Cool Crazy) will present his latest film, Ice Kiss. The festival will close on Sunday with the screening of The Wrestler.