26/03/2007

For the first time in 61 years, the Norwegian Film Critics’ Prize 2007 is being shared by two directors – Jens Lien for The Bothersome Man [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Jens Lien
interview: Jørgen Storm Rosenberg
film profile] and Joachim Trier for Reprise [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Joachim Trier
interview: Karin Julsrud
film profile] – for two films that have received, respectively, 20 and seven international awards over the last year and are on the verge of opening in key non-Scandinavian territories.

When presenting the awards to both directors last Thursday in Oslo, the chairman of the critics’ association, Øyvor Dalan Vik, said: “The decision reflects the fact that Norwegian cinema is currently on the rise and we hope it will continue to be for a long time!”

The Bothersome Man, produced by Jørgen Storm Rosenberg for Tordenfilm, has toured over 50 international festivals following its launch at the Critics’ Week in Cannes 2006 and is going to open next Friday in France under the title “Norway of Life”.

French distributor CTV International has booked some 30 prints and put together a totally different poster campaign for the film, with a tagline from weekly entertainment magazine Telerama saying: “A funny, absurd, strange and insolent movie”. Lien’s second feature film was sold to over a dozen territories by Bavaria Film International.

As for Trier’s directorial debut Reprise (produced by Karin Julsrud for 4 ½ Productions), the film started winning over festival audiences and juries in Karlovy Vary last July and has been sold by Nordisk Film International Sales to some 15 territories, including Germany (MFA), the UK (Diffusion Pictures) and Benelux (A Film) .

The homage to the French Nouvelle Vague is currently being showcased at the New Directors/New Films Festival in New York and is also one of ten films competing at the Nordic Film Festival in Rouen, along with The Bothersome Man.