Norwegian films get noticed at Sunrise

by Annika Pham

28/08/2007 - Sunrise Film Distribution is sharpening its taste for Norwegian fare. After Joachim Trier’s Reprise [trailer, film focus], set to open this Friday in Denmark, the company has acquired Danish rights for Bard Breien’s award-winning film The Art of Negative Thinking [trailer].

Sold by Nordisk Film International Sales, The Art of Negative Thinking won the Crystal Globe for Best Director at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival in July. Sunrise intends to release the film in Denmark next December or in January 2008. The comedy-drama about a wheelchair-bound accident victim who takes part in a group therapy was produced by Norway’s Maipo Film.

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Peter Bendtsen, who set up the distribution outfit in 2004 with the aim of feeding the local market with quality arthouse films, says: “Norwegian films have had a rather low profile in Denmark so far, but hopefully this is going to change. We’ve done quite a few preview screenings on Reprise and we’ve had very good responses from the audience”.

Trier’s film, which triumphed at the last Amanda Awards (Norway’s top film honours, see news) is opening this Friday on three screens.

The previous Norwegian film distributed by Sunrise was Pål Sletaune’s Next Door, released in 2005. The company’s most successful Nordic films released in Denmark were Dalecarlians [trailer, film focus] (6,587 admissions in 2005) and Four Shades of Brown (5,923 admissions in 2004).

Other European films released earlier this year by Sunrise include Philip Gröning’s Into Great Silence [trailer, film focus] and Dominic Moll’s Lemming [trailer].