14/01/2011

An all-time high 21 Norwegian films will open during the first part of the year and as many as 40 by the end of 2011, according to the 2011 Norwegian Spring Catalogue presented by the Norwegian Film Institute (NFI) and the Norwegian Film & TV Producers Association in Oslo this week.

Last year was an excellent year for Norwegian films, which had a record 23.2% market share from around 2.5 million admissions. It was also a crucial year for local films as rules for the retroactive support system managed by the NFI were changed, to the benefit of producers.

Whereas under the previous system only films that were granted production support from the NFI could be eligible, now all films can access this public support as long as they sell over 10,000 admissions and have a theatrical distribution plan. Subsidies are furthermore based on net income from all exhibition platforms, unlike before when only box office receipts were taken into consideration.

“This spreads the risks for producers,” stressed Ivar Køhn, head of Production at NFI.

This change in retroactive support, combined with the new trend of low-cost digital filmmaking, resulted in a production boom in 2010, and films are starting to reach local cinemas. While half of them have a clear artistic and market value – including Pål Sletaune’s Babycall, starring Noomi Rapace, Stian Kristiansen’s I Travel Alone and two Varg Veum films – the rest will have to prove themselves.

Nevertheless, for the audience, the wider choice of films is obviously a plus, and some festivals have already given their stamp of approval to future Norwegian releases, such as Ole Giæver’s The Mountain and Anne Sewitsky’s Jørgen + Anne [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (both set to open on February 25), which have been selected for the upcoming Berlinale (see news).