13/09/2012 - Norwegian directors Espen Sandberg and Joachim Rønning's Kon-Tiki will represent Norway in the race for one of the five nominees as Best Foreign-Language Feature

The Norwegian Oscar Committee named yesterday (September 12) Norwegian directors Espen Sandberg and Joachim Rønning's Kon-Tiki [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] as official Norwegian candidate for the 2013 Oscar for Best Foreign-Language Feature, from the shortlist that also included Arild Andresen's The Orheim Company [+see also:
trailer
film profile] and Dag Johan Haugerud's I Belong.

According to the committee: "Kon-Tiki is an adventurous account of one man's ambition to make his mark in history by drawing a map larger than himself." From the around 90 international submissions for the five nominations as Best Foreign-Language Feature, the Oscar Academy will announce its five choices on January 15 2013; the awards ceremony takes place on February 24.

Last month (August) the second Norwegian feature by the directors - who also represented Norway in the Oscar race with their Max Manus [+see also:
trailer
film profile] in 2009 - opened the Norwegian International Film Festival in Haugesund and is now closing in on 600,000 domestic admissions for Nordisk Film Distribusjon AS.

"Sandberg and Rønning emphasise the narrative format of the epic, with space for the detail, the individual and the small story set in a universal context. Strong performances, especially by lead actor in Pål Sverre Hagen, contribute to create intimacy in a broad history," the Norwegian committee added.

Starring Hagen, Anders Baasmo Christiansen, Odd-Magnus Williamson, Tobias Santelmann, Jakob Oftebro and Agnes Kittelsen, the Aage Aaberge-Jeremy Thomas, Norway Nordisk Film & TV AS (NO) and UK's Recorded Picture Company production was presented on September 7 at the Toronto International Film Festival.