29/08/2022 - Returning audiences, a fruitful industry event, passionate participation – everything was in place at the celebration of the 50th Norwegian International Film Festival

Haugesund's industry programme director Gyda Velvin Myklebust (left) and festival director Tonje Hardersen (© Jan Lumholdt)

“Already in 2020, we had planned for a perfectly normal event. Any COVID-infested bridges would be crossed when we came to them. Or if we came to them.” The sturdy strategy of the director of the Norwegian International Film Festival in Haugesund, Tonje Hardersen, paid off. “Suffice it to say, it’s been a great success,” she beams at the conclusion of the 50^th edition of the gathering. “We were a bit wary when it came to determining whether the audience would return, post-pandemic. As for the industry participants, it had already become clear last year that they would gladly come, but it’s also evident that the regular festival-goers are here again – both visitors from out of town and locals, who will happily take a week off to watch movies. This year’s been overwhelmingly positive, with full houses and sold-out screenings – actually more than in the last normal year, 2019. It’s as if when it was gone for a while and finally returned, people showed up in even higher numbers than before.”

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Celebrating its golden anniversary this year, Haugesund is one of the oldest film festivals in the Nordic region (Göteborg started in 1979, Finland’s Midnight Sun in 1986 and Stockholm in 1990). The immediate objective was to gather film-industry representatives in one regular meeting place, with audience inclusion steadily evolving alongside this. 2022 highlights include the passionate participation of Liv Ullmann, at a symposium on her massive body of work, at screenings of the recent version of The Emigrants [+see also:
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film profile] as well as her own film Faithless, and in the capacity of honorary president of the festival since 1985. “She’s a true ambassador of Norwegian cinema,” Hardersen rightly points out. Also in the initial plans was the additional presence of Crown Prince Haakon, born, like the festival itself, in 1973, and also its official High Patron. “He really wanted to come, but we had to settle for a filmed greeting, which was nevertheless beautifully executed,” says Hardersen.

Similarly invigorated is the head of the New Nordic Films industry event, Gyda Velvin Myklebust, who has juggled and struggled with assorted restriction-related logistics these last couple of years, but was now able to open up and let everyone back in for some hands-on co-production and works-in-progress sessions. “We’re well and truly back. The atmosphere’s been grand and the presented projects very strong – likely because people have had some extra time to develop and fine-tune them. Many felt very well thought out in terms of their visions. I applaud, not least, the many new female directors from Sweden here this year.” She counts a little over 300 participants and the same number of one-on-one meetings at this year’s event, again a tad more than in 2019 and a near-perfect number, as she sees it. “As things stand, I don’t think we would benefit from a higher attendance level. It’s ideal – those who are here have time to get to know one another, and the networking parameters are just right, given the time and the events. That’s a dynamic that we would very much like to maintain.” If there’s one wish for the future, it would be easier means of transportation. “Direct flights to Haugesund would sit really well. At the same time, the uniqueness of this place – its location, its look – is both exotic and soothing, and just right.”

Next year’s edition, taking place from 19-25 August, will continue the youthful focus that was introduced this year via the Haugesund Children’s Film Convention. For the industry days, Gyda Velvin Myklebust is working on a new initiative, highlighting first-time feature filmmakers. “We will call it ‘Nordic Debut’, and the aim is to create a network for those not yet established in the business, who are straight out of film school and the like. It will cover the whole Nordic region, including the Faroe Islands, Greenland and Sápmi, and the participants will then be able to get a meeting place here. We are greatly looking forward to it already.”