24/08/2005

Released by Sandrew Metronome on August 19 with 54 prints, the youth comedy Tommy’s Inferno by first time Norwegian director Ove Raymond Gyldenås has fast become a huge hit in Norway, taking the number one position at the local box office with 29,592 admissions in three days, ahead of Disney’s family film Herbie, Full Tank, The Island and Valiant, and this in spite of its ‘11 rating’ (no one under 11 years old allowed).

Carried by very favourable reviews, the film targets the core cinemagoing audience: youngsters between 16-24 who crave for good local films for their age group. It’s the story of 16-year old Tommy, tortured by the question of ‘doing it’ or ‘not doing it’ with his girlfriend Maria. As a part-time altar boy with an old-fashioned idea of sex, Tommy wants to postpone his sexual debut until after their wedding, but Maria wants it NOW and decides to dump him. To go through his ‘inferno’, Tommy is aided by his best friend Ahmed, his complete opposite who himself has embargoed on a little crusade against his parents’ Muslim traditions and all other established truths.

Playing Tommy is Eirik Evjen who won a Best Actor Award in 2002 at the Giffoni Film Festival for the film Scars. Debutants Mehran Iqbal, Anine Eckhoff and Anne Lene Heiberg also join the cast alongside the well-known actors Linn Skåber and Atle Antonsen.
Tommy’s Inferno is written and directed by Gyldenås who made a strong impression with his graduation film from the Lillehammer Film School in 2001 and has since directed many commercials while developing several feature film projects. The film is the second one produced by Asle Vatn and Christian Frederik Martin from Friland AS, the duo behind this year’s Norwegian critics’ favourite Kissed By Winter (Vinterkyss).

The film was picked up for international sales by NonStop Sales early August ahead of its selection as the opening film of the New Nordic Films section, the annual Nordic market which took place between August 19-22 just before the Haugesund Film Festival.