10/05/2006

To celebrate the unprecedented presence of four Norwegian films at Cannes and give them the best visibility possible during the world’s biggest film festival, Norway’s Minister of Culture and Church Affairs Trond Giske announced yesterday during a press conference held at Oslo’s Film House that his department will give an extra NOK 100,000 (€12,865) for the marketing and promotion of each of the three feature films – Uro [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Stefan Faldbakken (Un Certain Regard), the Critics’ Week titles CGI animated film Free Jimmy [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Christoffer Nielsen and Jens Lien’s The Bothersome Man [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Jens Lien
interview: Jørgen Storm Rosenberg
film profile] – while Bobbie Peers’ short film Sniffer will receive NOK 25,000 (€3,200).

Three other Norwegian film organisations are adding extra cash for the marketing and promotion of those films at Cannes: the Norwegian Film Institute has offered a NOK 150,000 (€19,285) grant for the feature films and NOK 50,000 (€6,428) for the short film, and Nordisk Film & TV Fund in collaboration with West Norwegian Film Center (Vestnorsk Filmcenter) another NOK 150,000 for each feature and NOK 25,000 for the short.

For Giske, who will be the first Norwegian Cultural Minister to attend Cannes, this extra public money is aimed not only at raising the profile of those films with the Norwegian press but also at stimulating international interest. “The extra push at Cannes is an important starting point to continue to develop the long-term strategy for the profile of Norwegian films abroad”, said the head of the Norwegian Film Institute, Vigdis Lian.

Lian’s colleague at the NFI, Jan Erik Holst, head of the International Department, had previously said: “To a small country with a limited production – 19 features in 2005 – the strong presence at this year’s Cannes is obviously a happy surprise. But we have seen it coming. The first graduates from the new Norwegian National Film School at Lillehammer have started to put their fingerprints on Norwegian cinema, and they are really ambitious. This is only the beginning”.