29/06/2006

The director of the Norwegian Film Institute, Vigdis Lian, has received the prestigious cultural order of Chevalier des Arts et Lettres from the French ambassador in Norway, Chantal Poiret, for her involvement in the promotion of French films and French film culture in Norway.

As festival programmer of the Haugesund Film Festival in the 1990s, Lian showed a real enthusiasm for French film. Since then, through her work at the Institute, Lian’s support has been even stronger, notably in the programming of new and classic French films at Oslo’s Film House. Furthermore, the Norwegian Film Institute has been a steady partner to the Francophone Festival in Oslo.

When expressing her thanks, Lian said that some French films – in particular Alain Resnais’ Hiroshima mon amour – had been landmarks in her life.

Previous Norwegian film recipients of the prestigious French cultural order include journalist and film critic Arne Hestenes and film exhibitor Ingeborg Moræus Hanssen.