14/08/2007

First set to open in April this year, then on August 31, Nils Gaup’s much-awaited new epic film The Kautokeino Rebellion will now be released in Norway by Sandrew Metronome on January 18, following its world premiere on January 16 at the Tromsö International Film Festival (January 15-20, 2008).

The €6.6m film produced in Norway by Rubicon Film & TV in co-production with Borealis Film (Norway), Film Lance Internatinal (Sweden) and Metronome Productions (Denmark), was shot at FilmCamp in Målsvelv in the Troms county (Northern Norway), where the Tromsö Festival takes place.

“The Kautokeino Rebellion is a film with an international format but deeply rooted in this region and the Tromsö International Film Festival is simply the right place to launch it”, said Festival Manager Martha Otte. “This is the first finished film to come out of FilmCamp and many people from that area and the Northern part of Norway were involved in the filming. We are also aware that many people abroad are anxious to see it”.

Set during the conflict between the Sami people and the Norwegian government representatives in the mid 19th century, the film focuses on the famous 1852 Kautokeino rebellion and its tragic consequences, including the beheading of two of its leaders in 1854. The film is very close to the director, himself a descendent of one of the Sami chiefs who was executed.

The Scandinavian cast includes Mikkel Gaup, Anni-Kristiina Juuso, Mikael Persbrandt, Bjørn Sundquist and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau. The Icelandic set designer is Karl Juliusson, who previously worked with Gaup on his 1999 film Misery Harbour and the DoP is Norway’s Philip Øgaard (Kitchen Stories).