This year’s Eurimages Co-Production Award, an award acknowledging the decisive role of co-productions in fostering international exchange, pays tribute to Norwegian producer Maria Ekerhovd. The prize will be presented during the European Film Awards ceremony on Saturday, 11 December, in Berlin.

In 2011, Ekerhovd founded the production company Mer Film, which celebrates its 10th anniversary this year. In these ten years, Ekerhovd has been the delegate producer on ten feature films, as well as many co-productions, a number of which have been supported by Eurimages. Her production company’s ambition is to produce Norwegian and international arthouse films by directors with a personal artistic vision. Mer Film believes in long term relationships with directors and co – producing partners and in 2015 the company expanded its mission by founding Mer Filmdistribusjon, a distribution company which works closely with the production company.

Her latest film is the Eurimages-supported co-production The Innocents [+lire aussi :
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interview : Eskil Vogt
fiche film] by Eskil Vogt, which premiered in Un Certain Regard at Cannes. The film received the European Film Award for Best Sound announced last week (read news). Maria Ekerhovd is also the Norwegian co-producer on Jonas Poher Rasmussen’s Flee [+lire aussi :
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interview : Jonas Poher Rasmussen
fiche film], nominated for the EFAs in best documentary and animated feature categories this year. She is currently in production with the historical drama War Sailors [+lire aussi :
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interview : Ole Giæver
fiche film] by Ole Giæver. Next year will also see the release of the film More Than Ever [+lire aussi :
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One of Ekerhovd’s first films as producer, Bobbie Peers’ 2006 short film Sniffer, won Norway’s first (and so far only) Palme d’Or at Cannes, also nominated for the European Film Awards. In 2013, Ekerhovd was awarded the Edith Carlmar Prize, which is presented every year at the Femmina Film Festival to "a professional film woman who has shown integrity, fearlessness of innovation and willingness to break boundaries".