Italian-Norwegian Co-Production at FilmCamp, Troms


The feature film "Elsewhere", based on Luigi Pirandello's novel "Lontano" and directed by the Italian Guido Fiandra, will be the first official Italian-Norwegian co-production ever. "Elsewhere", produced by the Italian company C & S consulenza e servizi s.r.l. and co-produced by Barentsfilm a/s in Norway, has received state funding from both the Italian Ministry of Culture and the Norwegian Film Fund.

Part of the costs of about EUR 1.7 million will also be financed by FilmCamp, a newly-started North Norwegian regional fund. Shooting is scheduled to commence in February 2007, in Troms County in Northern Norway, where some of the scenes are set. Shooting will continue in Sicily in Italy, where the core of the romantic drama unfolds, returning to Troms to shoot the final Norwegian scenes in order to exploit the beauty of the dramatic changes in the landscape that are the result of Norway's shifting seasons. The leading couple will be played by the Italian actress Caterina Murino, recently seen in the 007 James Bond film "Casino Royale" and a Norwegian actor yet to be announced.

"UK-Norwegian Co-production in Haugesund"

Hege Schøyen

"Wide Blue Yonder" is a co-production between Parkland Films (UK) and Sydvest Film (Norway). The film is a dark, yet gentle comedy about an old rogue called Wally, who breaks all the rules to fulfil an old friend's dying wish to be buried at sea. Although the film is in English, two of the main characters will be played by Norwegians: Hege Schøyen and Dennis Storhøi. Director Robert Young was selected for the Cannes Film Festival with "Splitting Heirs" in 1993.

The film is underwritten by UK investors and thereby guaranteed completion. By bringing the production to the region and using Norwegian talent both in front of and behind the camera, the producers also hope to encourage local investments. Shooting is scheduled to start in early summer in Haugesund.

NEWSLETTER December 2006

"The Golden Compass"
The production crew for the feature film "The Golden Compass" visited Bergen in October to take stills of the old Bryggen wharf area. The photos of Bryggen will be used in the 3D modelling of the town "Trollesund" as part of the set at Shepperton Studios outside London. Earlier this year the crew spent two weeks filming on Svalbard. The crew will be back next year for additional filming.
For more information about “The Golden Compass”, visit the IMDb website.

German film producers visit Western Norway

The Norwegian Film Commission and Western Norway Film Commission organised a location visit for German producers this autumn, from 7 -10 September. It was a three-day, all-expenses-paid trip, giving six producers an opportunity to discover what Western Norway has to offer as a film location, courtesy of the Norwegian Embassy, Fjord Norway AS and Innovation Norway. The Western Norway region is a special place, with deep fjords, glaciers, dramatic roads, mountain landscapes, and year-round snow. The stark beauty of the landscape has always fascinated and inspired the many producers who have shot in this part of Norway.

WORLD HERITAGE DESTINATIONS RATED
National Geographic Traveler Magazine published a new scorecard.
The West Norwegian Fjords scored best among more than 800 sites... "Authentic, unspoiled, and likely to remain so." Read the article.

“True North”

After eight weeks, the major British feature film, “True North”, has completed shooting on Svalbard and at Film Camp in Målselv in Troms county.
The film is a fable about the collision between a native, nomadic culture and greedy intruders. The story’s central character is Saiva, played by Michelle Yeoh, well-known from major international films such as ‘Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon’ and ‘Memoirs of a Geisha’, a shy woman who ekes out a living together with a beautiful younger woman, Anja, played by Michelle Krusiec, whom she has adopted as her daughter. When the women allow a Western man – Sean Bean – to move into their home, a passionate love triangle develops with mythical and horrifying consequences.
”True North” will be a scary but strikingly beautiful film, and, particularly at a time when we are in danger of losing the “true north” to global warming and pollution, the film will be frighteningly relevant. The film pays tribute to natural landscapes and cultures that are in the process of disappearing…
The film is directed by Asif Kapadia, known, among other things, for the award-winning film The Warrior. So far, the Norwegian actors Per Egil Aske and Sven-Åge Henriksen have been given roles in the film.

Norwegian/Indian film seminar in Mumbai during the Crown Prince’s visit
In connection with a visit by an official delegation spearheaded by the Norwegian Crown Prince and Crown Princess at the beginning of October, the NFC, together with the Norwegian Film Institute, organised a round table conference for Indian and Norwegian film producers. HRH Crown Princess Mette-Marit opened the conference. Together with the Minister of Petroleum and Energy, Odd-Roger Enoksen, she took active part in the discussion about how Norwegian and Indian film producers could benefit more from each other. The Crown Princess emphasised the uniqueness of Norwegian locations and expressed the hope that she would see Indian films shot on location in Norway soon. The six Norwegian producers who took part were particularly interested in the possibilities for post-production work in India.

The two days following the seminar were spent visiting the biggest studios and post-production centres in Mumbai. A Memorandum of Understanding was also signed between Whistling Woods International, which is India’s biggest film institute and educational institution, and the Norwegian Film Institute.

NEWSLETTER 15 August 2006

The Norwegian Film Commission in cooperation with Peacefulfish and the Norwegian Film Institute organised an international film seminar on 12 and 13 June entitled: “CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR INTERNATIONAL CO-PRODUCTIONS WITH NORWAY”. The panel was composed of a number of international producers including Chris Auty, Philipp Kreuzer and Matthew Justice. It served as an excellent update on matters relating to international co-productions, and the well known Danish producer Peter Aalbæk Jensen challenged the Norwegian producers by calling for greater commitment on their part to a greater degree of international co-production.

Cannes
At this year’s Cannes festival, where Norwegian films were represented in several of the main programmes, the Norwegian Minister of Culture Trond Giske announced an incentives scheme for international co-productions, which will provide a tax deduction of 15 per cent of a film’s budget spent in Norway. The scheme will be discussed in the coming film White Paper to the Norwegian parliament in 2007.

Major Russian film production in Bergen and Western Norway
Alligator Reklamefilm AS in Bergen was line producer for the Russian feature film, “THE BEAUTIFUL”, directed by Vadim Shmelev, which was shot in Bergen and Aurland in Sogn og Fjordane. “There was a crew of 100, 60 Russians and 40 Norwegians”, says producer Lars Erik Ørgersen. The shoot lasted two weeks, plus three weeks' preparation with the entire Russian crew. Produced by Sergey Zhigunov and Film Studio Svet, which has 10 productions a year, this spy film has been shot in eight different countries. Vincent Perez of France has the lead role, and he has previously played opposite, among others, Penelope Cruz and was also in “THE CROW 2”.

BBC docudrama on Nansen
“Voyages of Discovery – Ice King”, the story of Fridtjof Nansen and his journey on the Fram, was shot in Oslo this summer with good help from Anne Voie Heier of Norwegian Filmservice. It is part of a larger series on famous journeys of discovery throughout history. The film's producer and director is Mike Slee.

German film shoot in Southern Norway
The production company Trebitsch Entertainment is producing the film “Fjorde der Sehnsucht” (Fjords of Longing), which will be shown on the German television channel ZDF this autumn. The series has averaged around five million viewers. The costs total more than NOK ten million. This series of romantic films has been shot in many exotic locations around the world. “Fjords of Longing” was originally to be filmed on Sicily in Italy, but the television company changed its mind at the last minute and decided to set the film in Norway. “They fell in love with Lista when we showed them the location”, says film producer Odd Hynnekleiv. Together with Bjørn Furuborg, he has spent the last month working on the German film shoot in Farsund and at Lindesnes. Both men have been involved as location managers. “This is excellent publicity for Southern Norway and Norway in general”, says Mr Hynnekleiv.

Work on several major international films
During the course of the last month, we have collaborated closely with several major international productions that are seriously considering Norway as a film-shoot location, including films originating in the USA, the UK, France and Italy. Naturally, we cannot disclose any specific names of producers or projects before they are realised, but we are hoping for a busy autumn.

NFC helps organise a co-pro seminar in Haugesund
One of our objectives is to contribute to the internationalisation of the Norwegian film industry. In this connection, NFC has been a driving force and partner in connection with the realisation of the first co-production forum at the Haugesund Film Festival. The forum will focus on co-productions with the UK and it is hoped that ten UK producers will develop projects. This has proved to be very popular, and this summer a team has already reviewed 46 potential projects which have applied for inclusion. More than a hundred Nordic film personnel have registered for the seminar, and we are looking forward to a couple of exciting days on 21 and 22 August.

NFC asked to organise Norwegian/Indian film seminar in Mumbai during the Crown Prince’s visit
At the turn of the month October/November, an official delegation lead by HRH Crown Prince Haakon Magnus is going to visit India. HRH Crown Prince Haakon Magnus has expressed an interest in learning a bit about Indian film production, and in this connection, NFC has been asked to organise a film seminar on collaboration between Indian and Norwegian film producers. A tour of one of the major film studios in Bollywood will also be arranged. An exciting and challenging task, since all preparations must be managed at a distance from Norway.

16.05.06 : Challenges and opportunities for international co productions with norway
One of the tasks which the Norwegian Film Commission regards as among its most important is to contribute to the professionalisation and internationalisation of the Norwegian film industry.

In that connection, we are organising a seminar in Oslo on 12 and 13 June which is mainly aimed at Norwegian film workers and members of the Norwegian parliament who work on cultural and business and industry issues.

We have invited a number of people from the international film world who, together with their Norwegian colleagues, will elaborate on the current situation with respect to international co-productions.

We hope that you can set aside time to attend the seminar.

Seminar program (pdf-document)

23.07.05 : Boolywood in Norway.
In cooperation with Innovation Norway, we have arranged for a delegation of Indian film producers to visit Norway.

24.03.04 : It is going to be a busy spring for the Norwegian Film Commission.


Casa del Cinema i VILLA BORGHESE, ROMA

After joining a trade and industry delegation to India headed by the Minister of Trade and Industry, we were in Berlin to participate in a panel discussion at a seminar on film financing under the auspices of "Hollywood Reporters". We also organised a round-table conference in cooperation with Peaceful Fish, which brought together Canadian, British and French producers in order to examine the possibility of increasing the number of co-productions.

We are now in the process of updating and establishing an internal database for our contacts and enquiries, which we hope to expand to include our collection of location images and location details. In time, we plan to make the database available to our contacts and users.
We are also in the final phase of creating a Production Guide, which will be available in both print format and as a PDF file. It will be ready mid-April.

From 6 to 10 April, the NFC in cooperation with the Norwegian Film Institute will organise "LOOK TO NORWAY", a presentation of Norwegian film production and Norway as a film location. This will take place at Casa del Cinema in the Villa Borghese park in the centre of Rome. Those interested can contact us by e-mail for more information.

The NFC will also be present at the AFCI's Location Trade Show in Santa Monica (LA, California) from 15 to 17 April.

In cooperation with Innovation Norway, we have arranged for a delegation of Indian film producers to visit Norway during the period 26-29 April. The idea is to take them on a tour of Norway to show them the unique location possibilities that Norway has to offer.

In May, we will be travelling to Cannes, where we will be present during part of the festival. More details on the dates will be announced later.

We have taken the initiative to have our own stand at the Broadcast Production Show from 1 to 3 June. We have invited a number of Norwegian location companies to join us there, and have received a good response.
Parallel with these activities, we have been working to inform the decision-making authorities of the importance and necessity of financial incentives for the Norwegian film industry, which is something that already exists most other places in the world.
We are eagerly awaiting the coming report to the Storting (Norwegian parliament) on culture and industry.

Contact us if you are interested in more information and updates about our spring activities.

>> Watch a movie here!
>> Download MediaPack for The Broadcast Production Show, London, June 2005

24.03.04 : Channel 4 on location with Roald Amundsen


Shooting at Finse - the peak of Norway.
Photo: Birger Morken /Scanpix

Since last autumn West Norwegian Film Commission and the local line producer Johnny Flåten from Fjord Film, have been preparing for the shooting of “The North West Passage” in collaboration with British producer/director Louise Osmond. The part as Roald Amundsen is played by the Norwegian actor Kåre Conradi. Behind the camera we also find a Norwegian, the cinematographer Harald Paalgard.

Cinematographer Harald Paalgard, actor Kåre Conradi and producer/ director Louise Osmond. Photo: Birger Morken/Scanpix

The film is a two-hour docu-drama produced by NTI. One hour is about the English explorer John Franklin who in 1845 sat out to find the North West Passage. The expedition failed and their two ships disappeared and was never found. The other episode is telling the story of the Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen, who in 1903 sat out in the same task, and successfully found the North West Passage.

The Norwegian part of the film is shot at Finse, in Bergen and at Amundsens old house at Svartskog outside Oslo.

24.02.04: Shooting polar bears at Svalbard




Jason Roberts Productions (JRP) and John Downer Productions (JDP) of the UK are about to start shooting at the Norwegian arctic island of Svalbard. JRP and JDP have worked together previously with the ‘Super Natural’-series and ‘Supernatural Superstars’. This new project is a documentary of all Bear species. The crew will use a lot of specially built cameras and equipment to achieve a different result and a new look. The plan is to be filming polar bears on the sea ice for a month this spring, followed by a month under the sea ice this summer. The film will show the ‘Bears’ world using these special design remote vehicles and remote cameras, giving a super close image and a feeling for the audience that they are there in the action.

The crew will consist of Jason Roberts, Mike Richards and Geoffrey Bell. Planned realise of the documentary is autumn 2004 on the BBC.

16.02.04: Jumping for Oxbow




The Norwegian production company Ground Control found a new location last month on top of the Olympic ski jumping site at Lillehammer. They were shooting a new commercial for Oxbow - producer of clothing for skiing and motorcross.

Agency: Satchi and Saatchi Paris.
Director: Frederic Durang.