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Fifteen countries represented amongst the 18 individuals.

European producers platform Ace Producers has selected 18 producers for the latest edition of its Ace Producers’ Network programme, running in 2022 and 2023.

The 18 producers include Nadim Cheikhrouha of France’s Tanit Films, who will produce Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Hania’s next feature Mime. Cheikhrouha and Ben Hania secured an Oscar nomination for best international feature film last year for The Man Who Sold His Skin.

Scroll down for the full list of producers

Sara Laszlo, CEO at Hungary’s Campfilm, is another Ace Producers participant, through Denes Nagy’s The Vacation. Laszlo’s previous...

Exclusive: Viaplay has set its Norwegian Original film in the shape of World War II drama Gold Run (Gulltransporten), based on the true story of a group of unlikely resistance fighters who smuggled Norway’s gold reserves out of the country ahead of invading Nazi forces.

Jon Øigarden (Exit), Sven Nordin (Wisting) and Axel Bøyum (Delete Me) lead the all-star Norwegian cast in the feature-length production, which is due to begin filming in early 2022 with an exclusive premiere on Viaplay later in the year.

Pic will be directed by the Hallvard Bræin (The Giant) and is produced by Jørgen Storm Rosenberg and Kjetil Omberg at 74 Entertainment, with Tanya Nanette Badendyck as executive producer for Viaplay.

The movie is set on 9 April 1940 when German soldiers entered Oslo to seize three targets: the country’s king, government and gold. In just a few chaotic hours, parliamentary secretary Fredrik Haslund (Øigarden) assembled an improbable team,...

Nevertheless, last year saw a 57.1% drop in admissions, according to figures published by the association Film & Kino. The Oslo-based cinema association Film & Kino has published the figures for the country’s 2020 box office. Despite a significant drop in cinemagoing (-57.1% admissions), caused by the shutdown of the cinemas between March and May and the newly enforced restrictions throughout the year, domestic titles secured an historic 35.6% market share, beating the previous record figure from 2018 (25.1%). Overall, the 2020 national box office totalled 4.8 million admissions (as against 11.3 million in 2019) and made a profit of 557,743,079 Norwegian crowns. In detail, the highest-grossing title of the year was Hallvard Bræin’s Asphalt Burning, distributed by the Norwegian division of Sf Studios and released in October. Other successful domestic productions include Gunhild Enger and Rune Spaans’ Two Buddies and a Badger 2 - The...

SF Studios closes deals on tennis biopic starring Shia La Beouf, car-racing action feature.

SF Studios has closed a number of key deals on its upcoming titles as the American Film Market (Afm) gets underway.

Janus Metz’s Borg/McEnroe — the biopic of the tennis greats concentrating on the rivalry at their final match at Wimbledon in 1980 and starring Shia La Beouf, Sverrir Gudnason and Stellan Skarsgård – has sold to Lucky Red for Italy and Cineplex for Latin America.

The film, which has now wrapped principal photography, has previously sold to territories including France (Pretty Pictures), UK (Curzon), Gas (Ascot Elite), and Australia/New Zealand (Vendetta).

Borning2 – On Ice directed by Hallvard Bræin, a car-racing action title that has passed 350,000 admissions in only three weeks of Norwegian release, has sold to Spain (A Contracorriente), Poland (Kino Swiat), and Middle East (Shooting Stars). It was previously sold to territories including Japan (Bms), Cis (Russian Report), and China (DDDream...

Norwegian cinematographer-turned-director Hallvard Bræin had one of the more intriguing success stories of 2014 with his road race comedy Børning. Denied production support by the nation's cultural funds - which provide the normal means of making the vast majority of films made in the most expensive nation on the planet - producers made the high risk decision to go ahead and make the film anyway, backed entirely with private money. They believed in Bræin and they believe that their nod to the spirit of the Cannonball Run films would find an enthusiatic audience and they were richly rewarded when their tale of a not-particularly-good father partaking in an illegal road race from top to bottom of the Nordic nation with his daughter went on to...

[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...

The racing sequel received the fund’s biggest grant in its latest round.

The Nordisk Film & TV Fond has allocated $317,000 (Nok 2.7m) to Norwegian car racing sequel Børning 2-On Ice.

Hallvard Bræin again directs, with veteran John M Jacobsen producing with Marcus Brodersen for Filmkameratene.

In the film, Anders Baasmo Christiansen stars as a father who tries to prevent his daughter (Ida Husøy) from taking part in another illegal street race, this time from the west coast of Norway to Sweden, Finland and Murmansk in Russia. The original 2014 hit featured a race from Oslo to North the Cape.

The $5.8m (Nok 50m) project is shooting now with co-financing from Sf with Rein Film and Fuzz As. It is set for a local premiere on Oct 5.

The support marked the largest grant for the Fond’s February round of production support.

Other grantees:

Hashtag by Anders Hazelius, an 8 x 15’ youth TV series produced by Lizette Jonjic for Zentropa...

The racing sequel received the fund’s biggest grant in its latest round.

The Nordisk Film & TV Fond has allocated $317,000 (Nok 2.7m) to Norwegian car racing sequel Børning 2-On Ice.

Hallvard Bræin again directs, with veteran John M Jacobsen producing with Marcus Brodersen for Filmkameratene.

In the film, Anders Baasmo Christiansen stars as a father who tries to prevent his daughter (Ida Husøy) from taking part in another illegal street race, this time from the west coast of Norway to Sweden, Finland and Murmansk in Russia. The original 2014 hit featured a race from Oslo to North the Cape.

The $5.8m (Nok 50m) project is shooting now with co-financing from Sf with Rein Film and Fuzz As. It is set for a local premiere on Oct 5.

The support marked the largest grant for the Fond’s February round of production support.

Other grantees:

Hashtag by Anders Hazelius, an 8 x 15’ youth TV series produced by Lizette Jonjic for Zentropa...

Norwegian director Hallvard Bræin’s action comedy Børning received both the jury and the audiences’ film prize at the ceremony in Haugesund’s Maritim HallScroll down for full list of winners

Norwegian director Hallvard Bræin’s feature debut, Børning – a local twist of Cannonball Run (1981), which became last year’s most popular Norwegian film, taking 381,648 admissions – was also the big winner at the Amanda awards ceremony in Haugesund on Saturday (Aug 15).

At the TV2 Norge televised presentation in Haugesund’s Maritim Hall, preceding today’s opening of the 43rd Norwegian International Film Festival, Børning received Amandas – Norway’s national film prizes - including Best Norwegian Feature, the People’s Amanda, Best Supporting Actor (Henrik Mestad) and Best Sound Design (Fredric Vogel, Petter Fladeby).

The frontrunner for the awards - Norwegian director Bent Hamer 1001 Grams (1001 gram), which has so far toured 25 international film festivals – was nominated in six categories, but won only Best Original Screenplay.

For the first...

World premiere of Nordic disaster movie The Wave to open festival in Haugesund.

Joachim Trier’s Louder Than Bombs, starring Jesse Eisenberg, has been named as the closing film of the 43rd Norwegian International Film Festival (Aug 16-21) in Haugesund.

The drama, about how a father and his two sons confront their feelings of their deceased wife and mother, was Norway’s first Palme d’Or contender at Cannes in 36 years and is set to play at Toronto next month.

As previously announced, Niff will open with the world premiere of Roar Uthaug’s disaster movie, The Wave (Bølgen), when the festival is launched by Norway’s Crown Prince Haakon on Aug 16.

It means Norwegian films will both open and close the festival.

Tonje Hardersen, who was named the new Niff festival director in March, said: “I am very happy to see that local cinema is so well represented, and in so many genres.”

Considering the wider...

The 19th Fantasia International Film Festival is right around the corner. Though the full lineup for the festival won't be unveiled until early next month, the second wave of Fantasia titles have been revealed and horror fans have a lot to look forward to.

Press Release: "Montreal, June 11, 2015 – The 19th edition of the Fantasia International Film Festival, presented by Ubisoft and Anchor Bay, will soon be stunning Montreal with three weeks of cinematic ingenuity from July 14 until August 4, 2015.

Fantasia's complete lineup of programming and special events will be revealed on July 7th. To tide you over until then, we're thrilled to announce an incredible Second Wave of titles!

The International Premiere Of Takeshi Kitano’S Ryuzo And The Seven Henchmen

Coming immediately after his Outrage saga, Takeshi Kitano’s hilarious crime story stars screen legend Tatsuya Fuji (In The Realm Of The Senses) as a retired yakuza who realizes...

A little over one month away, the Fantasia Film Festival announced it’s second wave of titles this morning. Fantasia Film Festival holds a special place in the hearts of Sound on Sight and we could not be more excited for their upcoming edition which promises to be bigger and better than ever. Arguably the largest genre film festival in the world, Fantasia will run from July 14th to August 4th this year and feature a large number of world and international premieres. The full-lineup, including special events, will be announced on July 7th.

From the official press release, here are some titles we can now look forward to:

The International Premiere Of Takeshi Kitano’S Ryuzo And The Seven Henchmen

Coming immediately after his Outrage saga, Takeshi Kitano’s hilarious crime story stars screen legend Tatsuya Fuji (In The Realm Of The Senses) as a retired yakuza who realizes...

Takeshi Kitano’s Ryuzo and the Seven Henchmen, Sonny Mallhi’s Anguish, Ringo Lam’s Wild City and Miguel Angel Vivas’ Extinction among titles playing at Montreal’s genre film festival.

Fantasia International Film Festival has unveiled the second wave of titles for its upcoming 19th edition, taking place in Montreal from July 14-Aug 4.

Takeshi Kitano’s Ryuzo and the Seven Henchmen will receive its international premiere at this year’s event, while the festival will also host the world premieres of Sonny Mallhi’s Anguish, David Keating’s Cherry Tree, Jacob Gentry’s Synchronicity, Victor Zarcoff’s Slumlord and Bite from Chad Archibald and the team behind Anti-Social.

The world premiere of Miguel Angel Vivas’ English language debut Extinction headlines a heightened focus on Spanish cinema at this year’s Fantasia, with other titles including Marshland and Shrew’s Nest.

Other notable titles in the second wave include Gilles Paquet-Brenner’s adaptation of Gillian Flynn’s [link...

Other winners include Chef, The Hundred-Foot Journey and Stations of the Cross with a special mention for ’71.

Richard Linklater’s coming-of-age drama, Boyhood, picked up the Norwegian Film Critics Award at the closing of the 42nd Norwegian International Film Festival in Haugesund.

In an understated comment, the jury described the Us film as a” somewhat ordinary and rather undramatic story” that still – or perhaps precisely because of this – becomes “a very special film treasure”.

An honorary mention went to British film ‘71, directed by Yann Demange, with the jury branding the soldier-behind-enemy-lines feature as “an extraordinarily well-made film that is both a brutal thriller and a nuanced, thoughtful work.”

The Ray of Sunshine (“Gledessprederen”) prize went to Chef, from Us director Jon Favreau, which the jury described as “an utterly human and heart-warming film”.

The Audience Award went to culinary comedy-drama The Hundred-Foot Journey, directed by Lasse Hallström and starring Helen Mirren, which the jury...

Erik Poppe, Paul Mayersberg, Aage Aaberge team on painter biopic.

Erik Poppe is attached to direct a new biopic of Norwegian Expressionist painter Edvard Munch.

Poppe, whose latest drama A Thousand Times Goodnight took the Best Film Prize at this week’s Amanda Awards in Norway, will collaborate on the project with veteran UK writer Paul Mayersberg (The Man Who Fell to Earth, Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence) and Norwegian producer Aage Aaberge (Kon-Tiki).

Aaberge, of Neofilm told ScreenDaily at Haugesund that the film is “a dream project” of his.

“For eight years I have wanted to make a film of Munch, Norway’s greatest artists,” he said. “After all, the latest effort, by UK director Peter Watkins, dates back to 1974.”

“But it was difficult to find the right way to approach the project, until I met writer-director Paul Mayersberg.”

Loosely based on Norwegian author Ketil Bjørnstad’s book, The Story of Edvard Munch, the film will...

There have been a flood of fast car movies releasing around the globe in recent years for one very simple reason: The Fast And The Furious. The blockbuster franchise has been a huge hit all around the globe, leading local producers to scramble to put their own regional stamp on the formula in hopes of repeating that success. But when it comes to Hallvard Bræin and his upcoming Børning they've cast their eye a little farther back when looking for a touch point. Yup, Bræin and his producers - the same team that was behind Andre Ovredal's Trollhunter - aren't citing the Fast franchise on an influence on this one, preferring instead to nod to The Cannonball Run.The story revolves around an illegal road race...

[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...

He signs six-year contract as production and development chief; Svensk Denmark appoints Birdi Bjerregaard as MD for Sf Film Production.

Norwegian producer Sveinung Golimo, who worked on this including Max Manus: Men of War and Troll Hunter, was today named production and development chief at the Norwegian Film Institute.

Golimo, 38, who has signed a six-year contract, will join the top management team headed by new CEO Sindre Guldvog, who will shortly replace managing director Nina Refseth. Starting next spring, he will succeed Ivar Køhn, who has become head of drama at Norwegian pubcaster Nrk.

Since 2001, Golimo has worked for Oslo-based production outfit Filmkameratene, now 50%-50% owned by its founder, Norwegian veteran producer John M Jacobsen and Sf Norge; for six years he was head of the Norwegian Film and TV Producers’ Association. He is currently producing Norwegian directors Hallvard Bræin’s Burning (Børning), Grethe Bøe’s Operation Arctic (Operasjon Arktis), and Per Olav Sørensen’s TV series...