toronto 2011
norwegian
films
Special Presentation
Headhunters
Saturday, Sep 10
Sunday, Sep 11
Sunday, Sep 11
09:45 PM Scotiabank 1
09.15 PMAMC 4
03:00 PM Scotiabank 11 P&I
Roger is a man who seems to have it all: he is Norway’s most successful Headhunter,
married to the beautiful gallery-owner Diana, owns a magnificent villa – but living
larger than he should. To keep up he is stealing art on the side. At a gallery opening,
his wife introduces him to Clas Greve. Not only is he the perfect candidate for the
CEO position of the GPS company Pathfinder that Roger is currently recruiting for;
he is also in possession of a very valuable painting. Roger sees his chance to become
financially independent, and starts planning his biggest hit ever. He soon runs into
trouble – and it’s not financial problems that are threatening to knock him over this
time. The headhunt has begun.
THRILLER 101 min ORIGINAL TITLE Hodejegerne DIRECTOR Morten Tyldum SCREEENPLAY Lars Gudmestad and Ulf Ryberg based on a novel by Jo Nesbø PRODUCERS
Asle Vatn and Marianne Gray for Friland Film and Yellow Bird Norway SALES TrustNordisk FESTIVALS Norwegian Film Institute
Directed with brisk panache by Morten Tyldum, Headhunters transforms author
Jo Nesbø’s Norwegian bestseller into a wildly entertaining thriller. Tapping into
the current strength of Scandinavian crime fiction, Headhunters comes loaded
with visceral twists as it takes devastating aim at modern mores. Tyldum is aided
by a stellar cast that includes Nikolaj Coster-Waldau as Roger’s latest target and
first-timer Synnøve Macody Lund as Diana. Hennie is known as a chameleonic
actor, but with Headhunters he delivers a major star turn. It’s doubtful you’ll see a
more engaging or timely thriller this year.
But the director’s principal accomplice is Hennie, Norway’s biggest star, most likely
familiar to local audiences from his memorable performances in Cold Lunch, Uno and
Max Manus.
Steve Gravestock, Programmer
In Toronto:
Morten Tyldum, Aksel Hennie, Nikolai Coster-Waldau, Asle Vatn, Marianne Gray
Vanguard Programme
Oslo, August 31st
Oslo, August 31st follows ”one man, one city, 24 hours” and is inspired by French
author Pierre Drieu la Rochelle’s novel, Le feu follet (The Fire Within).
From its almost free-form opening to its elegant, moving conclusion, Joachim Trier’s
Oslo, August 31st is that rare second film: it not only delivers on the abundant promise of the director’s debut (Reprise, which won the Discovery Prize at the Festival
in 2006), it establishes Trier as an artist to be reckoned with. Oslo, August 31st
begins with gracefully edited footage of Oslo accompanied by unseen speakers who
reminisce about the city. From here, Trier cuts to a bleak hotel and introduces us to
Anders (Anders Danielsen Lie, who played the troubled main character in Reprise),
an addict about to graduate from his recovery programme. He’s also returning to
Oslo, a city inhabited by personal ghosts.
Oslo, August 31st is based on the same Pierre Drieu la Rochelle novel that served
as the inspiration for Louis Malle’s classic Le feu follet, and it updates its source
material brilliantly. Though it remains an elegy for misspent youth, it substitutes
postmillennial angst for the existential dread that fuelled the novel and Malle’s version. This angst is linked to Anders’s drug abuse, but Trier and co-writer Eskil Vogt
connect it to wider, more recent trends in culture.
Anders may be a middle-class kid who “fucked up” (as he puts it), but he’s also a
product of the postmodern intellectual culture that offered specious justification for
all-night parties and rampant drug abuse, with little concern for the aftermath. Ultimately the film is driven by the pathos of the reformed addict, whose only sense of
himself is so linked to drugs and alcohol that he no longer knows who he is or was.
This is a breathtaking, profoundly mature piece.
Steve Gravestock, Programmer
Thursday, Sep 8
Friday, Sep 9
Saturday, Sep 10
Sunday, Sep 18
11:45 AMTIFF Bell Lightbox 5P&I
09:30 PM Scotiabank 2
09:45 AMAMC 1
03:45 PMAMC 3
DRAMA 95 min ORIGINAL TITLE Oslo, 31. august DIRECTOR Joachim Trier
SCREEENPLAY Eskil Vogt and Joachim Trier PRODUCERS Hans-Jørgen Osnes,
Yngve Sæther and Sigve Endresen for Motlys AS in co-production with Don’t Look
Now SALES The Match Factory FESTIVALS Norwegian Film Institute
In Toronto:
Joachim Trier, Sigve Endresen, Hans-Jørgen Otnes
Contemporary World Cinema
Sons of Norway
It’s not easy to rebel when your dad wants to join the party... One day (in 1979),
Magnus and his son Nikolaj hit the wall in their new terrace house in Rykkinn. Magnus is an architect, hippie and free spirit, a glaring exception in a community where
equality and conformity is the norm. He always stands up for his son, supporting
him unconditionally, even when Nikolaj decides to stop giving a damn. Sons of Norway is a film about rebellion, punk rock, suburban hell and the struggle between
freaks and punks. But most of all, it’s the story of an unusual father-son relationship,
and about the strength of the bonds we sometimes do our best to rip apart.
There’s probably no more trying or confusing a period of life than adolescence — an
idea painfully evident in the touching and hilarious Sons of Norway. As Jens Lien’s
film opens, fourteen-year-old Nikolaj (Åsmund Høeg) is living an idyllic if eccentric
existence with his young brother and his parents, the energetic Magnus (Sven Nordin) and the angelic Lone (Sonja Richter). It’s 1978, and his parents are still archetypal, politicized hippies.
When Lone is killed in a car accident, Magnus falls into a deep depression. Nikolaj
has nowhere to turn until his best friend proudly slaps his latest purchase on the
turntable: The Sex Pistols’ Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s The Sex Pistols. (The film
was executive produced by former Pistols leader John Lydon, who plays a small but
pivotal role in the movie.) Soon enough, Nikolaj finds a new use for safety pins, buys
a guitar and engages in some very public vandalism.
A comic nightmare about an adolescent’s struggle for independence and atten-
tion, Liens’ film also captures a key moment in recent Scandinavian history, when the
leftist movement was derailed by newfound wealth and conspicuous consumption.
Lively, entertaining and insightful, Sons of Norway is one of the funniest and most
charming coming-of-age stories to emerge from the Nordic region since Fucking Amal.
Steve Gravestock, Programmer
Thursday, Sept 8
Friday, Sept 9
Saturday, Sept 10
Tuesday, Sept 13
Saturday, Sept 17
01:30 PM Scotiabank 2 P&I
09:45 PM Scotiabank 3
12:45 PMAMC 3
01:45 PM Scotiabank 7 P&I
07:00 PM Scotiabank 11
DRAMA/COMEDY 88 min ORIGINAL TITLE Sønner av Norge DIRECTOR Jens Lien
SCREEENPLAY Nikolaj Frobenius based on his novel “Teori og praksis” PRODUCER
Christian Fredrik Martin for Friland Film SALES Films Distribution FESTIVALS Norwegian Film Institute
In Toronto:
Jens Lien, Nikolaj Frobenius, Christian Fredrik Martin
© The Henie Onstad Art Centre Archives
International Financing Forum
For Your Consideration
NORWEGIAN OSCAR® entry
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM 2011
SONJA – BASED ON THE TRUE STORY
1937, the golden era of Hollywood. One in a Million breaks the box office, introducing
an unknown Norwegian figure skater. The unknown is Sonja Henie. She revolutionizes
the sport with her short skirts, high jumps, ballet moves and her winning smile.
“A star is born!” “Cute as a button!” Sonja is nothing but. No one negotiates harder, is
better paid, swears worse, throws a better party, sleeps with more men, steals more
silverware, drinks more vodka, falls quite as hard as she falls…
And rises again! “Extraordinary, spectacular, controversial!” And that’s just her life.
Sonja – based on the true story.
Synnøve Hørsdal is the CEO, producer and major shareholder in Maipo Film and has
been with the company since its beginning in 2000. Maipo Film is one of the leading film production companies in Norway and has done more than 20 productions,
among them the Elling films (Petter Næss/Eva Isaksen), Jonny Vang (Jens Lien), The
Art of Negative Thinking (Bård Breien) and Happy Happy (Anne Sewitsky).
Next Anne Sewitsky film seeking co-producers and financing.
DRAMA 110 min ORIGINAL TITLE Sonja DIRECTOR Anne Sewitsky SCREEENPLAY
Mette M. Bølstad and Andreas Markusson PRODUCER Synnøve Hørsdal for Maipo
Film RELEASE 2014 SALES TrustNordisk
COMEDY 88 min ORIGINAL TITLE Sykt lykkelig DIRECTOR Anne Sewitsky
SCREENPLAY Ragnhild Tronvoll PRODUCER Synnøve Hørsdal for Maipo Film
SALES TrustNordisk ApS USA DISTRIBUTOR Magnolia Pictures FESTIVALS
Norwegian Film Institute
Upcoming titles
BABYCALL
COMING HOME
FUCK UP
HELP
Anna and her 8-year old son, Anders, are
on the run from Anders’ violent father.
They move to a secret address in a giant apartment building. Anna is terrified
that her ex-husband will find them and
buys a babycall to make sure Anders is
safe while he sleeps. But strange noises
echoe in the babycall from elsewhere in
the building. Anna overhears what she
believes is the murder of a child. Meanwhile, Anders gets a mysterious, darkhaired friend who comes and goes as he
wants. Does Anders’ friend know something about the sounds in the babycall?
Why is there blood on Anders’ drawing?
Are they still in danger?
15-year-old Ida is a fashion blogger and
city girl, and definitely unhappy about
her mother’s decision to move to a
small farm in Northern Norway. Hating
her new life from the first moment, she
thinks the other girls are stupid to prefer horses to clothes and make-up. But a
dramatic encounter with a horse called
Kehilan changes everything. Suddenly
Ida becomes eager to learn to ride, and
then she discovers that the other girls
are pretty OK. But upon discovering
that Kehilan is soon to be sent to the
slaughterhouse, a self-centred interest
in clothes and fashion seems quite meaningless. But will Ida, against all odds,
manage to save her horse? Coming
Home is a feel-good drama with tough
girls and horses, in an engaging story
from the beautiful Helgeland Coast.
Jack is pleased with himself. He has just
decided to stop fucking anything with a
pulse and to cut back on his enthusiastic
drug use. That same night his best friend crashes into a moose on the Swedish border. Glenn is found with a hoof
buried in his forehead and 3,8 kilos of
cocaine in the trunk. Over the next 24
hours, Jack loses his house, his job, his
girlfriend leaves him with their daughter
and someone tries to kill him. He is now
struggling to save the lives of the very
few people who love him, including his
daughter. And as he is about to find out:
when you think you have hit rock bottom, it can always get worse.
A nurse starts speaking English when
she is nervous. A translator compromises her integrity when translating
a bad novel. A woman turns down a
million-crown inheritance because of
pride. Three women all have a small
soft spot in their personality, and are
hit hard when their idiosyncrasies meet
the light of day. A tragic comedy about
human failure.
PSYCHOLOGICAL THRILLER 95 min
ORIGINAL TITLE Babycall DIRECTOR Pål
Sletaune SCREEENPLAY Pål Sletaune
PRODUCER Turid Øversveen for 4 1/2
Fiksjon SALES The Match Factory FESTIVALS Norwegian Film Institute
FAMILY 88min ORIGINAL TITLE Til siste
hinder DIRECTOR Anders Øvergaard
SCREEENPLAY Kathrine Haugen PRODUCERS Kathrine Haugen and Odd G. Iversen for Filimo Film and Atomfilm SALES
TBA FESTIVALS Norwegian Film Institute
BLACK COMEDY app 100 min ORIGINAL
TITLE Et slags liv DIRECTOR Øystein
Karlsen SCREEENPLAY Øystein Karlsen
PRODUCERS Anders Tangen and Hillevi
Råberg for Viafilm AS and Illusion Film
AB SALES AB Svensk Filmindustri FESTIVALS Norwegian Film
COMEDY app 90 min ORIGINAL TITLE
Hjelp DIRECTOR Dag Johan Haugerud
SCREEENPLAY Dag Johan Haugerud
PRODUCER Yngve Sæther for Motlys AS
SALES TBA FESTIVALS Norwegian Film
Institute
Upcoming titles
JACKPOT
KING CURLING
MAGIC SILVER 2
TWIGSON IN A PINCH
The story takes place in the border area
between Norway and Sweden. We meet
a bunch of scruffy characters who share
a criminal background: Oscar, Thor, Billy
and Clog. They work together in a peculiar factory in the middle of nowhere,
producing plastic Christmas trees. And
they do the pools. Like most people,
they have never won anything at all,
before now! This is the story about the
time they won the top prize: 1,739,361
kroner. A number which soon proves
impossible to divide between four men.
And that’s when the fun begins!
Once a great curling-star, Truls Paulsen
is diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder and banned from competing. When he learns that his old
friend, coach and father figure Gordon
is deathly ill, Truls – now heavily medicated – decides to compete again. His
goal is to win the prize money, to give
Gordon his needed operation. Truls breaks free of his controlling wife, stops
taking his medication and starts gathering his old team mates to bring Team
Paulsen to victory.
The first Scandinavian live action 3D
film, and sequel to the feature Magic
Silver which became a big success with
over 375 000 admissions in Norway
and sold worldwide to more than 50
countries. The story is set high up in the
Blue Mountain, where young queen Blureose finds it more and more difficult to
live within the boundaries of the Blue
Gnome community. When she becomes
aware that a dangerous glacier is threatening the Blue Mountain valley and the
Red Gnomes living there, she sets out
on a journey to find the Blue Horn, a
magical instrument that can change the
weather. With this instrument she might
be able to save the Red Gnomes.
Twigson, Junior and his family have
moved to Bessby. Twigson and Karoline
have welcomed a son, Mini-Twigson,
and the joy is palpable. But Mother and
Father are worried about Junior. They
have been living there for a couple of
months, and he still hasn’t made any
new friends. Junior doesn’t care. He
doesn’t like the other boys in the street
anyway. And besides, he has Twigson.
They make a pact not to have any other
friends. Forever. But one day Twigson
disappears without a trace...
COMEDY 90 min ORIGINAL TITLE Arme
riddere DIRECTOR Magnus Martens
SCREEENPLAY Magnus Martens based
on a story by Jo Nesbø PRODUCERS
Martin Sundland and Are Heidenstrøm
for Fantefilm AS SALES TBA FESTIVALS
Norwegian Film
The question is; will he be mentally stable enough to lead his team to new victory and save his old friend?
COMEDY 75 min ORIGINAL TITLE Kong
Curling DIRECTOR Ole Endresen SCREEENPLAY Ole Endresen and Atle Antonsen
PRODUCER Håkon Øverås for 4 1/2
SALES TBA FESTIVALS Norwegian Film
Institute
FAMILY/CHILDREN app 85 min ORIGINAL TITLE Blåfjell 2 DIRECTOR Arne
Lindtner Næss SCREEENPLAY Thomas
Moldestad and Gudny Ingebjørg Hagen
PRODUCERS Jørgen Storm Rosenberg
and Lasse Greve Alsos for Storm Rosenberg AS SALES NonStop Sales FESTIVALS
Norwegian Film Institute
FAMILY 72 min ORIGINAL TITLE Knerten
i knipe DIRECTOR Arild Østin Ommundsen SCREEENPLAY Kristin Skogheim
based on novels by Anne-Cath. Vestly
PRODUCERS Finn Gjerdrum and Stein
B. Kvae for Paradox SALES Sola Media
FESTIVALS Norwegian Film Institute
Front cover: Headhunters by Morten Tyldum | Design: Lise Kihle
CONTACTS IN TORONTO
Stine Oppegaard
JAKOB BERG
Head of International Relations,
Information Officer
feature films
Cell: +47 97 19 77 66
Cell: +47 908 59 638
E-mail: [email protected]
E-mail: [email protected]
Dronningensgate 16
P.O.BOX 482 Sentrum, N-0105 Oslo
Tel: +47 22 47 45 00
Mail: [email protected]
www.norwegianfilms.no
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