08/05/2013 - Norwegian Oscar-nominated director Nils Gaup returns to Sámi roots, adapting three crime novels by Tromsø-born author Jorun Thørring

Already signed to shoot Birkebeinerne, a €5.9 million historical adventure set in early 13th century Norway, director Nils Gaup (photo) will also adapt three crime novels by Tromsø-born gynaecologist Jorun Thørring, a part-time author since 2005.

Gaup, Norwegian producers Tomas Backström, Petter Borgli (they staged Erik Skjoldbjærg’s Insomnia) and consultant Svein Andersen, of regional film centre FilmCamp, have been in Tromsø – Norwegian Lapland/Sámi country - to scout locations for the series, which has local head of police Aslak Eira as lead character. 

Eira is Sámi, and so his Gaup, who also returned to his roots in The Kautokeino Rebellion [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (2008), his award-winning film about the religious and cultural awakening that inspired the 1852 uprising in his native town. Two of the rebellious leaders were decapitated – Gaup is a descendant of one, Aslak Hætta.

Scheduled to shoot from this autumn, the first police investigation to reach the screen will be Eira’s search for (as it turns out to be) a serial killer in the student environment, from The Glass Dolls (2006), followed by The Eye of Fire (2009) and a third book which will be finished in June. 

“I read The Glass Dolls three years ago – it is indeed an exciting story, and filming in Tromsø will add a very authentic look to it,” Gaup told Norway’s Nordlyset. “This is crime in a district which does not have its equivalent anywhere in the world,” concluded Backström, who saw a strong international potential for the franchise.

The €6 million adaptions will be completed within the next two years. Gaup most recently directed Journey to the Christmas Star [+see also:
trailer
film profile], which has reached 450,000 admissions domestically. His Pathfinder (1987) was nominated for an Oscar.