12/03/2014 - Exceeding 100,000 domestic admissions and selling world-wide, Erik Poppe’s drama starring Juliette Binoche voted Best Norwegian Feature

Norwegian director Erik Poppe’s A Thousand Times Good Night [+see also:
trailer
interview: Erik Poppe
film profile], which was launched at last year’s Montreal World Film Festival to win the Special Jury Grand Prix, was awarded the Norwegian Film Critics’ Prize for Best Norwegian Feature – his third, after Hawaii, Oslo [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (2005) and Troubled Water [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (2009).

“In Poppe’s films there is a burning necessity – an intense desire to deal with important ethical questions. In this way he is very similar to the lead character in A Thousand Times Good Night, where – with great courage and knowledge – he addresses personal experiences and profound dilemmas,” said Norwegian former culture minister Åse Kleveland at the awards ceremony yesterday (11 March) in Oslo.

Starring French actress Juliette Binoche, Poppe’s fourth feature is inspired by Poppe’s own experiences as a war photographer in the 1980s. With Danish actor Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Norwegian actor Mads Ousdal, Irish actors Maria Doyle Kennedy and (also U2 drummer) Larry Mullen Jr, it follows Rebecca (Binoche), who is seriously wounded on an assignment in Kabul; when she returns home she is met by an ultimatum – job or family.

64 years after the prize was initiated, the Norwegian Film Critics launched two new awards – Best Professional Achievement, which went to Norwegian cinematographer John Christian Rosenlund for his work on A Thousand Times Good Night, and Budbringeren (The Messenger), for having enriched Norwegian film culture with knowledge, dedication and enthusiasm, which was given to the Association of Norwegian Film Clubs.

Released by Oslo’s Euforia, Poppe’s drama has exceeded 100,000 admissions in Norway – still running – and German international sales agency Global Screen announced it has sold world-wide, including the US. His next film will be The King’s Choice, a historical drama set after Nazi-Germany’s invasion of Norway on 9 April 1940, also to be produced by Finn Gjerdrum and Stein B Kvae for Paradox.