09/09/2014 - Director Nils Gaup is supporting the efforts to keep production in Norway local and has set up Paranord Film to stage Fear of Darkness

Oscar-nominated Norwegian director Nils Gaup, who is currently working on his historical epic The Last King [+see also:
trailer
interview: Nils Gaup
film profile], has set up a production company, Paranord Film, Alta – in Finnmark, the northernmost county of Norway and his Sámi home – and is supporting the efforts to keep production in Norway local. 

“Film is culture, but it should also be considered a trade – most of The Last King, which I am involved in, has been shot in Budapest, Hungary; Dead Snow 2: Red vs Dead [+see also:
trailer
film profile], which takes place in Finnmark, was primarily filmed in Iceland,” Gaup explained.

“Currently, the trend is to stage Norwegian films abroad, where they are attracted by national incentive programmes reimbursing 20%-25% of their costs on location or in the studios. I hope we will get the same soon in Norway.” 

Starring Kristofer Hivju, Jakob Oftebro and Pål Sverre Hagen, the €5.4 million The Last King is set during Norway’s Civil War in 1206 and follows the two men who escape with two-year-old Prince Haakon Haakonsson. Half of the kingdom is out to kill him, and so their journey changes the history of Norway forever. Norwegian newcomer Ravn Lanesskog has written the original screenplay, which is being realised by Norwegian producers Finn Gjerdrum and Stein B Kvae, of Paradox, with Ireland’s Newgrange Pictures and Hungary’s Proton Cinema.

A native Sámi, actor-director Gaup was Oscar-nominated for his feature debut, Pathfinder, aka Ofelas (1987), the first Sámi-language film ever produced; he returned to his roots in The Kautokeino Rebellion [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (2008), based on actual events that took place in his home town. Most recently, he directed Glass Dolls [+see also:
trailer
film profile], from Norwegian author Jorun Thørring’s thriller.

At the Finnmark Conference in Alta, Gaup disclosed his plans for his new production company, which has been instigated with Norwegian producer Linn Henriksen. Their first project will be a horror movie, Fear of Darkness, which will be shot in Kongsfjord, Finnmark.