22/02/2017 - Janusz Kaminski’s The Postcard Killings is also among the seven projects receiving €5.5 million in support from the new scheme

Swedish director Tomas Alfredson’s The Snowman [+see also:
trailer
film profile], the UK-US adaptation of Norwegian author Jo Nesbø’s novel (see the news), received the lion’s share – 90%, or €4.3 million – of the first budget when Norway’s new incentive programme to attract international film and TV productions was launched last year. The UK-US thriller (staged by Working Title and Universal Pictures) was also considered in the second package – and was granted €1.2 million to complete the shoot in Norway – when the Norwegian Film Institute awarded €5.5 million to seven international and Norwegian film and TV projects (for Norwegian production budgets totalling €20.3 million).

“The number of applications for the programme has doubled since last time, so the interest in the incentive scheme is strong among serious national and Norwegian professionals, which is also reflected by the quality of the projects,” said Stine Helgeland, executive director of Promotion and International Relations at the Norwegian Film Institute. 

Three features will be supported, including Polish cinematographer-turned-director Janusz Kaminski’s The Postcard Killings, following New York detective Jacob Kanon, who investigates a series of seemingly senseless killings across Europe. Picture postcards are sent to apparently random journalists by the killer, announcing the next murders. US actors Dakota Fanning and Patrick Dempsey will star in the thriller, which will be staged by Good Films and is benefiting from €0.6 million in backing.

The UK’s Cuckoo Lane No 5 received a €0.7 million rebate on a British-Norwegian feature, Bird Catcher, directed by British director Ross Clarke. The Norwegian World War II story written by Trond Morten K Venaasen depicts a Jewish girl whose parents are killed by the Nazis occupying the country, and who – dressed as a boy – finds refuge at a farm with some Germans. Meanwhile, Chinese director Yi Hong Bo’s Lost in Norway, a family drama produced by Chinese Culture Media, about a Chinese person arriving in Norway, was given a €0.4 million grant.

The institute also chipped in €1.9 million for Borderland – an 8x45-minute television thriller series set to air on Norwegian commercial broadcaster TV2, which will be staged by Norwegian producer Håkan Briseif for Monster Scripted. Scripted by Meghan Gallagher, it follows a homicide detective who unwillingly becomes embroiled in a criminal case involving his own family in his home town. Norwegian actors Tobias Santelmann and Ellen Dorrit Petersen will star in the series directed by Gunnar Vikene and Bård Fjulsrud.