10/10/2012 - Norwegian culture minister Hadia Tajik will spend €1.3 on the 'internationalisation' of Norwegian cinema, and €1.2 million on television drama, especially for children and young audiences

The Norwegian Culture Ministry has increased next year's budget for film and media by €5.1 million, to reach a total of €100 million, of which €60 million is allocated for audiovisual productions through the NFI - Norwegian Film Institute/Norsk Filminstitutt.

Norwegian Culture Minister Hadia Tajik (photo) intends to spend €1.3m on the 'internationalisation' of Norwegian cinema, and €1.2 million on television drama, especially for children and young audiences. The budget will be presented on Monday (October 15).

"Norwegian films have already made a strong impact on the international markets, such as Morten Tyldum's Headhunters [+see also:
trailer
film profile] and Espen Sandberg and Joachim Rønning's Kon-Tiki [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile]. Recently we had four films selected for the Montreal International Film Festival – the largest number since 2002. Still Norway should be more visible on the international scene," she told local press.

Tajik, who will next week (October 17) open Norway's 13th Bergen International Film Festival, saw the extra money spent on development, production and marketing and quality television drama. "We should be able to match Denmark's The Killing and Borgen/Government," she said.

For the first time on the budget since 2008, the New Nordic Films market at the Norwegian International Film Festival in Haugesund will receive €55,000 state support. This year attended by a record number of 366 international film professionals, the market presented the world premieres of 13 Nordic films, also hosting the Nordic co-production and film financing forum with 17 producers from seven countries.