14/03/2013 - Kurdish-Norwegian director Hisham Zaman's critically acclaimed feature debut has yet to qualify for Ex Post Support

While on the way to the World Narrative Competition at New York's Tribeca Film Festival (April 17-28) as the only Nordic contender among 12 entries, Kurdish-Norwegian director Hisham Zaman's critically acclaimed feature debut, Before Snowfall [+see also:
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film profile], has had a less smooth ride on its home market.

Released six weeks ago by Scanbox, Before Snowfall - which won the €115,000 Dragon Award for Best Nordic Film at the Göteborg Film Festival - has reached 7,724 tickets, including 700 for guests at Norway's Tromsø showcase.

Accordingly Norwegian producers Finn Gjerdrumand and Stein B Kvae, of Paradox Produksjoner, need another 3,000 admissions to qualify for the Norwegian Film Institute's Ex Post Support, calculated using cinema attendance, DVD turnover, local and foreign screening rights over three years.

The institute's managing director Nina Refseth told Norway's Aftenposten that both Before Snowfall and Eirik Svensson's Must Have Been Love [+see also:
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film profile] have problems passing the 10,000 limit - "apparently market conditions have changed for these small films, so we should probably consider making exceptions for releasing the subsidy."

"We have done it for three documentaries: Vibeke Løkkeberg's Tears of Gaza, Dheeraj Akolkar's Liv & Ingmar, and Nishta Jain's Gulabi Gang, but according to our statutes it is not possible for features, no matter how artistically ambitious and successfull they are."

Currently editing his next work, A Letter to the King, Zaman, was disappointed by the film's theatrical performance, "but the critical praise, the award in Göteborg and the slot at Tribeca have proven its worth. I never expected 800,000 people to watch it in the cinema," he said.