28/08/2013 - The Norwegian Oscar committee has shortlisted features by Arild Østin Ommundsen, Iram Haq and Erik Skjoldbjærg to candidate for the 2014 Best Foreign-Language Feature award

Aiming to repeat this year’s success, when Norwegian directors Espen Sandberg and Joachim Rønning’s Kon-Tiki [+see also:
film review
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trailer
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Norway also has a share in the German official candidate for the award: Now German director Georg Maas’s drama-thriller Two Lives [+see also:
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Former Norwegian Oscar nominations include Arne Skouen’s Nine Lives (1957), Nils Gaup’s Pathfinder (1987), Berit Nesheim’s The Other Side of Sunday (1996) and Petter Næss’ Elling (2001). This year’s final candidate will be published on September 20 – the official nominations will be announced on January 16, 2014, and the 86^th Academy Awards ceremony will take place on March 2, 2014.

Screening at the 37^th World Film Festival in Montreal (August 22-September 2), Ommundsen’s It’s Only Make Believe follows the return of a young woman, who has spent 10 years in prison for murder - “a killing that should never have happened, and friends you should never have trusted.”

Haq’s I Am Yours, which was released domestically on August 16, will have its international bow at the 38^th Toronto Film Festival (5-15 September). It is the story of a young, single mother looking for the one and only; she falls in love with a Swede, Jesper, but he does not seem ready for family life.

Pioneer – Skjoldbjærg’s oil rush thriller which will be on show at a Special Presentation in Toronto - stars Aksel Hennie as a professional deep-sea diver, who is obsessed with going 500 metres deep in the Norwegian Sea, but after one of his colleagues dies unexpectedly, he begins to investigate the oil companies.