email print share on Facebook share on Twitter share on LinkedIn share on reddit pin on Pinterest

PRODUCTION Norway

The Ash Lad and Carpenter Andersen are set to hit screens

by 

- Mikkel Brænne Sandemose and Terje Rangnes are preparing family features starring Norwegian family legends

The Ash Lad and Carpenter Andersen are set to hit screens
Director Mikkel Brænne Sandemose (© Heiko Junge/NTB scanpix)

The Ash Lad – a central character in Norwegian authors Peter Christen Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe’s 19th-century classic fairy tales – will return to the screen in Norwegian director Mikkel Brænne Sandemose’s The Ash Lad in the Hall of the Mountain King [+see also:
trailer
interview: Eili Harboe
film profile
]
, which has received €2 million in production funding from the Norwegian Film Institute

Written by Aleksander Kirkwood Brown and Espen Enger, and set in the 19th century, the family feature follows 17-year-old Espen (Ash Lad) as he sets off to save the princess of the kingdom, who has been kidnapped; he needs the reward money in order to save the family farm. But the kidnapper is the Mountain King, a fearsome troll who is supposed to be invincible – at least so far. Synnøve Hørsdal and Åshild Ariane Ramborg will produce the family feature for Maipo Film.

(The article continues below - Commercial information)

More Norwegian family entertainment is in the pipeline: Carpenter Andersen Meets Santa Claus [+see also:
trailer
interview: Terje Rangnes
film profile
]
, based on Norwegian author Alf Prøysen’s 1959 novel – which Norwegian pubcaster NRK has aired in an animated version every Christmas since 1973 – will be adapted for a live-action feature by Norwegian director Terje Rangnes and scriptwriter John Kåre Raake

The Norwegian Film Institute has chipped in €0.7 million for the Fantefilm Fiksjon production by Are Heidenstrøm and Martin Sundland about Carpenter Andersen, who is preparing for a proper family Christmas. Dressed as Santa Claus, he skids on the icy road and crashes into the real Father Christmas; they then decide to make a switch – “I go to see your children, and you go to see mine.” And Santa Claus’ family has never been visited by a carpenter before, while the Andersen family has never been called on by Santa himself.

(The article continues below - Commercial information)

Did you enjoy reading this article? Please subscribe to our newsletter to receive more stories like this directly in your inbox.

Privacy Policy