20/03/2015 - Having only produced Kon-Tiki since selling its TV unit to France’s Banijay Entertainment, Nordisk Film will now re-establish its Norwegian outfit

“So many exciting things are happening in Norwegian cinema right now, and since Nordisk has ambitions, we want to be part of them,” said Henrik Zein, CEO of Danish major Nordisk Film Production. 

Having produced only one Norwegian feature since 2009, Norwegian directors Espen Sandberg and Joachim Rønning’s Golden Globe- and Oscar-nominated Kon-Tiki [+see also:
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“Norwegian cinema needs a locomotive such as Nordisk if we want to ensure the continuity and solidity required to realise new film projects,” added Aaberge, who has 34 producer’s credits to his name, including Kon-Tiki, which he staged for Nordisk with UK producer Jeremy Thomas for his Recorded Picture Company.

When Nordisk sold its Norwegian TV production company, Nordisk Film TV, to France’s Banijay Entertainment in 2009, it more or less terminated its involvement in Norwegian film production, mainly in children and family pictures.

Set to move to Egmont House – Nordisk’s headquarters in Nydalen, northern Oslo – in May to start hiring people for the new outfit, Aaberge will fuse his own company, Neofilm, with Nordisk and will bring with him his “dream project”, a feature about the life of Norwegian painter Edvard Munch (1863-1944), as previously reported. 

Scripted by veteran UK writer-director Paul Mayersberg (The Man Who Fell to Earth/1976; Merry Christmas, Mr Lawrence/1983), the film he has been working on for eight years will be directed by Norway’s Erik Poppe.