This year, Haugesund will begin with a disaster
- Roar Uthaug’s The Wave will open the 43rd Norwegian International Film Festival in Haugesund, which runs from 15-21 August
Norwegian director Roar Uthaug’s The Wave [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Roar Uthaug
film profile] – the first Nordic disaster movie – will launch the 43rd Norwegian International Film Festival in Haugesund, running between 15 and 21 August; it will be the first showcase organised by new festival director Tonje Hardersen.
“The Wave has become both spectacular and nerve-racking, and it is also about a very exciting human drama. We are proud to be the first to screen this film,” said Hardersen, who has replaced Gunnar Johan Løvvik, who had been the festival chief since 1985.
“There is a vitality in Norwegian cinema now, and it is a pure joy to help lift it into the spotlight,” added programme director Håkon Skogrand. “The use of spectacular Norwegian nature and a small rural community as a backdrop for one of the most enduring genres raises it to a new level.”
Uthaug’s feature debut in another genre, Cold Prey [+see also:
trailer
interview: Roar Uthaug
film profile] (2006), became Norway’s most successful horror film in the cinemas so far, was sold to 40 countries and spawned two sequels.
Scripted by John Kåre Raake and Harald Rosenløw Eeg, The Wave is based on a real-life event – the 1934 tsunami in Norway’s Tafjord, when two million cubic metres of rock from a landslide triggered a wave more than 200 feet high, which left 40 people dead.
Experts and the local community are convinced it will happen again, and this is exactly what is about to occur at the Geirangerfjord. Geologist Kristian Eikjord has been separated from his family just as there are ten minutes until the tsunami hits.
Kristoffer Joner plays Eikjord, Ane Dahl Torp his wife, Jonas Hoff Oftebro their son, and Fridtjov Såheim is Eikjord’s colleague at the Avalanche Centre. The film was produced by Martin Sundland and Are Heidenstrøm, for Fantefilm; it will be on general release from 28 August through Nordisk Film Distribusjon.
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