04/01/2007

In its first round of support, Midtnorsk Filmfond AS, the new Norwegian regional film fund of the Trøndelag region (in central Norway) has awarded NOK 825,000 to five feature film projects and one TV drama series, including Varg, Daniel Alfredson’s new film starring Swedish star Peter Stormare.

Varg (Wolf) received the biggest award (NOK 500,000) towards its NOK 22m budget. The thriller was written by Swedish novelist Kerstin Ekman based on her trilogy Vargskinnet (The Skin of the Wolf).

The project is being majority produced by Anita Oxburgh for Migma Film in Sweden, in co-production with Thomas Robsahm from Norway’s Speranza Film. Twenty percent of the filming – set to begin in April or May of 2007 – will take place in Trøndelag and the local premiere is scheduled for late 2007/early 2008.

A total of NOK 325,000 was awarded towards the development of four feature films and one TV series: Nord will be the second feature film by upcoming Norwegian director Arild Frölich (PittbullTerje). The road movie about snowboard star Jomar Henriksen is based on an idea by producer Rune Denstad Langlo (Motlys Film) who asked famous Norwegian writer Erlend Loe to develop it into a script.

Lyn Derek, scripted by Øyvind Rune Stålen, will be a science fiction film for children produced by Erik Vogel for TordenFilm (Sons). Fuglefangeren, to be directed by Frank Mosvold, is based on a script by Trond Morten Kristensen and will be a period film set in WWII. It tells the story of teenage Jewish girl Esther who flees from Tronheim to Sweden until she is captured. Domen is a horror film scripted and produced by Marit Haug who was script consultant on Roar Uthaug’s chiller Cold Prey.

The new film fund is financed by the county municipality of Southern and Northern Trøndelag and Trondheim Municipality. The three partners invested a total of NOK 935,000 in 2006, a budget that will be upped to NOK 1,035,000 in 2007. The fund is headed by Solvor Amdal, who also manages the Midnorsk Film Centre, founded in 2005.