06/03/2007

The Norwegian Film Fund (NFF) has given its support to three minority Norwegian co-productions: Maria Larsson’s Everlasting Moment by veteran Swedish filmmaker Jan Troell; Metropia [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], an animated film for adults by Tarik Saleh; and The Spring Ritual by Belgian filmmaker Patrice Toye.

Maria Larsson’s Everlasting Moment, which just started shooting, is an epic drama set in Sweden in the early 1900s, starring Mikael Persbrandt, Jesper Christensen and Maria Heiskanen. The film is produced by Final Cut (Denmark) in co-production with Göta Film (Sweden), Motlys Film (Norway), and Blind Spot (Finland). The NFF provided €183,000 towards the €4.8m film.

Metropia is the first animated feature film by the 34 year-old Saleh (of Egyptian and Swedish descent) and is set in a not-so-distant, terrifying Europe. The world is running out of oil and a network of undergrounds has been connected, creating a gigantic web beneath Europe. Roger from Farsta (a suburb of Stockholm) tries to stay away from the underground but when he finds out his life is being controlled in every detail he sets out to break free. To suceed he will need the help of super-model Nina.

"The border between animation and regular fiction film is blurring. In the future the audience will not categorize films in the way we tend to do today. Metropia is steps ahead,” said the writer/director. Stockholm-based Atmo Production (co-founded by Saleh in 2003) is producing with Mikael Olsen from Zentropa (Denmark), and Erik Vogel from TordenFilm (Norway), in association with SVT, Film I Väst and Sandrew Metronome.

Extra support comes from the Nordic Film & TV Fund, Eurimages, Media Plus, the Swedish and Danish Film Institutes as well as the NFF, which provided €98,000 towards the €3.6m project. Shooting will start next September.

Both films are being sold internationally by Trust Film Sales.

The second feature by Toye (Rosie), The Spring Ritual is set to begin shooting in May. Based on a script by Norway’s Bjorn Olaf Johannessen, the screenplay won the Sundance NHK International Filmmakers Award in 2006. It tells the story of Tomas, who after staging his death and escaping to a new life realises the extent of his loss. He returns home hoping to reunite with his wife but finds that the life he left behind has irrevocably changed.

The project is being produced in Belgium by Vincent Tavier (La Parti) in co-production with Christian Fredrik Martin (Friland Film) in Norway. The NFF awarded €116,303 towards the €2.5m film. Sandrew Metronome will release it in Norway in 2008.