Norway’s turn at the Oscars?
The King’s Choice / Kongens nei is shortlisted for the best foreign-language film
Photo: NFI.no
Kongens nei has a shot at an Oscar this year but faces stiff competition from Danish, Swedish, and German films in the Best Foreign Language Film category.
The Local
The Norwegian film The King’s Choice / Kongens nei is one of nine movies to make the short list for the best foreign-language film at next year’s Academy Awards, Variety reported.
Director Erik Poppe’s film about King Haakon VII’s resistance to the Nazi invasion of Norway made the cut from the original list of 85 submissions.
It will compete with fellow Scandinavian films Land of Mine / Under Sandet (Denmark) and A Man Called Ove / En man som heter Ove (Sweden) as well as feature films from Australia, Canada, Germany, Iran, Russia, and Switzerland.
Only five of the nine will be presented as official nominees on January 24. The Oscars will then be handed out on February 6 in Los Angeles.
Kongens nei will vie to be the sixth Norwegian nominee for the Best Foreign Language Film. The previous nominees were Nine Lives / Ni liv in 1957, Pathfinder / Veiviseren in 1987, The Other Side of Sunday / Søndagsengler in 1996, Elling in 2001, and Kon-Tiki in 2012. None of those managed to take home the Oscar, so Kongens nei has a chance to make Norwegian film history.
However, it will face stiff competition from the Danish entry Under Sandet, which is tipped as an early favorite. It tells the story of a group of German POWs who are made to clear Danish beaches of Nazi mines following the war.
The German entry Toni Erdmann is also a clear favorite, with the comedy winning best film, director, actress, actor, and screenwriter at the European Film Awards earlier this month.
This article was originally published on The Local.
It also appeared in the Dec. 30, 2016, issue of The Norwegian American. To subscribe, visit SUBSCRIBE or call us at (206) 784-4617.
