Norwegian Film Institute delays funding

Decisions on films with large audience distributions on hold

Photo: Erlend Bjørtvedt / Wikimedia Commons
Filmens Hus (House of Cinematography) in Oslo is home to the Norwegian Film Institute.

NORWEGIAN FILM INSTITUTE

The Norwegian Film Institute (NFI) announced that planned distributions from the film fund to support productions and releases that have been suspended due to the coronavirus situation will be delayed to a later date. The consequences are immediate. Decisions about funding distributions to films with large audience potential will now be delayed indefinitely. The application deadline was originally June 4.

NFI has distributed NOK 85 million from the film fund that will go to the production and release of films that are directly affected by the coronavirus situation. These funds will make it possible to complete film productions that are suspended and release newly delayed films in theaters and other digital platforms.

“As of now, the film fund has not received any additional funding, therefore we have to take the first consequences of the distribution by delaying a round in the marketing scheme,” said Kjersti Mo. “We don’t yet know if and potentially when these distributions will take place later, which unfortunately will affect audiences, theaters, and the industry itself.”

NFI must prepare for similar interventions in its other funding schemes that will affect other formats. The institute is working to find which interventions will be least damaging, but it will be impossible to avoid some of the pain that will come of meeting these challenges within the framework of the film fund.

“We are still in dialogue with the Ministry of Culture and we hope that measures are on the way that can mitigate these consequences for the film industry,” Mo said.

Examples of films that had earlier received NFI funding through the marketing scheme and have had great success in Norwegian theaters and on streaming platforms include Den 12. Mann, seen by 615,000 in theaters, Jul i Flåklypa, with 899,000 viewers, and Sjkelvet, with nearly 590,000 viewers.

This article first appeared in The Local.

This article originally appeared in the May 8, 2020, issue of The Norwegian American.