Norway’s submission for the Oscar nom as Best Foreign-Language Feature will be Izer Aliu’s Hunting Flies, Jorunn Myklebust Syversen’s The Tree Feller or Joachim Trier’s Thelma.
The
Norwegian Oscar Committee announced yesterday (30 August) that three
Norwegian features (out of 28 premiered in 2016/2017) are considered to
be Norway’s candidate for the Oscar nomination as Best Foreign-Language
Feature: Izer Aliu’s Hunting Flies (Fluefangeren), Jorunn Myklebust
Syversen’s The Tree Feller (Hoggeren) and Joachim Trier’s Thelma.
The producers of the films will now have the opportunity to present
their plans for an Oscar campaign to the committee, which will decide
the Norwegian runner for the trophy on 5 September.
The Foreign Language Committee of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and
Sciences will announce the five nominees on 23 January 2018. The Oscar
ceremony will take place on 4 March.
Hunting Flies (Fluefangeren)
Dir/Scr: Izer Aliu. Prod: Khalid Maimouni for Storyline Pictures
The drama about the rise and fall of dictatorship takes place in a
classroom, where the idealistic teacher Ghani loses his job on the first
day of school. In an attempt to get it back he locks his students up in
the classroom, trying to force them to resolve a generation long
conflict between their villages.
Hunting Flies was screened in the Toronto International Film Festival
2016, it received the Amanda – Norway’s international Film Prize – for
Best Director, and is Norway’s candidate for the Nordic Council Film
Prize 2017. Norwegian premiere: 21 April 2017
The Tree Feller (Hoggeren)
Dir/Scr: Jorunn Myklebust Syversen. Prod: Maria Ekerhovd for Mer Film
39-year-old Anders decides to give up his ordinary life in the city and
moves to a small farm with the only desire of being out in nature and
lose himself in physical work. But his attempt to escape is constantly
interrupted by pushy relatives – he soon realises he has just traded in
one claustrophic existence for another.
The Tree Feller received two nominations for the Amanda, Norway’s national film prize. Norwegian premiere: 7 April 2017
Dir: Joachim Trier. Scr: Eskil Vogt, Joachim Trier. Prod: Thomas Robsahm for Motlys
The supernatural thriller portrays Thelma, a young student in Oslo. When
she is drawn to another woman, she is overwhelmed by emotions she does
not dare acknowledge - and frightening and inexplicable powers are
forcing themselves into the open.
Thelma opened this year’s Norwegian International Film Festival in
Haugesund, where it received the Norwegian Critics Prize. It has also
been invited to the film festivals in Toronto and New York. Norwegian
premiere: 15 September 2017
Previous Norwegian Oscar nominées include Norwegian directors Joachim
Rønning and Espen Sandberg’s Kon-Tiki (2013), Petter Næss’ Elling
(2001), Berit Nesheim’s The Other Side of Sunday (Søndagsengler/1996),
Nils Gaup’s Pathfinder (Veiviseren/1987) and Arne Skouen’s Nine Lives
(Ni liv/1957).