Norway bets on Hope for Oscars race

Maria Sødahl’s drama is Norway’s final choice for the 93^rd Academy Award nomination for Best International Film.

The film was shortlisted, together with Jorunn Myklebust Syversen’s debut film Disco and the documentary Self Portrait by Margreth Olin, Katja Høgset and Espen Wallin.

The Norwegian Oscars committee headed by the Norwegian Film Institute’s CEO Kjersti Mo said: “The film Hope is a rare intimate and original story about a family going through an all-encompassing crisis. In the shadow of sudden and serious illness, the film pays homage to life and love in the encounter with the worst imaginable, all based on the filmmaker's personal experiences. Approaching the very innermost and complex with such a fine-tuned use of cinematic and emotional means is therefore an achievement. Screenwriter and director Maria Sødahl balances the ensemble both in front and behind the camera with impressive security. Not least, Andrea Bræin Hovig's unsentimental interpretation of the main role, in beautiful and close interaction with Stellan Skarsgård as an introverted husband, helps to create a rare universal and strong portrait of a fragile love affair. This makes Hope a touching and wise film which, above all, emphasizes hope and the will to live as indisputable factors when darkness envelops the belief in a future.”

The film world premiered at the Toronto Film Festival and won the Europa Cinemas label at the Berlinale where it screened in the Panorama section. Andrea Bræin Hovig won Best Actress for her performance at the Amanda awards and Kosmorama Film Festival.

The film was produced by Thomas Robsahm and executive produced by Yngve Sæther and Espen Osmundsen for Motlys, in co-production with Zentropa Sweden, Film i Väst and Oslo Pictures, with support from the Norwegian Film Institute, Nordisk Film & TV Fond and Eurimages.

TrustNordisk has sold the film to more than 40 territories including the US and Canada (KimStim). The Academy Awards’ shortlists will be announced February 9, 2021, and the final nominations March 15.

The Oscars ceremony will be telecast April 25, 2021.