The NOK 3,500,000 (€318,600) campaign will be supervised by trade association Film & Kino on behalf of the Norwegian Film Institute, in association with the Norwegian Distribution Association and Virke Producers Association. Partners set to join the initiative include all national exhibitors, Filmweb, MDN and Capa.

The campaign will take place in the local cinemas and across all social media, print, TV and radio outlets. 

The initiative is meant to boost cinema-going, severely hit by Covid-19 and to support local cinemas, running at around 30% of their capacities due to the overall social distancing measures in place. 

Kjersti Mo, head of the Norwegian Film Institute said: “The cinemas are one of the safest places to socialise in the corona era, the infection control is well taken care of by professionals who are used to welcoming the audience. This campaign will remind people how nice it is to watch movies in the cinema, and the magic that occurs when you have good movie experiences in a dark cinema hall. For us, it is important to do this [campaign], both to contribute to attracting people in the cinemas, but also to motivate industry players to launch films in cinemas, at a time when it is riskier to release new films."

Mo continues: “Also, it has been important for us to see the entire industry reunited around this campaign, which will also help to highlight the value of creating high quality Norwegian films, both today and in the future."

Twelve new Norwegian films are lined up between September to the end of the year. So far three Norwegian films are in the Top 10 films of 2020 according to Filmweb.no: 

  • The Crossing (138,944 admissions-14.02.20 release), 
  • The Tunnel (135,703 admissions 25.12.19 release) and 
  • Twigson and the Sea Monster (126,703 admissions, 03.07.20 release).  

Last weekend, Charlotte Blom’s romantic film Diana’s Wedding released by Nordisk Film ranked number 3 (19,163 total admissions) after the top selling US films Tenet (133,910 total admissions) and After We Collided (45,079 total admissions).

The Norwegian documentary and Sundance winner The Painter and the Thief was number 6, with nearly 4,000 admissions in its first week on screens via Euforia.  Upcoming Norwegian films that should attract a wide audience include the animated films Two Buddies & a Badger 2-The Great Big Beast (25.09 release), Christmas at Cattle Hill (06.11) the documentary Aksel the story of Aksel Lund Svindal (27.11) and Børning 3 (December release).