The new film Fund has invested NOK 10 million in nine Norwegian films and series since 2021, including Thea Hvistendahl’s Handling the Undead and the documentary Krigere.

Jon Haukeland’s documentary Krigere produced by Medieoperatørene’s Ingvil Giske (The Painter and The Thief) is the first project backed by the Oslo Film Fund, which will reach local audiences October 7 via Selmer Media.

With its Oslo-focused narrative, strong artistic value and distribution in place, the film reflects the type of projects that the Fund is keen to support.

“Our DNA is based on two pillars: sustainability and diversity,” explains CEO Leif Holst Jensen. “To be sustainable, we incentivise Norwegian producers to travel less and shoot locally, but also make sure the projects have commercial potential so that we can recoup and reinvest in other projects,” adds Holst Jensen, who has played an active part in the Norwegian film community for the past 30 years.

Jensen cites two projects that were supposed to partly film abroad, and ended up staying in Norway. Anagram’s thriller series about the weapon industry Ammo starring Nicola Cleve Broch (set to premiere October 13 on TV2 Norway), and Kaveh Tehrani’s film Listen Up! produced by Motlys. “The producers of the film wanted to shoot some interiors in Trollhättan in Sweden, but we convinced them to stay here,” says Holst Jensen.

“It might sound protective, but we need to be more sustainable as an industry and continue to build on what we have in and around Oslo. We already have a network of good companies here -covering fiction, documentary, but also animation and VFX and we want to help them be more competitive internationally,” Holst Jensen said.

Fully funded so far by the City of Oslo, the Fund works closely with the Oslo Film Commission and provides financing on top of existing funding bodies such as the Norwegian Film Institute and Viken Film Centre. The Fund boasts a prestigious Board of Directors, led by the Norwegian Film Institute’s former Head of Strategic Insight and International Relations Stine Helgeland. But so far, the Oslo Film Fund hasn’t received the official backing from the Norwegian Ministry of Culture.

“We’re a bit of a white spot on the map of regional film funds. But we’re hopeful that we will soon receive the endorsement from the government. This will validate what we’ve achieved so far and hopefully, allow us double our current budget,” notes Holst Jensen.

In the mid to long-term, the head of the Oslo Film Fund hopes he will have enough funding to attract international productions.

Full list of projects co-financed by the Oslo Film Fund.

Feature films:

  • Lars er Lol by Eirik Sæter Stordahl (Nordisk Film Production)
  • Sex, Dreams & Something Stupid Called Love by Dag Johan Haugerud (Motlys)
  • Listen Up! by Kaveh Tehrani (Motlys)
  • Ebba by Johanna Pyykkö (Oslo Pictures)
  • Handling the Undead by Thea Hvistendahl (Einar Film)
  • The Brothers Gruff Go the Splash World by Will Ashurst (Qvisten Animation)


Documentary

  • Krigere by Jon Haukeland (Medieoperatørne)


TV series

  • Ammo produced by Anagram Norge for TV2. Series about Norwegian arm trade, co-created and starring Nicolai Cleve Broch.
  • Dome 16 produced by Tordenfilm for NRK Super. Youth-oriented sci-fi created and directed by Thomas Seeberg Torjussen.