War Sailor to open Haugesund’s Norwegian Film Festival August 21

Seasoned producer Ekerhovd (The Innocents, What Will People Say) said she is “proud and happy” to be invited to open the Festival, celebrating this year its golden jubilee. “It is the perfect arena to screen the film for the first time. In many ways the Norwegian International Film Festival in Haugesund is a festival for Norwegian cinemas, and War Sailor will be a great cinematic experience,” she said about the film with a premium budget of NOK100 million (around €9.7m).

Festival director Tonje Hardersen adds: “I am incredibly pleased to open this year’s jubilee festival with War Sailor! Gunnar Vikene has created a spectacular film, with impressive character work, and tells a story we have missed on the silver screen, that is also, regrettably, still current. The Norwegian war sailor’s heroic efforts are overdue to be portrayed, and how they were treated in post-war Norway will forever be a stain on our history. We know this is a story close to the Norwegian people’s heart, and I am certain the audience in both Haugesund and the rest of Norway will be very moved by War Sailor.”

Set between 1939 and 1972, War Sailor (Krigsseileren) is about love and loss, and the moral and emotional consequences of war.

We follow Alfred (Kristoffer Joner) a working-class newly-wed father of three in Bergen. When WW2 breaks out, he and his childhood friend (Pål Sverre Hagen) are at work on a merchant ship in the middle of the Atlantic. Suddenly they find themselves on the front lines, fighting without weapons, as their ship is targeted by German submarines. At the same time, we follow Alfred's wife (Ine Marie Wilmann) and their children back home in Bergen and their everyday lives during wartime.

Vikene (Pørni, Occupied, Vegas) says his film is meant “to serve as a memorial for the over 30,000 Norwegian war sailors, of whom 3,670 never returned home”.

The film supported by Nordisk Film & TV Fond, is due to open nationwide September 23 via Scandinavian Film Distribution. Beta Cinema handles world sales.

Hardersen has also unveiled two documentaries that will have their Norwegian premiere in Haugesund:

• the Swedish film Nelly & Nadine by Magnus Gertten, co-produced by Norway’s UpNorth Film, which won the Teddy Jury Award in Berlin,
• The New Greatness Case by Anna Shishova, produced by Norway’s Piraya Film, Finland's IV Films and Croatia's Nukleus Film, with co-financing from VGTV among others. The film tells of the ordinary teenager Anna who was arrested in 2018 and incarcerated on fabricated charges of extremism. Three years later, her mother continues her fight to prove her daughter’s innocence.

“We are proud to be able to present two very strong documentaries,” said Hardersen. “They both shed light on the dire consequences of totalitarian societies for individuals, but also show people's capacity for love and civil courage in spite of terrible circumstances.”

Also confirmed for Haugesund’s 50^th festival is Christoffer Sandler’s So Damn Easy Going (Så jävla Easy Going) set to screen at the Nordic Focus, the French film Some Like it Rare (Barbaque) by Fabrice Eboué screening at the French Touch, the Norwegian classics Mongoland and Watch What You Say (Troll i ord) programmed as Special Screenings to mark the Jubilee’s celebrations, and Ari Folman’s animated feature Where is Anne Frank, programmed at the Cinemagi sidebar for kids.

The Norwegian Film Festival will unfold August 20-26 and its industry event New Nordic Films August 23-26.