The Norwegian Film Institute has announced the recipients of its new support bursaries. On this occasion, the organisation will provide a total of 25 million Norwegian crowns (approximately €2.4 million) to back the activities of a number of local festivals, cinematheques and film clubs. Despite the coronavirus crisis and the unavoidable losses incurred by local exhibitors, the agency is ready to invest in new resources to strengthen the country’s film offering.

Speaking about these funding decisions, the institute’s director of film culture and education, Julie Ova, explained: “I am impressed with how film festivals in particular have managed to adapt to the challenging situation caused by the coronavirus. One after another, they have carried out both events and screenings digitally during 2020, and they have really succeeded in spreading film joy and providing good cinematic experiences for a hungry audience. Though our hope is that the grant recipients will be able to operate at as near a normal level as possible, there has been a digital development in this period that we ought to see more of also in 2021, coexisting with the arenas where people meet to experience films together.”

In detail, film festivals will receive a total of 14,350,000 Norwegian crowns (circa €1.383 million), split among 16 different events. Among the recipients are the Bergen International Film Festival (2.175 million Norwegian crowns/€210,000), Fredrikstad’s Nordic Docs (250,000 Norwegian crowns/€24,000), Tromsø’s Nordisk ung filmfestival (100,000 Norwegian crowns/€9,700), Grimstad’s Kortfilmfestivalen (2.4 million Norwegian crowns/€231,000) and Haugesund’s Norwegian International Film Festival (3.6 million Norwegian crowns/€347,000).

Meanwhile, the body has awarded six regional cinematheques (Bergen, Kristiansand, Lillehammer, Trondheim, Tromsø and Stavanger) a total of 6.8 million Norwegian crowns (€656,000).

Finally, the Norwegian Film Club Association will benefit from a grant of 3.3 million Norwegian crowns (€318,000) to finance the activities of local film clubs.