This year, the countries present in the Focus section with the most representative titles of their recent film production are Portugal, Belgium and Norway.
During recent years, Norwegian cinema has undergone a spectacular development, to such an extent that the various international achievements of Norwegian productions and the investments in film industry completely justify the birth of Nortwave - The New Wave of Norwegian Cinema.
Focus Norway at TIFF 2011 sets out to bring to Romanian viewers landmark productions from Norwegian cinema, an initiative first undertaken during the Days of Norwegian Cinema, organized in the autumn of 2010 by the Royal Norwegian Embassy in Bucharest, together with the Romanian Cultural Institute (ICR).
At TIFF 2011, the Royal Norwegian Embassy in Bucharest supports the organization of a Focus on Norwegian cinema, in the context of the 20 years anniversary of the founding of the Norwegian Language Department at Babes-Bolyai University in Cluj, as well as the 10 years anniversary of the founding of the Scandinavian Studies Department.
Eight films that have swept the international scene will be presented to the audience in Cluj, within the Focus Norway section of the tenth edition of Transilvania International Film Festival.
Awarded the World Cinema Grand Jury Prize at Sundance Film Festival 2011, Happy, Happy / Sykt Lykkelig (d. Anne Sewitsky) centers on Kaja, who's an eternal optimist, in spite of living with a man who doesn't give her the attention she deserves and would rather go hunting with the boys. But, when “the perfect couple” moves in next door, Kaja meets a completely new, exciting world, with consequences for everyone involved. Happy, Happy will be screened in cinemas across the country, being distributed by Transilvania Film.
Presented in 2010 at Toronto and San Sebastian film festivals, Home for Christmas / Hjem Til Jul (d. Bent Hamer) looks into the theme of living together in all aspects and it explores love at any age and in all its phases. Its characters represent a wide range of ages and social classes, blending humor and tragedy, tenderness and desperation, but always open for forgiveness and hope.
The must-see Focus Norway line-up is completed by titles like The Angel / Engelen (d. Margreth Olin), winner of the Audience Award at Goteborg Film Festival 2010, Max Manus (d. Joachim Roenning, Espen Sandberg), based on the true story of the eponymous resistance fighter, Nokas (d. Erik Skjoldbjærg), about the biggest bank robbery in Norway, Tears of Gaza / Gazas Tårer (d. Vibeke Løkkeberg), winner of the Audience Award in Goteborg 2011, I Travel Alone / Jeg Reiser Alene (d. Stian Kristiansen), and Russian Lessons (d. Andrei Nekrasov, Olga Konskaya), selected in 2010 at prestigious festivals such as Sundance, Rotterdam, Tampere and Hong Kong.
On the second day of the festival, June 4, the young audience in Cluj is invited at the Students' Culture House for the screening of King of Devil's Island / Kongen av Bastøy (d. Marius Holst), a Norwegian film programmed in the Wasted Youth section of TIFF 2011. The film takes place during the Norwegian winter, early 20th century. On the island Bastoy, located in the Oslo fjord live a group of delinquent, young boys aged 11 to 18. The boys’ daily, sadistic regime is run by the guards and the principal who bestow both mental and physical abuse on them. Instead of the boys being straightened out with education they end up being used as cheap, manual labour. One day a new boy, Erling, arrives with his own agenda; to escape from the island. The screening of King of Devil's Island will have as guests the students of the Norwegian Literature and Language section at UBB Cluj.
