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Alternativet Produksjon, the Norwegian film banner behind Guro Bruusgaard’s “Him,” has more thought-provoking projects in the pipeline, including Mariken Halle’s pandemic-themed film “The Outdoor School” and Katja Eyde Jacobsen’s feminist movie “The Second Sex.”

The company was launched in 2017 by four filmmakers, including Halle, Jacobsen, Bruusgaard and Magnus Mork to produce their movies collectively, with a special interest in politically or socially engaged projets. The banner’s latest film credit, “Him,” revolves around three males of different ages who experience some form of social humiliation. The buzzed-about film had its international premiere last month at the Moscow Festival, where it competed.

“The Second Sex,” which seems to be the female counterpart to “Him,” follows three generations of Norwegian women in different social settings. Weaving documentary and fictional elements, the film revolves around a grandmother, a mother and a daughter, and their relationship with one another. “The Second...

The Eurimages Lab Award at Haugesund has gone to Norwegian director Guro Bruusgaard for Him.

Norwegian director Guro Bruusgaard has won the Eurimages Lab iAward at Haugesund for Him.

The award—which is only eligible for a select group of work-in-progress projects that are more experimental in form or content – comes with a grant worth $55,500.

Him looks at the roles of contemporary men in society through stories of a boy, a 30-year-old man and a 60-year old man during one day in Oslo. The jury said Him offered a “relevant discussion made in a witty, intelligent and compassionate style”. No sales company is attached yet.

Haugesund, Norway — Celine Sciamma’s intellectually dexterous, bittersweet love tale “Portrait of a Lady on Fire” has claimed another heart, taking home The Norwegian Film-Critics’ Prize at the Haugesund Film Festival’s closing night on Thursday.

The festival, which runs over August 17-23, capped its 47th edition with a screening of André Løyning and Kristian Landmark’s documentary

Sciamma’s revisionist romance won the screenplay prize at the Cannes Film Festival in May and will next head to Toronto, where it will screen as a Special Presentation.

“With elegance, sophistication and courage, the film explores how love and vitality can – at least momentarily – throw off the shackles of an oppressive social order. Exquisite acting performances and cinematography, combined with a soupcon of mythological symbolism, add up to a work of serious artistic merit,” noted the jury members in their verdict.

The Eurimages Lab Award went to director Guro Bruusgaard’s “Him.

The 25th New Nordic Films, unspooling Aug. 20-23 parallel to the Norwegian International Film Festival in Haugesund, will kick off with the critically-lauded “A White, White Day” by Hlynur Pálmason. The Icelandic drama which world premiered at Cannes’ Critics’ Week, is among 19 films set to screen, of which 13 are world market premieres such as Jesper W. Nielsen’s thriller “The Exception,” Venice Critics Week’s pick “Psychosia,”, Venice Days’ entry “Beware of Children”, Jens Jonsson’s “The Spy” and Jesper Ganslandt’s “438 Days”.

The hot Works in Progress session has 20 titles to be pitched to more than 300 attendees. Gauging this year’s crop, New Nordic Films’ managing director Gyda Velvin Myklebust underlines the large number of local films, genre-driven and reality-based stories, as well as the healthy gender balance -half the films are female directed. “There are many new female talents to watch out for,” says Myklebust, citing the...