Erik Poppe To Direct Movie About 2011 Terror Tragedy

Director Erik Poppe, whose Oscar contender The King’s Choice was nominated for 12 Amanda awards on Wednesday, has announced plans for a feature film about the 2011 terrorist attack in Norway written by Siv Rajendram Eliassen and Anna Bache-Wiig (Acquitted).

On 22nd July 2011, far-right extremist Anders Behring Breivik detonated a van in Oslo killing eight people, then shot dead 69 people at a summer camp on the island of Utøya. In August 2012 he was convicted of mass murder, causing a fatal explosion, and terrorism.

The film, entitled U, begins 12 minutes before the first shot on Utøya, where we meet Kaja (18), her little sister, and their friends at summer camp. When the shooting begins panic spreads, and over the next 72 minutes we follow Kaja in her escape – minute by minute. She becomes separated from her little sister, and in the search for her she finds other youngsters with different strategies for survival. Some make it, others do not.

U is a fictional account of events which will tell the story from the young people’s perspective, based on a series of in-depth interviews conducted with survivors from Utøya. Some of them will be on set behind the camera when filming begins on 5th September to help give the narrative credibility.

This announcement follows the news that British director Paul Greengrass has plans for a film about the tragic events, based on the book One Of Us by Åsne Seierstad, and NRK is to produce a six part drama entitled 22 July (22. Juli) which will concentrate on those who were indirectly affected by that day.