The Snowman Gets Lion’s Share Of Incentive Scheme

By the deadline of January 21st, the Norwegian Film Institute had received four applications for its incentive scheme with a total budgeted cost in Norway of NOK 384 million. However, the budget for the scheme is just NOK 45 million in 2016, so it has decided to offer grants only to The Snowman (40.5 million) and Downsizing (4.5 million).

The scheme is intended to contribute to the increase of the number of major international film and series productions in Norway, for the promotion of Norwegian culture, history and nature. It is also meant to contribute to increased experience and knowledge within the Norwegian film business, stimulate growth, develop a sustainable film industry, and increase international cooperation.

Stine Helgeland, Executive Director of International Relations at the Norwegian Film Institute said in a press release: “As the Scheme has a limited framework, we have carried out an assessment and rating of the applications in relation to the objective of the Scheme, and awarded the funds according to our order of priority for the qualified projects.”

“We have worked out an evaluation method which, in our opinion, will function well for several years to come and several rounds of funding, and which will take into account that both Norwegian and foreign productions of international format may be awarded grants.”

“In this first application round, all the applications were of high quality, but The Snowman stood out from the others, chiefly due to the production’s international market potential, and the size and quality of its budget share in Norway.”

Downsizing has a Norwegian budget of NOK 41 million, whilst The Snowman has a budget of 180 million.