"Hope" and Norway's Oscar History

by Nathaniel R

The Norwegian Film Institute has selected Maria Sødahl's cancer drama Hope to represent them at the Oscars. The film stars Bræn Hovig and the ever-ubiquitous Stellan Skarsgård (who works as often in Scandinavia as he does in Hollywood, which is to say, a lot) as the couple thrown by a terrible diagnosis. Hope was selected over two other finalists which were: Disco by Jorunn Myklebust Syversen about a young girl mixed up with a Christian cult (which we reviewed at TIFF last fall), and Margreth Olin's documentary The Self Portrait about an acclaimed photographer struggling with anorexia. (Olin was submitted 11 years ago for her second narrative feature Angel though she's primarily a documentarian.)

1987 Norwegian nominee "Pathfinder"Norway has been perpetually overshadowed by Sweden and Denmark in terms of the cinema. They have a smaller film industry than their Scandinavian neighbors but the other problem is a noticeable lack of internationally-adored auteurs. We hoped that the rise of Joachim Trier would change that but, alas, the Oscars aren't helping in that regard as he's been submitted twice from his three Norwegian language films and the Academy passed both times.

Oscar stats and great Norwegian films after the jump...

NORWAY'S OSCAR STATS
Submitting since 1957 (the second year of the competition)
42 Total Submissions 
5 Nominations (and 1 Additional Finalist)
0 Wins 

KEY SUBMISSIONS 

• Nine Lives (1957) Nominee
• The Pathfinder (1987) Nominee currently streaming on Criterion Channel. Strangely, despite that Oscar nomination, it waited two years to get a US release finally arriving in 1989...
• A Handful of Time (1989) This entry about an old man escaping a nursing home had the benefit of a familiar international cast (Susannah York and Nigel Hawthorne appear) to help Academy fondness along but Oscar passed.
• The Other Side of Sunday (1996) Nominee
• Junk Mail (1997) This black comedy about an irresponsible postman was a rarity in that it actually got a  limited release in the US. But Oscar didn't bite.
• Only Clouds Move the Stars (1998) Scandinavian has a rich history of youth films that take kids seriously (unlike the US) and this one was a prize winner at multiple film festivals. But Oscar passed.
• Elling (2001) Nominee
• Kitchen Stories (2003)
• Reprise (2006) The stunning debut of Norway's current finest auteur, Joachim Trier was sadly passed over by the Academy. At least it did fairly well at arthouses in the US with a half a million gross.
• Max Manus (2009) One of Norway's most popular films and glossiest submissions. Strange that it didn't get far in the race as it deals with resistant efforts against the Nazis during World War II which is one of Oscar's favourite topics. On the other hand that was a very competitive Oscar year in the International category.

"Kon Tiki", Norway's most expensive movie ever

• Kon-Tiki (2012) Nominee  Inexplicably released in an English language version stateside
• The King's Choice (2016) Another WW II drama. It's Norway's only "finalist" that didn't make it to a nomination since Oscar added that extra round of voting in 2006.

Most Frequently Submitted Directors for Best International Feature Film

1. [TIE] 3 submissions each, none nominated: Bent Hamer, Petter Vennerød & Svend Wam
2. [TIE] 2 submissions each, 1 film nominated: Arne Skouen, Petter Næss, Berit Nesheim, and the duo of Joachim Rønning & Espen Sandberg
3. Erik Poppe (2 submissions - 1 finalist)
4. [TIE] Joachim Trier and Iram Haq (2 submissions, neither nominated)

Most Oscar-Honored Norwegian Artists (only two Norwegians have had multiple nominations!)

legendary actress Liv Ullmann

1. Torrill Kove (2 nominations, 1 win in Best Animated Short)
2. Liv Ullmann (2 nominations for Best Actress - WHERE IS HER HONORARY OSCAR?)

Comments

[Dave in Hollywood]

Liv Ullmann is from Norway? Learn something new every day. Of all of these movies, I've only seen Pathfinder and Kon-Tiki. I guess I saw the English language version of it? I thought it was competent only. Pathfinder however was a great film and it came in the amazing peak foreign language film year of 1987. I think it was a strong enough story that it even had an English language remake of some kind?

[Peggy Sue]

Speaking of Honorary Oscars, any news on the announcement?

[NATHANIEL R]

peggy sue -- not that i've heard