Maria Sødahl’s “Hope” has been selected to represent Norway in the Oscar’s international feature film race.
The film was selected by the Norwegian Oscar Committee out of three candidates which included “Disco” by Jorunn Myklebust Syversen, and the documentary “Self Portrait” by Espen Wallin, Katja Høgset and Margreth Olin.
Represented in international markets by TrustNordisk, “Hope” won the European Cinemas Label Award at this year’s Berlin Film Festival after world premiering at Toronto. It was just nominated for a pair of European Film Awards and was released in Sweden across 90 theaters.
“Hope” marks Sødahl’s follow up to “Limbo” and is a personal film based on what she went through after being diagnosed with terminal brain cancer years ago.
The heartfelt drama stars Stellan Skarsgard and Andrea Braein Hovig (“All the Beauty”) as a couple with a large blended family whose lives break down when the wife is diagnosed with terminal brain cancer, exposing neglected love.
“The film ‘Hope’ is an intimate and original story about a family going through an all-encompassing crisis. In the shadow of sudden and serious illness, the film pays homage to life and love in the encounter with the worst imaginable, all based on the filmmaker’s personal experiences,” said the Norwegian committee in a statement.
“Andrea Bræin Hovig’s unsentimental interpretation of the main role, in beautiful and close interaction with Stellan Skarsgård as an introverted husband, helps to create a rare universal and strong portrait of a fragile love affair,” added the committee.
“What a week! Two European Film Awards nominations and the Norwegian Oscar candidate. I’m overjoyed. Together with my brilliant and generous actors Andrea Bræin Hovig and Stellan Skarsgård, I sincerely wish ‘Hope’ will leave a lasting impression on audiences in Europe and the U.S.”, said Sødahl.
“Hope” was produced by Thomas Robsahm and executive produced by Yngve Sæther and Espen Osmundsen for Motlys, AS. Zentropa Sweden, Film i Väst and Oslo Pictures co-produced the film, which received support from the Norwegian Film Institute, the Nordisk Film & TV Fond and Eurimages.
