Norwegian director Bent Hamer's O'Horten will fly the Norwegian colours for the Oscar nominations as Best Foreign-Language feature, it was announced today (Sept 18) by the Norwegian Film Institute.
The film was also scripted and produced by Hamer, for his own BulBul Film and was co-produced with Scanboxfilm, Pandora Film, and Memento Films.
O'Horten marks Hamer's return to Norwegian filmmaking after his US feature, Factotum (2005). Adapted from Charles Bukowski's novel, it follows the story of 67 year old train driver Odd Horten, who has spent his life on the railways but on retirement finds himself taking a very different type of journey through life.
Starring Baard Owe, O'Horten was selected for Un Certain Regard at Cannes, Hamer's third outing at the festival. The film won four awards at the Trondheim International Film Festival and received two Amandas, Norway's national film prizes.
Awarded this year's Norwegian Critics' trophy, the film- which was most recently screened in Toronto's Contemporary Cinema sidebar - has been included in the short list of 44 films considered for a European Film Award nomination.
Sold by Germany's The Match Factory, Hamer's fifth feature has so far been licensed to more than 35 territories, including the US (Sony Pictures Classics). It will next be shown at festivals in Abu Dhabi, Pusan, Reykjavik, Ghent and Haifa.
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