Norwegian director Erik Poppe will take a break before concluding his Oslo trilogy - Schpaa; Hawaii , Oslo - to make The Invisible.

The film is about 'the big questions', according to film consultant Nikolaj Frobenius from the Norwegian Film Fund, which has supported the $3.3m (Euros 2.6m) Paradox Film production with $1.8m (Euros 1.4 m).

Scripted by Harald Rosenløw Eeg ( Hawaii , Oslo ), The Invisible interweaves the stories of a mother losing her child and a young man who becomes a murderer. Due for release in early 2008, the film is one of five projects backed by the Norwegian Film Fund, which has shelled out approximately $7m (Euros 5.4m) for eight new projects, including three Nordic co-productions.

The fund will chip in $1.1m (EURO 0.9m) for the $2.6m (Euros 2m) sequel to last year's local Norwegian blockbuster Long Flat Balls. Norwegian Hollywood director Harald Zwart (One Night at McCools, Agent Cody Banks), who produced the first film, will helm its sequel Long Flat Balls: In Uniform, for his own Zwart Arbeit production outfit. It is also due to open in early 2008.

Ulrik Imtiaz Rolfsen (Izzat) has teamed up with scriptwriter Thomas Seeberg Torjussen (Sons) to adapt Ingvar Ambjørnsen's novel, The Last Fox Hunt, for the screen. Maipo Film & TV Produksjon will realise the $3m (Euros 2.3m) production set in 1970s Oslo, about a drug dealer who thinks he is on a mission. The film will get $1.6m (Euros 1.3m) fund support and is scheduled for an October 2008 launch.

Fallen Angels is the second feature in the Varg Veum: Private Eye package, which Axel Hennie will direct on a $3m (Euros 2.3m) budget for SF Norge, with a $1.1m (Euros 0.8m) fund subsidy.

Arne Lindtner Næss will shoot his own screenplay for SOS : Svartskjær Lighthouse , for Nordisk Film Production, a $3m (Euros 2.3m) children's thriller with $1.4m (Euros 1.1m) public funding.

The three Nordic co-productions backed by the fund include Maria Larsson's Eternal Moment by Swedish director Jan Troell, the story of a working class woman in the early 1900s, which Norway's Motlys will help realise; Metropia, a fully-animated vision of a dark future in Europe from Sweden's Atmo, with participation of Norway's Tordenfilm; and The Spring Ritual, a Belgian feature from Bjørn Olaf Johannessen's script, involving Norway's Friland.

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