In its January round of support Nordisk Film & TV Fond has granted a total of NOK 5.6 million to three feature films and one TV drama. The largest support of NOK 1.6 million was allocated to the Norwegian comedy fairytale The Christmas King (Julekongen) written by Harald Rosenløw Eeg (Hawaii, Oslo).

Produced by Frederick Howard and Lars A Hellebust for Storm Films, The Christmas King is a feature spin-off to the successful NRK Christmas calendar series from 2012. It tells the story of family Gran who sets on a mission to save Christmas, cancelled by evil forces ruling in the magical Knight Valley. The director of the TV series Thale Persen is back behind the camera. Filming just finished at the Czech Barrandov studios and continues in Oslo. The film will premiere this fall in Norway

The Norwegian comedy Grand Hotel produced by Karin Julsrud for 4½ Fiction was granted NOK 1.2 million. Arild Fröhlich (Doctor Proctor’s Fart Powder) directs the comedy written by Megan Gallagher about a pompous ageing alcoholic and a 10 year-old boy who are forced to spend a week at a high-end hotel. Atle Antonsen has the title role. Sweden’s B-Reel and Denmark’s Fago Film are co-producing. Pre-sales were locked among others with broadcasters NRK, SVT, TV2 Denmark , C-more, and distributors Euforia Film in Norway, Triart in Sweden and Camera Film in Denmark. TrustNordisk will handle world sales. 

The Danish sci-fi thriller Fang Rung produced by Birgitte Skov for SF Film Production was granted NOK 1.4 million. Set in the flooded city of a future Copenhagen, the film features human clones, sent back from the year 2095 to obtain a plant that can turn salt water into fresh water and save the world from a disastrous flooding. Max Kestner makes his feature film debut.

The Icelandic TV drama Case (9x45’) produced by Arnbjörg Hafliðadóttir for Sagafilm was granted NOK 1.4 million. The spin-off of the successful legal drama The Court (Rettur) is a thriller that evolves out of a single case. A broken lawyer exposes the dark side of society and judiciary system through his investigation into the suspicious suicide of a teenage ballet prodigy. Baldvin Z is directing the show co-written by Thorleifur Orn Arnarsson and Andri Ottarsson. Filming starts in April and the premiere on Channel 2 is set for late 2015.