Norwegian Film Week

Ladies and gentlemen,

“A film is never really good unless the camera is an eye in the head of a poet.”

This quote by the legendary American director Orson Welles points at a dimension of film making that I find important. It is a great pleasure to be present here at the Chewan Centre to open the Norwegian Film Week.

We all need good quality art: to provoke and reconcile, to create contrasts and bring clarity, to challenge and to confront - and to strengthen the ties between persons. Norway, like India, sees the arts and culture as a driving force in the development of society.

The Norwegian film industry is growing fast although we will never be able to compare ourselves with India’s impressive production. several new films have been presented at festivals in various parts of the world this year.,Sniffer, a short film you will be able to see later, even won the Palme d’Or in Cannes this spring. This is probably the most prestigious award a film can receive apart from an Oscar.

The aim of the Norwegian Film Week here in Mumbai is to present to an Indian audience some of our best films from recent years: film based on well-known literature and that use landscape as a dramatic tool in telling a story.

The opening film tonight will be Sophie’s World, based on the international best-seller of the same name by Jostein Gaarder.

Some of the films in the programme will also be presented in Kolkata later this year, and our Cannes winner The Bothersome Man has been selected for the Goa festival.

Earlier today, the Crown Princess opened a film seminar focusing on how we can increase bilateral cooperation between Norway and India. A number of Indian producers have already visited Norway, and Norwegian films have been presented at Indian festivals every year since 2001. In return, we have for the last few years had a Bollywood festival in Oslo, which attracts increasing public interest. Indian films were also included in the programme of another annual festival, Film from South, in October.

Despite the threats from other, perhaps more accessible ways of watching films, the cinema has survived. It has a special magic that no sitting room can recreate. Film clubs are important meeting places. They can serve as a gateway to unknown countries and cultures and give us an understanding of the lives of people in distant parts of the world. - And yet make us aware of all that unite us as human beings – cross boarders and cultures. But maybe most importantly: A good film can bring us closer to ourselves – through a camera sitting in a poet’s head.

I take great pleasure in herby declaring the Norwegian Film Week in Mumbai open.