Norwegian director Anne Sewitsky’s feature debut Happy, Happy (Sykt lykkelig) will be Norway’s candidate for the Foreign Language Oscar.

The film won the World Cinema Grand Jury Prize at Sundance. TrustNordisk has sold the film to Magnolia Pictures for the US (which plans a Sept 16 launch) and 50 other countries.

The Norwegian Oscar Committee chose Happy, Happy above the other two shortlisted films, Joachim Trier’s Oslo, August 31st (Oslo, 31. august) and Jens Lien’s Sons of Norway (Sønner av Norge) — both of which are Toronto-bound.

Synnøve Hørsdal produced for Maipo (which also produced Oscar nominee Elling).

The drama-comedy written by Ragnhild Tronvoll stars Agnes Kittelsen, Henrik Rafaelsen, Maibritt Saerens and Joachim Rafaelsen. The story is about a bored Norwegian housewife whose life gets more exciting when new neighbors move in next door.

The Oscar nominees will be announced Jan 24.

Topics